The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

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Chappaqua Author Suzanne Chazin’s Forthcoming Crime Novel & Launch Event

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Editor’s Note: As we went to press, we received the following news from the Publisher of Suzanne Chazin’s new book The Fragile Edge:

“Suzanne Chazin, an award-winning author based in Chappaqua, has received much acclaim for her Westchester County-set crime fiction novels featuring Puerto Rican police detective Jimmy Vega. Hailed by Lee Child as “first rate and highly recommended,” the first five installments in the series have been praised for their compelling plots and multi-dimensional characters as much as the author’s thoughtful portrayal of the lives of immigrants, both documented and undocumented. The sixth installment in Chazin’s Jimmy Vega Mystery series, The Fragile Edge, will be released by Kensington Publishing on August 30, 2021.

The Fragile Edge is an engrossing mystery with a ripped-from-the-headlines plot, as a sniper attack believed to be organized by a white supremacist group sends Detective Jimmy Vega on a white-knuckled hunt for both the perpetrator and an undocumented Guatemalan girl who is the sole witness of the shooting.

A graduate of Northwestern University, Chazin worked for two decades in journalism, winning several national awards. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, People, Family Circle, Reader’s Digest, and Inside Chappaqua. She’s taught fiction and non-fiction writing at New York University, The New School for Social Research, and Sarah Lawrence College. She was a 2012 writing fellow at the State University of New York at Purchase and is a frequent guest lecturer on writing at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. Chazin, a first-generation American, also has worked with several immigrant organizations in Westchester County, NY. She was inspired to write the Jimmy Vega series after spending a year and a half interviewing immigrants at an outreach center and compiling their anonymous personal stories.

Suzanne Chazin will be discussing and signing The Fragile Edge at an in-person launch event on Sunday, September 19, 2021 at Scattered Books (29 King St. Chappaqua). To pre-order and RSVP for the event, please email info@scatteredbooks.com. For more information on Suzanne Chazin and The Fragile Edge, visit www.SuzanneChazin.com.

Remembering Lawrence Otis Graham

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Lawrence Otis Graham in 2015. Photo courtesy of Michael N. Meyer/Cuddy & Feder LLP

If you were lucky enough to know Lawrence Otis Graham, he would greet you with his mile-wide smile and twinkling eyes, so happy to see you. Whether he was in a hurry or not, he took the time to chat and ask how you were doing and catch up. He always had time for his friends and neighbors.

Lawrence Otis Graham, Chappaqua resident, respected attorney, author, media commentator, board member and lifelong advocate for diversity passed away on February 19, 2021. He was 59 years old and is survived by his wife, Pamela Thomas-Graham, two sons, Gordon and Harrison, a daughter Lindsey and his brother, Dr. Richard Graham. He graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. Graham was an attorney at the White Plains law firm Cuddy & Feder. Graham was one of the most widely read Black writers of the 1990s and is well-known for his 1992 New York magazine cover story, “Invisible Man,” about his experience working in a restaurant at the Greenwich Country Club. He recounted the racism, sexism and anti-Semitism he encountered as a bus boy. The bestselling author of 14 non-fiction books about politics, education, race and class in America, Graham’s work includes the books, The Senator and The Socialite: The Story of America’s First Black Political Dynasty and Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class, his New York Times and national bestseller that is currently under development by Fox Entertainment as a television series based on this book. 

A dear friend …

Graham showed promise from his childhood. Stacey Blaustein Divack has known Graham since the 7th grade in the White Plains Schools, and their friendship lasted through the years, especially when they found themselves both living in Chappaqua. She has many memories of her dear friend. “Larry was a super high achiever. He was the Editor-in-Chief of ‘The Orange,’ our high school paper. He was principled, not political and determined to publish the truth. He was tireless, did his homework and left no stone unturned.” She also recalls from her high school days, “As a leader, he took ownership of issues and coming up with solutions. He followed his dreams and despite some tough situations and racial hinderances, he overcame. He would never attain his goals by the wrong means. It was hard work and honesty.” He was a great friend. “If you called him, he was there, or he beat you to being there.” Family was so important to Graham. “He came from parents who cared so much, and he was very hands-on with his own children.” And she adds, “Larry had an inner spark that radiated and permeated everything he did. He wanted to make a mark in the world. He had his own unique style: brilliance, warmth, caring, humbleness. He was such a warm soul.”

