The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Cover Stories

Seven Chappaqua Dads Are Rockin’ Out

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(L-R) Jason Asch (drums), Seth Corwin (bass guitar and vocals), Mike Liebowitz (guitar), Greg Renza (keyboards and vocals), Glen Carnes (lead guitar and vocals), Jordan Saletan (saxophone), Eric Negrin (guitar and vocals).
PHOTO BY JESSICA PASCHKES/PRETTY PICTURES MARKETING

I was supposed to be flying to Florida in a few hours, but when I heard the other six guys were available for the gig, I moved my flight. There was no way I was missing Garcia’s,” said Jordan Saletan, saxophonist for the Chappaqua rock band, The Station Agents. They were just offered their biggest gig yet, a headlining set at Garcia’s Bar inside the legendary Capitol Theater in Port Chester, where their childhood heroes performed.

The Station Agents formed like many great bands before them: from a big impromptu jam session at a party. The jam led to an email list that led to rehearsals for nothing yet in particular. “Then pretty quickly it was whittled down to the seven of us from Chappaqua. And then it just stuck,” said Saletan. Unlike a lot of bands, The Station Agents didn’t grow up together. In fact, their kids are currently growing up together. “We knew each other through our kids. At least one person was connected to everyone else, and then we just came together and finally all met at our first rehearsal,” said Saletan. The Station Agents hold their practices at the Chappaqua Transportation garage where the school buses are kept, which is owned by a member of the band. “We’re a true garage band,” said Saletan. Their logo is even of a school bus. If they ever open up a Dad-Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, it would be difficult to think of a more fitting image.

“We have very eclectic tastes, but we try to pick songs that most of the crowd are going to know so they want to sing and dance along. That always comes first for us,” said Saletan. All seven members of the band bring their own unique tastes and influences, but all come from a bedrock of classic rock. “We started with all the old stuff like Bruce, The Stones, Tom Petty, and the Allman Brothers, then slowly branched out. Now we do a big block of 90s music and even some Disco too.” Not only is the band a whopping seven musicians, they have four singers. If you’re wondering if it’s common to find a seven-piece rock band that includes three guitarists, a saxophonist, and four vocalists – it’s not. “Having four singers really makes us unique because everyone has their own range and specialties.”

“A couple years ago my son sat in on alto sax and Mike’s son sat in on trombone,” said Saletan. Situations like this are something of a holy grail scenario in dad rock as the schedules of the kids can be as busy as those of the adults. Saletan laments the fact that they haven’t been able to recreate the moment or get the kids around for every show, especially as many of them are held in bars and pubs, but he’s beyond grateful for the support The Station Agents’ friends and family have shown them. With seven dads, no matter who is able to show up on any given day, they still have quite the audience and cheering section for their gigs. And what more could a rock star hope for than that?

“One of our guitarists has a friend who underwent a double lung transplant, so we’re honored to be able to play the Benefit for the Transplant Forum at Columbia University Irving Medical Center again after the success of last year,” said Saletan. The event will take place on Saturday May 4 at Captain Lawrence Brewing, Elmsford. On June 8th, they will perform at the First Annual Greeley Sports Boosters Bash, a fundraiser at the Captain Lawrence Barrel House, Mt Kisco. “All of us are Chappaqua dads, so we’re really excited about this one!” said Saletan. The Station Agents will perform for their third year at the Chappaqua Summer Concert Series on Wednesday, July 17, at Recreation Field Gazebo, Chappaqua, and will make their debut at the Briarcliff Manor Summer Concert Series on Thursday July 25, at Law Park, Briarcliff Manor. Visit thestationagents.com And their Youtube at: youtube.com/@stationagentsband

The Cousin Publisher Discovered through Genealogy Research of Holocaust Victims

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Gitel Dunkel in pre-war Lodz is a common connection: Gitel is Grace’s grandmother and Gail’s 2nd cousin twice removed.

Learning about your family through genealogy research is a lot of work but also a fabulous puzzle. And, who knows, maybe you will find a neighbor cousin who is the publisher & editor in chief of Inside Press magazines – like I did!

While I am interested in learning about where my family came from, like so many Jewish Americans, I grew up with the idea that any family remaining in Europe during the Second World War perished. I am very interested in learning about family branches that survived so I can learn more about who is still here and thriving today.

The Inside Press’s publisher Grace Bennett and I are both named after paternal grandmothers – both named Gitel – who were born just a year apart in the late 1880s. They both spent much of their adult lives in the outskirts of Lodz, Poland. However, by the time Grace’s father was born in 1923, my grandparents had immigrated to the United States, and would soon have a general store in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

Abraham Dunkel in Brooklyn, after immigrating from Lodz, Poland in 1920: Gail’s grandfather and Grace’s second cousin twice removed.

