The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Stacey Pfeffer

New Children’s Picture Book About Jackie O!

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Author Ronni Diamondstein Photo by Donna Mueller

Chappaqua-based author Ronni Diamondstein has always had a special place in her heart for former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. As an eight-year-old child, Ronni Diamondstein watched as John F. Kennedy was inaugurated and during his presidency tuned in to many of his press conferences. She vividly remembers the White House restoration special on TV led by Jackie and then marveled at her grace when she led the country in mourning after her husband’s assassination.

Diamondstein’s home includes a vast collection of books on the Kennedys. Diamondstein has nearly 100 and has been reading books about them for decades. Diamondstein, a former school librarian and a past President of the Chappaqua Library Board, always wanted to write a book about Jackie. Initially, she started to write a novel, then a friend suggested a children’s book that ultimately became an engaging new picture book titled Jackie and the Books She Loved which launches in November.

Diamondstein has always been fascinated by Jackie’s lifelong love of books and her eventual role as an editor. “Introducing this inspirational First Lady to young readers is exciting. She did a lot to change the role of the First Lady. She brought in performers and writers to the White House and created the White House guidebook. But she also learned to read and write as a young girl. Reading and writing were common threads throughout her life,” explains Diamondstein.

Diamondstein’s book shows young readers how Jackie was a voracious reader and writer. In fact, she was reading Chekhov at age six. She also wrote many stories and poems for her family as a young child. One of her poems, titled “Sea Joy”, is included in Diamondstein’s book. To gain permission to publish “Sea Joy”, Diamondstein contacted Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and thought the response would take many weeks. Two days later, Diamondstein heard back. “I thought that it must make her happy that her mother’s poem would be introduced to a new generation. I actually teared up when I read that email,” remarks Diamondstein.

The book shows how Jackie continued writing beyond childhood. In college, she won a Vogue magazine writing contest. Upon graduation, she was a Washington Times-Herald reporter where she interviewed her future husband, Senator Kennedy. She encouraged JFK to write Profiles in Courage and wrote a weekly column “Campaign Wife” to help him win the election. Diamondstein notes that some people initially criticized Jackie when she became a book editor in 1978. However, many did not know about her past as a writer and lifelong bibliophile.

Diamondstein did extensive research to ensure all the illustrations were historically accurate. She collaborated with illustrator Bats Langley on many of the details included in the eye-catching illustrations and provided him with direction. For example, the cover picture includes a horse statue and a blue vase with peonies and cornflowers, two of Jackie’s favorite flowers, on it. After Jackie passed, Sotheby’s held an auction of items in her apartment and Diamondstein reviewed catalogue photos.

Fun events are in store to help with the book’s launch! Diamondstein will be showcasing her book at the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival on Saturday, September 30. Diamondstein explained that her connection to children greatly motivated her as well. “I always loved putting beautiful books into the hands of little children,” noted Diamondstein. “I feel like I was meant to write this book.”

She will also participate in an online book launch via Zoom co-sponsored by the Chappaqua Library Children’s Room, Friends of the Miller House and Skyhorse Publishing on Thursday, November 9 at 7 p.m.

A week later, Diamondstein will be featured in a First Ladies Library Legacy Lecture via Zoom on Thursday, November 16 at noon. To her delight, Diamondstein was contacted by the First Ladies Library in Canton, Ohio to include a program about Jackie and the Books She Loved that complements an exhibition about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis that’s running through next April.

Follow ronnidiamondstein.com to preorder and for more information about other events including a book signing at Susan Lawrence in Chappaqua on Saturday, November 25 from noon to 2 p.m. The book’s dedication page includes the following quote from Jackie – “If you produce one book, you will have done something wonderful in your life.” Luckily for young readers, Diamondstein followed through on her lifelong dream.