Thanks to Vanessa Williams and her mother Helen, the Grahams settled in Chappaqua in 1998.

Helen Williams recalls, “Vanessa found the house and encouraged Larry to take a look telling him here’s where you should come, the schools are great and it’s a great piece of property–and he bought it.” Mrs. Williams has been a friend of the family for 30 years having met Graham’s mother Betty as fellow members of  LINKS. “Each year Larry would bring me a poinsettia for Christmas. And he did again this year. It was always something I looked forward to. We had a special connection and talked a lot. He listened well to suggestions and advice almost as if I was a mother mentor for him.” What will she miss most? “His eager smile and his laugh, everything about the essence of him. He had so much more to offer. He was always working on something and always looking forward. I will miss his presence on this earth, how much he gave and how much more he had to give.”

Graham was the Chair of the Westchester County Police Board. County Executive George Latimer wrote, “I met him when he and his wife Pam–a talented and successful executive in her own right–lived in White Plains and I was going door-to-door running for re-election as a County Legislator. I walked away from that front door meeting knowing I had just met an impressive man… and he was that and more over the 25 plus years of our friendship.”

A grateful person …

Political differences never defined his personal relationships according to Tara Rosenblum, News 12 Reporter/Anchor. Graham appeared on the weekly Newsmakers program as a political analyst and was often on air election nights. “Lawrence was able to have a political disagreement and separate it from your friendship. He was always there on a moment’s notice. You could ask him about any topic and he could expand on it like an accordion, filling in as much time that was needed to a commercial break. He had incredible political insights and intuition but, what I found most impressive about him with all his achievements, he never forgot the little things people did for him along the way. He was just such a deeply grateful person.”

A good neighbor …

Former New Castle Supervisor Barbara Gerrard has some reflections on Graham. “Larry was the quintessential Renaissance man, but more than that to people in Chappaqua, he was a neighbor, a dad, a concerned friend, the kind of good person we all strive to be. I first met Larry when he was running for Congress. I had just been elected to the New Castle Town Board, and he reached out to offer his assistance in any way he could. It was always his way to offer help, advice, or just an attentive ear, to anyone who needed it. He had that overarching ability to connect with everyone he met, an ability enhanced by his genuine concern with neighbors and friends. It is difficult to accept that his presence will no longer grace our community.”  

Graham could be seen in local shops all over town. Gerrard continues, “He took advantage of everything Chappaqua had to offer. When his children were young, you’d often find him bringing them to Town, especially to the Chappaqua Library, his favorite destination.”  Not only a visitor to the library, but Graham also did an author talk about his book, Member of the Club: Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized World. 

When former Town Supervisor and School Board member Janet Wells was forming the Chappaqua School Foundation, Graham helped to bring awareness to the organization. He hosted free events, among them a pre-college program about his Ten Point Plan for College Acceptance, the book he wrote while a student at Princeton. Wells worked with him on his 1999 Congressional campaign doing fundraising and was often with Graham on the trail. “Larry had energy and enthusiasm, and he had a lot to offer. It’s really sad he never became a Congressman; he would have contributed so much.” Graham returned the favor to Wells. “He was kind and helped me with my campaign. I always knew I could call him. He would recognize a problem and something he could do to help even before I would even ask. He was such a sensitive person. One of the things I loved about him was how he seized all the opportunities to enjoy life.”

Nichelle Maynard-Elliott, co-chair of the New Castle Council on Race and Equity, has a long history with Graham. “I first met Larry as a first-year summer associate at Weil Gotshal. He was a warm and friendly face and personality. He generously offered his support and guidance as an older, full time associate. Our paths crossed again much later in life as our children attended the Armonk Montessori together, and we discovered we were neighbors in Chappaqua. His warm smile and infectious enthusiasm were consistent for the 30 years I knew him.”

