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This Wild and Precious Life

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“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Mary Oliver, The Summer Day

Grace Bennett
PHOTO BY DONNA MUELLER

Many ponder that question as time marches on. As goals and desires unrealized gnaw at me, I’m taking Oliver’s challenge to heart. On our home page, you will find a genealogy story, a real-life cousin who found me doing research of family lost in the Holocaust! The revelation further inspired me to revisit yellowing documents from my dad’s horrific experiences surviving Auschwitz, and to hopefully undertake translating my grandfather’s manuscript of surviving that horrendous war in hiding, and reuniting with my dad in Israel, after the rest of his family was killed. And about growing up ‘in the shadow’. I may have a memoir in the making if I can do my best to stay focused.

In time for Mother’s and Father’s Day and graduations, enjoy stories about new & expectant families, a second ‘Portraits and Profiles’ column sharing peace-enhancing practices plus a lovely essay about a special mother/daughter bond.

Here too are spotlights on two great County leaders. A cover story by Alexa Troob emphasizes Vedat Gashi’s focus on cooperation and collaboration. Via Deborah Notis’s interview with Westchester County Executive George Latimer, we learn about a hardworking, results-achieving leader! Other stories include ones about a local rock band, The Station Agents, and another, about a humble World War II vet, Sargent Dan Santagata.

A second cover story (by yours truly!) is about a local dad who just happens to also be a two-time Grammy winner and mastering engineer — Joe LaPorta! Joe’s latest Grammy was for Miley Cyrus’s FLOWERS! I had fun learning how LaPorta, and those in his field of expertise, enhance a song’s sound so that its melody really sticks!

I’m particularly excited to present the indomitable Benjamin Cheever’s engaging cover story about the globe-trotting adventures of award-winning documentary team Susan Todd and Andrew Young. We also think you will appreciate a close-up of Pleasantville High School’s beloved Principal Joseph Palumbo. Two articles by Christine Pasqueralle are one about the Briarcliff Manor Library’s Poetry Café, and a second about the much beloved Briarcliff Manor fundraiser – affectionately called Mezzapalooza. Please also don’t miss our update about the upcoming lineup at the ever-beautiful Caramoor, or the breaking news about the Jacob Burns Film Center’s opening of Take 3, a new Wine Bar and Cafe! Here too is an announcement of the lineup of the Pleasantville Music Festival which we are lending a helping hand to this year, too, as a media sponsor.

Plus, as always, there’s ‘much more’.  Just take a look!

If I’ve missed anyone or anything, we will surely catch up with you one day, as we love to do!

I’m forever grateful to all our contributors and advertisers — I’d like you to know that advertising revenue remains vital for bringing these independently-produced editions to a wide swath of Northern Westchester ‘and beyond’  (to some 75,000 readers not even counting the internet reach of many thousands more with each publishing cycle), so in our 21st year of publishing that includes some true milestones including a recent 20-year anniversary or Inside Chappaqua, a current 10-year anniversary for Inside Armonk and five-year one for Inside Briarcliff Manor & Pleasantville, please contact us ‘for the first time’ if you have ever contemplated a print plus online (a powerful combo!) sponsorship, or ‘revisit’ us if you have in the past! 

We’re still cooking, but make no mistake about it, we need you!

More than ever, in fact, we also appreciate reader support. Another way to help us keep the issues coming is a digital subscription that opens up a decade of content to you (ask us how to unlock a story permanently too, or over the long term): https://www.theinsidepress.com/subscriptions/

It’s truly a privilege producing well regarded magazines in the beautiful hills of Northern Westchester. So, as I retreat to behind-the-scenes projects and pursuits, please know I’m still very much here, and confident that our magazines’ ‘day to day’ responsibilities are in capable hands with associate publisher/editor, Elise Trainor. Elise will be giving you The Inside Scoop each issue.

Here’s wishing you warm, bright days ahead in your own precious lives.  