Two Time Champs Greeley Boys Swim & Dive Team Aim to Win a Third & Unprecedented State Championship Title

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Greeley Swim & Dive Team Champs. Photo by Christina Schoonmaker

A leisurely swim is one of summer’s greatest pleasures enjoyed by many but for Horace Greeley’s Boys Swim and Dive Team, summer is the time for tough workouts in the pool to prep for next season. They are hoping to clinch the State Championship Title for a third year in a row.

This past spring, the 35-member team won that title at Ithaca College for a second year in a row, and were the first team in Greeley’s history to win back-to-back state titles. The boys practice year-round, including the summer, and swim for approximately 15 hours weekly plus two land workouts weekly consisting of strength training workouts and stretching. It is a grueling schedule with some students waking up prior to 5 a.m. for morning practice, but many of these students have been swimming since they were in elementary school and are truly dedicated to the sport.

The team is hoping for a three-peat this year despite graduating six talented swimmers. Swim coach Meg Kaplan notes that the “rising junior class is filled with state level swimmers who have two to three years of state swimming under their belt. They are determined to direct the team to win another championship one at a time – league, conference, sectional, New York State and Federation. It is a goal that has not been accomplished by any other team in NY state history.”

Harriet Engel, mother of senior swimmers Eric and Oliver, explains that the Greeley swim team or what many refer to as “G-swim” is run differently than a team sport. The boys swim under the Greeley banner but many practice under the tutelage of Zac Hojnacki, the Head Coach of the Marlins, a swim club based out of the Mount Kisco-based Boys and Girls Club of Northern Westchester.

Engels’ boys began swimming at age seven for the Willowbrook swim team and eventually landed at the Boys and Girls Club with the Marlins. Of the ten boys who qualified for States this past spring, nine swim with the Marlins and one for the Larchmont-based Badgers. “The G-swim legacy is due in large part to the Marlins’ success,” explains Engel.

“During COVID it became abundantly clear the boys need the G-swim team. They love the high school team.  It is a lot of fun for these boys and they bond as a group. You can see the smile on their faces on the deck. Swimming is a solitary sport. When they swim for their club, they are swimming for themselves but when they swim for G-swim they are swimming for team glory,” Engel says.

Hojnacki believes the team’s success is due to their values as a group. “They have a great culture and are passionate about the team. They embrace each individual’s success which propels them as a group,” he notes. Hojnacki who has been with the Marlins for the past five years has noticed that the G-swim team has progressively taken the sport of swimming more seriously and really bought into a culture of training excellence not just for the Marlins but also for their performance on G-swim. He works with several swimmers from various high schools throughout Westchester and has been impressed by the Greeley boys and offers a recent anecdote. “This morning after practice we were pulling lane lines which is basically grunt work. A few years ago maybe only a few kids would willingly do this. Now we have 20 or 30 kids helping each other and they treat one another with respect. The camaraderie, sportsmanship and teamwork play a role in their success and has them performing at a higher level.”

Meeting Goals & Striking a Balance

Hojnacki is also grateful for the ongoing dialogue that he has with Kaplan and the Greeley team. “We have the same goals, and it is about finding a balance between the G-swim and the club’s practice schedules, meets etc.,” says Hojnacki who is currently training some of the Greeley swimmers for nationals and even Olympic trials.

Hudson Chung, a former captain who just graduated Greeley will swim for the University of Chicago this fall. He believes the combination of coaches is crucial to their success. “Coach Meg who does the line-ups helps us achieve a win on every level from sectionals to divisionals to states while Coach Zac is amazing and helps push us to our limits,” he says.

So will the G-swim team be able to have a three-peat this year? Kaplan and Hojnacki both think it is possible to accomplish. “They need to remain focused, train to their maximum ability and stay off the injury list. It’s the character and trust in their brotherhood and drive and determination that fuels the swim team forward,” Kaplan adds.

These swimmers train seven days a week from before the sun rises to after the sun sets. Despite the fact that Greeley does not have a pool. “Where there is a will, there is a way. Come watch a meet at SUNY Purchase. We will for sure not disappoint,” she sums up.