President Bill Clinton shares his thoughts. “Hillary and I liked and admired Larry very much, and we enjoyed the chance to get to know him over the last 20 years. We’re grateful that, in addition to shining a light on the role of race and class throughout our history and in our present day, he used his many gifts to make Chappaqua and Westchester better, stronger, and more inclusive. His passing is a big loss for the community, and our thoughts are with his family and all the people whose lives he touched.”

A beautiful soul …

At his funeral service, on February 27th at the Grace Episcopal Church in White Plains, his wife Pamela spoke about what Graham would want all of us to remember. There were four things: Never give up, have no ego, be a light in the world, and savor the moment. And she added, “be kind.” Lawrence Otis Graham was all that. He leaves us with quite a legacy in his 59 years on this Earth, and a big void now. Maya Angelou said, “A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.” Lawrence Otis Graham, the great and beautiful soul that he was, has done just that. 

Statement from the New Castle Council on Race & Equity:

While Lawrence Otis Graham was not an official member of the CRE, he certainly stands out as a prominent BIPOC member of the Town of New Castle. He wrote compellingly about growing up upper-middle-class and Black, and the pressures of navigating these two sometimes conflicting identities. Our neighbor’s unique voice on the challenges of living in a white world while holding on to Black culture will be missed.

‘Memories Live Here’

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Maggie sipped her tea, then said, “But I’ve lived here for 45 years. This is my home. All my memories live here.”

This is just a scene from my recently published novel, Memories Live Here. Maggie is just a fictional character. 

Despite its title, Memories Live Here (available on Amazon and locally at Scattered Books) is not a book about “memories” of my life in Chappaqua or Brooklyn or Chicago or any of the other places I’ve lived. It’s a thriller mystery and family drama about three brothers who uncover their dead mother’s diaries (her friend Maggie’s been keeping them), and how a “rendezvous” with artificial intelligence helps them discover the hidden truth behind their father’s mysterious death. While not autobiographical, each character does seem to carry traits of the people I’ve known throughout my life.

Two years removed from our life in Chappaqua, I realize the title of my book is very much true. Our “memories” do reside in the places we’ve lived, ready to jump back into our heads.

My wife Hildy and I raised our two children on Deerfield Road, where we lived for over twenty years. In Chappaqua, I often thought my nickname was “Oh, you’re Hildy’s husband!” After all, Hildy was the recognizable figure around town: Board member of the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund, substitute nurse at Roaring Brook, car-pool mom, not to mention head lice checker. Hildy was everywhere.

As for me, I had the typical crazy, high pressure job. Even if you didn’t know me, you had to recognize the pattern. You know, I was the one who worked long hours; hosted too many client dinners; amassed frequent flier miles. 

But when my day or week was done, I was always comforted to come home to Deerfield Road, turn everything off, and just be “Hildy’s husband” and “Noah and Perri’s dad.” Our home in Chappaqua was a place to decompress, do the dishes, play in the snow, go for long walks, drive the kids around to whatever activity of the day, enjoy family meals. I felt so fortunate. It was a great time in our lives. 

Every time I return to town, whether to pick up food at Old Stone or eat with friends at Le Jardin (“outside, please, Joe”), memories from the past are “triggered,” and multiple scenes emerge from the recesses of my mind.

I blinked my eyes and the children became adults and moved on to follow their own passions.Yet still, every time I return to town, whether to pick up food at Old Stone or eat with friends at Le Jardin (“outside, please, Joe”), memories from the past are “triggered,” and multiple scenes emerge from the recesses of my mind. 