My father was born in New York four years after Grace’s father was born in Poland. While both families ended up in New York, and Grace and I both ended up in Westchester, the paths to getting here were very different. Grace’s father was a Holocaust survivor, eventually arriving in the United States from Israel after the Second World War, while my father grew up in the security of the U.S., and had the opportunity to go to college, eventually getting a PhD in chemistry. Grace’s dad, who never finished high school after surviving numerous labor camps and Auschwitz in his teen years, worked as a maintenance supervisor for most of his career at Yeshiva University.

Gail (4th from left) with her kids, husband, and significant others in Santa Fe for her 60th birthday.

My path to learning that Grace Bennett is my fourth cousin started with tugging on a loose thread in my Dunkel family tree. An online testimonial and some other documents mentioned a Gitel Dunkel – or maybe Gucca Dunkel – who was married to a Mr. Brajtbard. Or maybe a Mr. Bretsztejn? But Gitel lived in the right place and was possibly related, so it was time to dig deeper.

I found a wonderful interview from a Holocaust survivor, Jacob Breitstein, where he mentioned his mother’s name: Gitel Dunkel. And then after a few confusing twists since Dunkel was transcribed as Dunnel, I found a marriage certificate. Of course it was in Russian, but, after translation, I confirmed Gitel’s link to my family, and to her son Jacob Breitstein, and eventually to a meeting over coffee with my cousin, Gitel’s granddaughter, editor Grace Bennett – who lives just a town away! Imagine that.

Words that Inspire at the Poetry Café at the Briarcliff Manor Public Library

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Zach Gerstein, founder of BMPL’s Poetry Café
PHOTO BY EVAN TRAINOR

Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility” said William Wordsworth in 1798. Centuries later, poetry may not be flying off the shelves, but there is still a massive and loyal audience. Since October 2022, the Briarcliff Manor Public Library (BMPL) has been hosting Poetry Café events where poets from all walks of life can come, share, and be inspired by one another’s works. And you do not have to be a professional to participate.

The café was started by Zach Gerstein, the library’s Reference Librarian, who stated, “I have been hosting poetry events since autumn 2009, when I ran the Peripatetic Poetry Corps at the Bean Runner Café in Peekskill. Since then, I’ve done series in Mahopac and Putnam Valley.” Gerstein continued, “The Poetry Café here at the BMPL was modeled after the very successful poetry café at the Florida Public Library, in Orange County, NY, which I have attended for nearly 15 years”.

Robert Milby, who was Orange County’s Poet Laureate from 2017-19 has hosted many of the Florida Library poetry cafés over the years. They began there in 2006 after a poetry reading series was suggested by its former Library Director, Madelyn Folino. The library hosts one reading per season and it consists of featured poets and an open reading, all hosted by Milby. The featured poets tend to be local to the greater Hudson Valley and the series has flourished after almost 18 years.

Gerstein has organized five cafés at BMPL since October 2022. Past cafés have featured poets Mary Wu, Bill Greenfield, Malcolm Netburn, Sean Singer, Sarah Bracey White, David Rigsbee, Vincent Bell, Jared Harél, Jared Beloff, Ellen Devlin, and Juan Mobili. The April 2024 event is slated to include Barb Jennes and Harriet Shenkman and there is a café in the works for July with Mary Lou Butler and Kristine Esser Slentz.

A great deal of enthusiasm for the cafés has been expressed by both the poets and the public at large. Sarah Bracey White says, “This was an opportunity to go where no one knows me and I can be part of a writing community. There is no judgement and people are responding to the poets’ content. It encourages people to express themselves through poetry. Poets in the audience don’t feel intimidated by others – it’s an encouraging environment for everyone to share their works.” White was happily surprised during her first visit to the BMPL Café when she headed to the second floor and saw a quote of her own stenciled onto the wall. It reads “Libraries showed me the world beyond my limited horizon.”

Bill Greenfield has been participating in various poetry readings throughout the Hudson Valley for the past ten years, which is how he met Gerstein. He describes his work as “down to earth” and his fourth book of poetry, The Ever-Shrinking Universe was recently published by Broadstone Books.

Mary Wu sees the café as a way to make poetry more accessible and less intimidating as well as bring the community together through artistic expression. “When I was growing up, poetry always seemed like this esoteric and mysterious genre of writing. However, it is thanks to Reference Librarian Zach Gerstein and (former) Library Director Donna Pesce for dispelling this myth by bringing the poetry cafe to the Briarcliff Manor Public Library”, Wu said. “I had the pleasure of sharing my poems from my poetry book Kaliedoscope (available on Amazon) at the very first poetry café that had an amazing turnout of audience members and supporters and eclectic and gifted poets sharing their works and writings. It was such a warm and welcoming place to be that shed light to the power of words through poetry.”