The Joy of Being a Grandparent: Locals Share Stories from the Heart

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It is said that grandparents are the perfect blend of love, laughter, and happy memories. We spoke to five local residents about the joy they experience being a grandparent whether their grandkids are newborns, nine or 19. It’s clear that this is a role they truly relish. Here is who we interviewed for the story: Jon Cobert, Adina Olan, Bea DeRose, Fran Falk-Ross and Carol Weston.

Jon Cobert: Rock and Roll Chappaqua-Based Grandfather

Longtime Chappaqua residents Jon and his wife Wendy welcomed two granddaughters, Chloe and Hannah, in the past three years. When they were first born, they resided in Washington DC. His granddaughters now moved closer to Ridgefield CT which Jon and Wendy are overjoyed about.

With Chloe who is almost three, Jon enjoys having tea parties, coloring, and playing with Legos. “Hannah just started eating solids so we gave her a piece of chicken wing during the Super Bowl which of course I took a picture of,” he laughs. My wife’s greatest joy is being a grandma- buying them clothes, playing dress up,” he adds.

One of Jon’s proudest moments was when he realized his granddaughter loves loud music. A longtime musician (and legend in his own right) who has played with legends such as John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and Dionne Warwick, Jon took Chloe to his studio in the basement and plugged his guitar into the amplifier. “Chloe said, “more loud”, and I thought to myself, “thank goodness, I have a rock and roll granddaughter.”

Adina Olan: Chappaqua Business Owner and Enamored New Grandma

Former Chappaqua resident Adina Olan who owns Breathe Pilates and Yoga Studio on South Greeley Avenue eagerly took on her new role as a grandmother when her first grandchild Levi Joseph was born this past summer. Not only did Olan become a certified doula to become involved with her daughter Jordan’s pregnancy but she also stayed for a whole month post-partum to help her daughter and son-in-law, David with the baby.

“Levi is very playful and interactive. I babysit him and help with feedings. It’s very easy to spend a lot of time with him,” Olan says. And of course, being a Pilates instructor Levi gets “tummy time” to build a strong core when Olan comes for a visit.

Although Levi hasn’t turned one yet, Olan can’t wait for him to talk and to share giggles. She also is looking forward to doing activities with him such as taking long walks or trips to King Kone. She hopes to do many of the things that her and her husband Ross did with their three children, only this time with a bit of more patience.

Olan brings up a meme about being a grandparent that rings true for her. “With your own kids, you’ll make them a meal and say here, take it but this is what I have for you to eat. With your grandkids, you’ll ask them if they want their sandwich cut in hearts or stars,” she says with a chuckle.

Many of Olan’s clients were excited for her to become a grandma. “I wear my heart out on my sleeve to everyone in that studio. I’m involved in my clients lives and vice versa. They know everything about me.” Olan’s clients heard all about her daughter’s wedding, the pregnancy and when Levi was born.

Plus many knew Jordan well as she had moved back to Chappaqua during COVID and was often seen on Zoom mat Pilates classes taught by her mother. So, when Levi was born, Olan placed a photo of him in her weekly email which lists the class schedule at Breathe. Clients were overwhelmingly positive about it and now photos of him are featured frequently.

Olan is most impressed with how her kids have taken on their new role as parents. “Jordan and David are such good calm parents and it is showing up in Levi’s personality,” says Olan.

One of the things that you’ll notice about Olan is her sheer honesty. “When Levi was first born, he wasn’t doing much. I was very hands-on with him but my husband wasn’t. Now that Levi is a bit older, Ross is more interactive with him.” Olan was smitten right away with Levi but it took some time for her husband to realize just how great it is to be a grandparent. The last time Levi visited with them for an extended period, Ross finally realized “this kid is amazing. The baby bug had [officially] bit him,” Olan says happily.