Driving down King Street, I can still see Noah and Perri coming out of the old Chappaqua diner, or running around the baseball and softball diamonds in front of Bell Middle School. Making my way up route 120, I can see my two dogs, Pixie and Clyde, racing and splashing through the wooded trails of Gedney Park; and that’s my family cruising up the north county bike trail. On the ballfield behind Rocky’s, there I am with the neighborhood guys playing touch football (I still have my “Deerfield and Dave” baseball cap). 

Even scary memories can conjure up positive reflections. For me, it’s the scene of my car accident where Reader’s Digest Road crosses the Saw Mill Parkway (Please, everyone. Look both ways, even after that light turns green)! While I walked away with minor bruises from that collison, I can still see those professional and dedicated volunteers from the Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corp. coming to help. I will always be grateful.

These days, in the words of John Lennon, I’m “no longer riding on the merry-go-round.” While Hildy started a private geriatric care management practice, I get to spend my time traveling on a path full of stories and characters and ideas, certain there are more books to write in the years ahead. 

As far as the past, well, I’m comforted to know my memories will always be there, waiting for me in Chappaqua.

The Backstory of an Underground Classic in Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth

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“The first book ever written about 24-Carat Black”

I’ve been a professional music journalist for eight years, but I’ve been fascinated by sampling in hip-hop–that is, the technique by which music producers use fragments of preexisting recordings, such as a drumbeat or vocal hook–for much longer. As a teenager, I was blown away when I heard a Curtis Mayfield track in the wild and realized I recognized it from a Beastie Boys album, or when I recognized a Frank Zappa deep cut that had been sampled by Madvillain. For me, sampling has been an unlikely vehicle of music discovery. I’ve fallen in love with albums both classic (Sly and the Family Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On) and obscure (Funk Factory’s self-titled 1975 gem) after hearing them sampled in hip-hop.

It was sampling that got me interested in 24-Carat Black, a relatively obscure ’70s funk group whose music echoes throughout hip-hop nearly 50 year later. Briefly signed to the legendary Stax Records, 24-Carat Black completed just one album, a brooding, ambitious 1973 concept album titled Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth, before disbanding and sinking into obscurity. Yet over the last few decades, their music has become a near-ubiquitous sample source for rappers and producers. 24-Carat Black’s evocative grooves and hooks have been sampled by rap legends like Nas, JAY-Z, Eric B. & Rakim, and even Kendrick Lamar, on his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2017 album DAMN. 

In 2018, when Kanye West sampled the group on Pusha T’s album Daytona, I began tracking down surviving members of 24-Carat Black and investigating their unusual story. I was fascinated by the odd discrepancy between the band’s cultural endurance and their lack of name recognition, and I was riveted by the remarkable stories the band members told me about their brief rise and fall under the direction of Stax arranger Dale Warren, who composed their music. Most of all, I was struck by the reality that the surviving musicians have never been able to receive royalties from the continual samples of their music; some of them are still living in poverty, a brutal irony given that inner-city poverty was the primary theme of 24-Carat Black’s only completed album.

My new book, Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth (Bloomsbury, 2020), recounts the album’s backstory as well as tracing its rebirth as an underground classic in the ’90s rap community. It’s the first book ever written about 24-Carat Black, rooted in hours of interviews with the original musicians. (The book is part of the 33 ⅓ series, in which each volume focuses on one classic album.) It is my sincere hope that the book will help bring some long-denied recognition and justice to 24-Carat Black, and pierce some of the mysteries that have shrouded this unusual masterpiece for 48 years.

Getting to Know Marlene Fischer: Cherished Blogger, Now Celebrated Author

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The Wedding of Danielle and Eric

Armonk resident Marlene Fischer holds many titles. Besides being a mom, wife, lifelong writer, blogger, and a college essay editor, she jokingly adds “food shopper” and “stain removalist” to her list of roles. Raising three boys, it often seemed like food shopping and laundry were her main gigs. Book author, however, is Fischer’s newest title.

Never imagining that she would one day write a book, Fischer just successfully self-published her first book, Gained a Daughter But Nearly Lost My Mind: How I Planned a Backyard Wedding During A Pandemic. (Editor’s Note: Order on the net or inquire at your favorite local bookstore or gift store for availability.)