Reaction to the café has been extremely enthusiastic. They’re a wonderful way to help bring community members together. Gerstein said, “So far, most people prefer to just listen to our featured readers instead of signing up for the open mic” – but perhaps that may change in the near future. Upcoming café events will take place exclusively on Saturday afternoons, as that time slot tends to work best. People enjoy the social aspect of coming to the café. “Usually, they begin to arrive about 30 minutes before the readings and stick around afterwards for a good long while to chit-chat.”

The BMPL poetry cafés have become a new staple for the library and its community. They have brought together many talented writers sharing their stories and have hopefully inspired others in attendance to do the same. As White told me, “Life seduces my pen and poetry helps me arrange my thoughts about it.”

Pleasantville High School Principal Offers Optimism & Foresight to Prepare Students for the Future

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By Miriam Gold and Michael Gold
PHS Principal Joe Palumbo
Photo by Donna Mueller

Joe Palumbo has shown that it is possible to be a high school principal, a sunny optimist, and a vigilant leader who’s up to date on fundamental economic and social trends and has prepared his students for the best future they can get – all combined in one person.

The principal of Pleasantville High School (PHS) for the last 10 years, Palumbo possesses a ready smile that could light up a moonless midnight at a deserted train station.

To help provide the students with the necessary skills to succeed after high school, Palumbo has introduced various programs to allow them to “chase their dreams,” he said.

PHS’s Project Lead the Way (PLTW) program offers four years of computer science courses, including advanced computer science principles, advanced placement computer science and cybersecurity, in addition to computer science essentials.

The high school is collaborating with Syracuse University on teaching a science research elective course. Students in their sophomore year get to choose the topic they wish to study independently over a three-year period, from the subject areas of biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, mathematics, and the social sciences.

They work with research scientists and industry professionals specializing in the student’s chosen field of research. The students are required to make use of existing online research in the field. They must maintain a portfolio of their work, for evaluation by an assigned mentor. Students can earn up to 12 college credits and three Regents credits.

In terms of the humanities, Syracuse is partnering with PHS to teach African American studies, and Women and Gender Studies. Called Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA), PHS educators who wish to teach the courses must complete a summer training institute at Syracuse to comply with SUPA’s instructional standards and become university adjunct professors in the process. PHS currently has three teachers who have obtained SUPA certification. Students completing SUPA courses can get college credit.

PHS also works with Mercy University and Westchester Community College (WCC) to provide students a plethora of math classes, from pre-Calculus to AP Statistics, which earn them college credits at WCC.

Students who want to pursue a vocational career can enroll in the career and technical education programs at the Southern Westchester BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services) Career Services in Valhalla. They attend academic classes for half the day at PHS, then go to Valhalla to obtain training in their chosen field of study, including everything from automotive technology, interior design, computer information systems, and commercial art to construction, plumbing, nursing, cosmetology, and culinary arts.

Photo by Donna Mueller

To help aid seniors make the transition from PHS to college or a vocational career, the school has set up an internship program that runs from mid-May to mid-June. Students can elect to work for a business, or corporation, or local government, such as doing clerical work at a law office, assist at an auto body shop, or even go on an overseas business trip with their parents. Or, they can choose to pursue an independent study project, such as learning a second language.

“One student restored a boat, with an expert,” Palumbo said. Another student organized a fund-raising event for the performing arts. A third helped renovate the locker rooms at Parkway Field.

“Our top priority is making sure they (the students) have access to all the opportunities,” Palumbo said, explaining his educational philosophy.

“I always encourage them to remain life-long learners. This allows you to remain current. Students will have many different jobs over their 30-year careers. If you don’t remain curious, you’ll fall behind. We don’t want kids to be stuck in one mindset as the world evolves.”

Palumbo also emphasizes that students need to “take stock of what’s important to them and pursue that relentlessly. Think about what gets you the most excited and follow that.”

Palumbo, an educator for more than 20 years, with stints as an assistant principal in Connecticut and a social studies teacher in Brewster, said he tells students to remember the words carved in stone at the school’s entrance, “Enter to learn, go forth to serve.” Also, he advised: “Take real pride in what you do, carve out the time to give back and light up the world with kindness.”

Miriam Gold is a Pleasantville High School senior. Michael Gold is a Pleasantville-based writer.