Bea DeRose: Baking Grandma from Briarcliff Manor

Bea DeRose is a 30-year resident of Briarcliff Manor who raised two sons in town with her husband, Cesare. Today, the now retired DeRose has two sets of grandkids – Sabrina, 13 and Juliana, 8 who live in town and Esme, 4 and Max, a toddler who lives in Manhattan. Although their ages run the gamut, it is clear that Bea loves her role as “nana”, which is her preferred name.

Reminiscing on her role as nana, DeRose say that she got to spend a lot of time with Sabrina as a baby since she was her first grandchild. Although Sabrina is busy with school and sports, they still make time for each other and love going out for lunch together. With Juliana, DeRose loves to bake and cook. “She’s my baking partner. We make cookies and I taught her how to scramble eggs so I told her for Easter she has to make a dozen eggs for the family,” she laughs. “Juliana asks all types of questions like how does the digestive system work?’ she continues and DeRose who retired from the healthcare field, cherishes these types of conversations. “She really understands what I am telling her.”

With her younger Manhattan-based grandkids, DeRose loves watching them grow. “Esme is her own little person and changes costumes every 15 minutes so of course for Christmas, I bought her some princess costumes,” notes DeRose. Hearing the pride in her voice, DeRose delights in an anecdote about Esme this year in pre-K. “A new boy came to school in the middle of the year and Esme took him by the hand and introduced him to everyone and showed him the classroom. She is very kind and friendly.”

Being a boy mom herself, DeRose was over the moon when baby Max was born. “I waited for this guy for a while. He’s running around now trying to repeat what we are saying,” she says delightedly. “It is the best thing in the world being a nana. These kids are really a gift,” she sums up.

Fran Falk-Ross, A Fun-Loving and Active Pleasantville-Based Grandma

Dr. Fran Falk-Ross, chair of the department of education at Pace University in Manhattan loves spending time with both her city dwelling granddaughters as well as her suburban Maryland grandchildren along with her retired physician husband Stephen. With Maisie, 15 and Marlowe 13, she enjoys walking with them around the city to restaurants and Broadway shows as well as playing family favorites like Monopoly and cards.

With her younger suburban-based grandkids, six-year-old Jacob and four-year- old Sadie, they all pile into the car for family outings. She loves talking to them and their interaction. “I’m always surprised how much they learn and retain–you think they aren’t listening but they are.”

“Sadie told me that she learned about Martin Luther King and that he loves peas and so does she. I said he loves peace, not peas. There is always something to teach them,” Falk-Ross says with a chuckle and adds that they teach her things as well.

Even though Falk-Ross is in her 70s, she does a lot of sports with them especially the older grandkids including skiing, tennis, pickleball and ice skating. Once she even did the climb and zipline treetop adventure at the Bronx Zoo with Maisie and Marlowe.

She hopes her grandkids learn to take a chance whether it be pushing the little ones on the swings a bit higher or exploring new ideas and options. “I hope my grandkids can also learn to be purposeful and go for what they want and ask for what they want. I want them to feel good about their own ideas and ask questions with feeling accepted.

Carol Weston: An Armonk Author Who Loves Reading with Her Grandkids

Armonk resident Carol Weston, an author who appears frequently at the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival, has written more than a dozen books for children including such popular favorites as “Ava and Pip” and “Speed of Life.”

Although her books are written for an older audience, Weston always finds time to read to her two grandsons, Waylon, 3, and Frost,1. “I always have board books in my bag and there’s nothing like going to the library to get a stack of books that you and your grandchild like. “Some books you don’t mind reading a thousand times,” says the self-described “besotted” grandmother.

Although her grandchildren live in Montana and Maine, Weston and her husband Rob are happy to travel long distances to see them. “I was crying when Waylon was a baby and we had to say goodbye. Your heart is outside of your body in this whole other being. It is just this undiluted and unconditional love.”

Reflecting on her time as a parent, Weston said the hardest part of parenthood is trying to balance so many things. “As a grandparent, my job is all about enjoying them.”