 

BACK TO COOL: A Balancing Act

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Beth Head shotWasn’t it just yesterday we were hunkered down, huddled and hibernating? Summer couldn’t come fast enough and then, blink, it’s almost over.

Unfortunately, we can’t stop time. But we can reframe our approach to its inevitable passage. In that spirit, we present our latest issue, not so much as a Back to School reminder but, instead, a Back to Cool primer.

There’s a growing sense of awareness that we’re becoming ever more over-extended, and that the very things that were supposed to make life easier are, instead, making it more stressful. Our smartphones were supposed to allow us more freedom, but, too often, we’re hostage to their ringtones, alerts, vibrations. We’ve gone from a largely understood and widely accepted schedule of work/play balance to an expectation of 24/7 availability. What’s more, these devices frequently separate us from each other, even when we’re actually together!

Additionally, we’re paying more attention to the long-term negative effects of pressure, and it’s affect on mental health, particularly that of our children. Where even one report is one too many, sadly, there has been a seeming onslaught of recent suicide stories focusing primarily on high school and college-aged children and young adults. While the media is varied–from newer online publications like the Huffington Post to venerable print publications like The New York Times–the message is consistent: Pressure, and in particular, performance pressure–whether social, education, sports-related and/or arts-related–is overwhelming our young people and making them vulnerable. Something needs to change.

We’re proud to have published two related articles last December, Time To Talk by Janine Crowley Haynes and When It’s Personal by Rich Klein, on this very topic; prouder still that the Mental Health Association of Westchester has chosen to honor the Inside Press and Publisher Grace Bennett with a “MHA Media Award” for consistent and in depth coverage on topics related to mental health in recent years. I know Janine and Rich’s stories resonated with our readers, and that they were further shared far and wide. Ultimately, that’s what makes us most proud; the opportunity to shed light, share information and help to bring about much needed change.

I have two college-aged children, and, while their paths have certainly had bumps along the way, I like to think they’ve both come to relatively “good places” in their lives. Still, it’s part of my Mom job description to worry. When kids are away at school, that worry becomes more abstract, but those aforementioned stories bring it up close, and make me long for my kids and for a real live hug, not a virtual xoxo.

No, virtual worlds just aren’t good enough. As an empty nester, I realize my kids’ time at home is ever more limited and I enjoy them all the more for knowing that. I felt particularly fortunate that my daughter returned home to work another summer as a day camp counselor. There’s still nothing like a casual car conversation or a shared day of shopping to truly open the lines of communication. I’ll admit that we do our fair share of small screen surfing, but, as she points out, her generation did not grow up on iPads. I read old-school, page-filled paper books to both my children every night, and “screen time” limits were really just about the TV.

It’s very interesting to hear my daughter’s perspective on the generation that’s up and coming. For example, she found it fascinating and, in her words, “a little scary”, that the campers on her bus seemed, initially, quite out of sorts without their handheld devices (per camp rules, these were not allowed). However, the brighter news is that she was able to redirect them; they played trivia games, she brought them lanyard, they listened to music, they engaged with each other. In other words, balance was achieved.

Maybe that’s what is truly best, truly special, about these two months that we so look forward to during the other ten. Balance! As we head into a new season, I wish everyone a sense of balance. Get out and take a hike; we’ve got some great suggestions in Adventures in Armonk. Let your kids and their imaginations run free in one of the many Playgrounds we’ve discovered. Join friends and make new ones at the annual Armonk Outdoor Art Show. Love present-day Armonk? Why not Celebrate the History of North Castle as well? And, when you’re ready, do take some time to get to know Dr. Donohue and the New Byram Hills PTSA; we’ve got these stories and more in the pages ahead.

Enjoy,

-Beth

P.S.: A special thank you note for the terrific work provided by college intern Sarah Jane Weill; from a first-person report of Armonk’s new First Thursday event to a story on the annual Outdoor Art Show to an essay on college advice for freshman, Sarah Jane balanced it all with talent, enthusiasm and professionalism.