Embracing Spring & Summer 2024 Fashion Trends

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Just as spring orchestrates the grand symphony of nature’s rebirth, fashion choreographs its own seasonal ballet, where trends from the past pirouette back onto the runway. Spring/Summer 2024 fashion embraces practicality, versatility, and authenticity with a nostalgic nod to the past that’s not merely revisited but revitalized, offering a fresh perspective on timeless classics.

The Foundation of Style: Practicality and Versatility

This season, the focus lies on establishing a foundation of essentials. Designers are seen championing staple pieces that epitomize versatility and practicality. Prioritize investing in quality pieces that will last while being budget-conscious when experimenting with trends through accessorizing. Everyday basics serve as the base upon which one can effortlessly participate in trends while maintaining a sustainable wardrobe.

The White T-Shirt and Beyond: A Neutral Canvas

The white t-shirt emerges as the chameleon of the closet, seamlessly blending with its minimalist charm. As the building block for the ultimate capsule wardrobe, the white tee serves as a neutral canvas for endless outfit combinations. Alongside it, the white button-down offers endless possibilities; whether crafted from cotton, linen, or silk, these staple pieces are reliable.

A silk maxi skirt epitomizes versatility, transitioning effortlessly from day to night with a simple shoe change. Crafted from breathable fabric, its lightweight material ensures effortless wear while maintaining a polished look. Opting for black, or any neutral color, amplifies the skirt’s versatility, ensuring its place as a staple piece season after season.

Light-wash jeans are an indispensable addition to your spring wardrobe, echoing the season’s vibrant spirit with their fresh appeal. As denim takes center stage in the S/S ‘24 2024 fashion scene, light wash is an enduring addition to your wardrobe, perfect for every spring season ahead. Whether you opt for the rediscovered love of 90’s straight-leg or explore wide-leg styles, considering a pair of ankle-length denim enhances versatility.

Trends: Spring/Summer 2024 Fashion Flourishes with Accessories

As the foundation is now laid with a wardrobe set for mixing and matching, it’s time to embrace the trends of Spring/Summer 2024. Accessorizing becomes the key to navigating trends with personal flair, channeling the spirit of individuality. Accessories lie not just in their aesthetic appeal but in the creative journey they inspire.

Nostalgia Reimagined: Bows, Ballet Flats and The Oversized Look

Bows have emerged as the standout feature of Spring/Summer 2024, dominating the runway and social media. Adding a sophisticated yet youthful accent to any ensemble, bows know no bounds, adorning everything from dresses to sweaters, to pocketbooks and shoes. Both welcoming and accessible, offering various ways of application, bows invite creation and nostalgia into your wardrobe. From replacing sneaker laces with ribbon, wrapping a bow around the handles of a bag, or adding a nostalgic touch to any hairstyle, there’s no wrong way to incorporate bows.

Just like the cycle of nature gifts us with blossoming flowers each spring, fashion follows the same cycle bringing back the ballet flat. Many impressive comeback designers are reimagining the classic style, offering variations from Mary janes to pointed-toe, mesh ballet flats and even those embellished with rhinestones. A simple way to add color to any outfit, red ballet flats, have become a social media sensation. Comfortably transitioning from day to night ballet flats effortlessly pair with any style of pants, from oversized jeans to sleek trousers.

Oversized totes have reclaimed the spotlight. From slouchy shoulder bags to elongated totes, Spring 2024 designers have focused on chic functionality. Showcasing the oversized bag with an overstuffed look adorned with accessories, designers encourage innovative silhouettes for everyone every day while encouraging personal style.

The prominence of the oversized look extends beyond bags to sunglasses, with large, playful frames making their mark, protecting you from UVs and those unexpected run-ins. While timeless classics remain a wardrobe staple, designers are reviving retro elements with a modern twist, revamping styles like the classic aviator and cat-eye with larger rims and colorful lenses. These oversized accessories serve as staple pieces, offering a noncommittal yet impactful way to experiment with trends and effortlessly elevate any outfit.

Embracing Individuality: Personal Style & Sustainability

S/S ‘24 fashion encourages a return to authenticity, functionality, and timelessness. As consumers, reclaiming our power entails focusing on strategic and purposeful consumerism helping protect our wardrobes, our wallets, and our world.

Start with a foundation of versatility and opt for the classics – invest in staple pieces and don’t break the bank with trends. With the past making a comeback, I urge you to rediscover your old favorites by delving into the depths of your closet or exploring pieces you’ve saved in the attic. Rummage through your crafts bin for some ribbon or embark on a nostalgic trip to your local thrift. Part of the joy lies in the hunt.

Trends are simply guidelines; fashion is what you make it. When you take an individual approach from the inspiration of current trends you will be amazed at what you can create. I challenge you to embrace the nostalgia and play with trends through your own style. Have fun with it!