And Weston surely does with trips to nearby Rochambeau Farm, the Central Park carousel, and ice cream outings. She and Rob tag team when watching the kids. “He’ll plop them in the wheelbarrow and take them around the yard and I’ll read to them. We help each other out and we realize this is a fleeting moment. So get in there and enjoy it,” she advises other grandparents.

Local Filmmaker Creates A First Full-Length Feature Film

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Dylan O’Keefe Presents: Zo in Exile

Moving to Chappaqua from the city during middle school wasn’t the easiest transition for Dylan O’Keefe. The now almost 30-year-old recalls that he wasn’t on any teams, nor did he do after school clubs. Instead he found solace in books and movies. He loved epic movies like the Star Wars series but also lesser-known horror/sci-fi movies such as Army of Darkness and The Thing. His mom who worked in book publishing fostered O’Keefe’s love of reading, film and strong storytelling.

But in addition to her, O’Keefe remembers Mr. Gilbert, his 7th grader English teacher at Robert E. Bell Middle School encouraging him to pursue creative writing. “I was a bit of a class clown–always getting in trouble,” he said. Whenever he had a book report, he used SparkNotes. However when he received a creative writing assignment, Mr. Gilbert initially accused him of plagiarism because it was far superior to anything else he had written. “My mom had to meet the principal. She told him that in my spare time, I would write fantasy stories in my room,” he now laughs when discussing the episode. Mr. Gilbert apologized and after that provided a lot of support for O’Keefe’s creative writing endeavors. “He told me I think your future may be writing,” O’Keefe recalls.

Fast forward almost two decades and O’Keefe is still writing stories. “I have at least 30 and some [stories] I have been writing and rewriting for 15-20 years.” O’Keefe graduated Horace Greeley in 2010 and entered the film industry after finishing a business degree at SUNY Albany in 2013. His father who worked in corporate A/V taught him a lot about camera/video equipment and operating microphones and video switchers.

Initially after graduation, O’Keefe worked on big budget productions, specializing in aerial photography. In 2017, he started his own video production company DOK Productions based out of Greenpoint, Brooklyn focusing on drone photography. His projects have included HBO’s Lovecraft Country, American Horror Story, Preacher and Seal Team. He’s also directed web series for Adult Swim and NY Fashion Week.

In his spare time, O’Keefe had created short films but with extra time on his hands during the pandemic, O’Keefe created his own first full-length independent feature film titled Zo in Exile. Heavily influenced by The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, the movie centers on Zo played by O’Keefe’s college friend Shiho Matsuoka. Zo and her friends escape for a weekend getaway in the quiet town of Exile, New York. But their bucolic vacation turns grim when Zo’s friends, fueled by debauchery, force her into a fantasy world where her only escape is to come to terms with her own destructive nature, according to the press materials.

Despite being low budget, O’Keefe paid everyone he hired for the film. “The goal was to employ people during the pandemic and make something fun while staying as COVID compliant as possible,” O’Keefe said. “Overall, I’m happy I was able to produce and film a full-length feature before I turned 30,” he said. The film has also been screened at several festivals both in the US and abroad and recently won an award for Best Fantasy Feature Film at France’s Hallucinea Film Festival.

O’Keefe hopes to inspire other young filmmakers with this project just as he was motivated years ago after speaking with Chappaqua-based screenwriter Mark Bomback who he read about in an article in Inside Chappaqua ten years ago. “Mark spoke about the good and bad parts of his career and what he learned along the way. It was a great experience to talk to someone in depth in the industry.”

“Young people today with their SmartPhones have way more powerful cameras and tools than anything that I had at 13.” He advises aspiring filmmakers experiment making movies. “They don’t have to be perfect but just try.”

And just like Bomback offered him advice years ago, O’Keefe said he’s willing to talk to any local high students interested in filmmaking.

To learn about scheduled screenings, visit Zo-in-exile.com. To reach out to O’Keefe, email him at info@dokproductions.com or check out his Twitter and Instagram Instagram.

Michael Shapiro’s VOICES Premieres, a Requiem Honoring Victims of the Holocaust

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More than 20 years ago, longtime Chappaqua resident Michael Shapiro found himself thumbing through a poetry compilation about the Holocaust written from the perspective of Jews in countries such as Greece, Italy and France at at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. The compilation, And The World Stood Silent: Sephardic Poetry of the Holocaust, chronicles the life of nearly 160,000 Sephardic Jews exiled from Spain in 1492 and who ultimately perished in the Holocaust.

At the time, Shapiro’s work focused primarily on curating concerts featuring music of Jews who had fled the Holocaust and emigrated to Hollywood such as Erich Wolfgang Korngold who scored several films most notably The Adventures of Robin Hood. Shapiro also organized concerts featuring music from composers who had lived in Teresienstadt, a ghetto in Czechoslovakia–a hotbed of musical creativity with composers such as Gideon Klein, Pavel Haas, Hans Krása and Viktor Ullmann residing there.

Shapiro lost about 75 members of his own family among the six million Eastern European Jews massacred during the Holocaust. He yearned for the chance to immerse himself in how the Holocaust impacted Jews in the countries included in the poetry compilation and to share his own family history. Shapiro was immediately moved by the literature. “The poetry hit me completely. It was so powerful,” recalls Shapiro. A few years ago, conductor Deborah Simpkin King of Ember Choral Arts, inspired him to write the 60-minute plus work and is conducting Shapiro’s piece, which took him just seven months to write. “It flew out of me,” explains Shapiro. Shapiro was intentional in having the piece be a requiem. “Nothing gets to people like the sound of a chorus with an orchestra,” he noted.

Shapiro has written more than 100 works for orchestral, theatrical, film, chamber, choral and vocal forces throughout his career. His works have been performed by many of the greatest orchestras and performers in North America and Europe and for years he served as the conductor of the Chappaqua Orchestra. His music has been played on BBC, National Public Radio, SiriusXM and is available on major platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.

Shapiro has always been interested in exploring themes such as prejudice and racial divisiveness in his music. In fact, one of Shapiro’s most well-known pieces is the score from Frankenstein which has been performed more than 50 times internationally. “I think I was attracted to Frankenstein because I was interested in the way the monster was depicted and treated as the other.”

Shapiro hopes his “Voices of the Holocaust” concerts “give a voice to people who no longer have a voice.” While the Nazis murdered six million Jews, they also targeted other groups such as Roma (gypsies), homosexuals and people with disabilities. This same hatred is happening today, Shapiro is quick to point out. He felt he had to write the piece now, especially with the number of Holocaust survivors dwindling each year to 300,000-350,000 survivors in 2022 according to the nonprofit Holocaust group, Claims Conference.

The premiere of the piece took place at Temple Shaaray Tefila on November 9th and at Manhattan’s famed Central Synagogue on November 10th. The timing was purposely chosen to coincide with the 84th anniversary of Kristallnacht, ‘The Night of Broken Glass’, when Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues and homes were destroyed by the Nazis in Germany and in Nazi occupied territories in Austria and Czechoslovakia. In the two-day spree of massive violence against the Jews, 30,000 Jewish males were arrested and sent to prisons or concentration camps.

The premiere at Central Synagogue also included a Q & A session with Paul Shaffer, the former musical director and band leader of Late Night with David Letterman. It also featured tenor soloist Daniel Mutlu, the Senior Cantor of Central Synagogue and the American Modern Ensemble. “Mutlu has a phenomenal voice. He really is one of the greatest cantors in the country,” exclaims Shapiro.

On the Horizon

The concert will also debut at the Reagan Library in California performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and conducted by Grant Gershon. The LA performance will coincide with the Auschwitz exhibition at the library for ten months starting this spring. The moving exhibition originally was showcased at the Museum of Jewish Heritage–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in downtown New York City. Visit MichaelShapiro.com.