A new empty nester, with her youngest son away for his freshman year at college last year, Fischer was just acclimating to her new life and blogging about it when the pandemic began. She suddenly found herself with her husband working from home and the two of them sharing a very full house with all three sons and her oldest son’s fiancée at the start of the pandemic.

Navigating meals, everyone’s needs, a never-ending mess, and the challenges of a pandemic became the subject of Fischer’s hilarious and poignant musings on her Facebook page blog, which currently boasts about 12,000 followers.

The title of her Facebook page, “Thoughts From Aisle 4,” was suggested by her oldest son, and derived from her voicemail message on her phone for many years; “Sorry I missed your call. I’m probably in Aisle 4 at the grocery store. I will call you when I’m done.”

“A Source of Light”

Inspired by Erma Bombeck’s irreverent writing, Fischer is relatable and humorous. In addition to posting on topics such as handbag shopping, aging, politics, and random observations about life, many of her posts relay stories about the frustrations and joys of raising her three boys. For younger moms, it brings hope to see that no matter your worries, they all turn out just fine, just like Fischer’s bright young responsible sons. Judging by her followers’ comments, the page has been a source of light, humor and silver linings throughout many months of quarantine. It was easy for readers to feel emotionally invested in Fischer’s excitement over her oldest son’s impending nuptials and the trials and tribulations of planning a wedding during a pandemic. Many could relate to Fischer’s excitement over her relationship with her new daughter-in-law with stories such as being invited by the bride to help choose a wedding dress. Fischer believes the wedding planning was so captivating to her followers because “it was a good distraction for everybody” during the anxiety-ridden quarantine period.

Realizing that the couple’s planned wedding, a large fancy event originally planned in Washington D.C., the bride’s hometown, was no longer possible due to Covid, they decided to get married on their intended wedding date in the Fischer’s backyard with only close family members attending. “My goal was to make it so amazing that they wouldn’t want another wedding,” explains Fischer.

Fischer describes the backyard as having looked magical between the tiki torches, the tables, and the landscaping and plantings that Fischer’s husband had painstakingly tended to for weeks. The family incorporated beautiful and meaningful Jewish traditions throughout the wedding.

The wedding was an Armonk celebration in every way. There was a drive-by parade of local friends and neighbors and it felt like everyone in town was rooting for them to have a great day. Fischer was glad to be able to support local small businesses struggling through the pandemic by patronizing the town’s retailers for the food, attire, and décor.

The ceremony was officiated by Rabbi Joshua Strom of Congregation B’nai Yisrael in Armonk who actually met the bride and groom at a Phish concert in Mexico. The couple’s shared bond with the Rabbi over Phish aligned perfectly with their wedding logo incorporating the Phish logo, Phish shirts for the guests, the bride and groom dancing their first dance on a trampoline to a Phish song, and everyone dancing the night away to a Phish cover band, Uncle Ebenezer.

Still glowing from the wedding, Fischer decided this story had to be a book. Rewriting her blogs and adding material to create a more cohesive story, she successfully wrote her first book, a labor of love, with the help of her long-time best friend and editor Helene Wingens.

The Wedding of Danielle and Eric

A Family Affair

Fischer credits her husband for always being supportive. “I call my husband Mr. Aisle 4 and he often proofs my stuff. It’s really a family affair. One of my boys likes to criticize while the other two like and share everything. We all have our different roles.”

In the meantime, Fischer has held several book signings in town at some of her frequent hangouts including outside the local market. A book signing inside Aisle 4 of the market was not possible due to Covid.

Excerpt from Gained a Daughter but Nearly Lost My Mind: How I Planned a Backyard Wedding During A Pandemic, by Marlene Fischer

“The Battle Royale”

We had a battle going on at my house. More specifically, outside my house. It was my husband vs. the woodland creatures.

My husband had wisely left all the wedding details to me, save one; the garden. He decided to use this opportunity to beautify our yard in advance of the kids’ BIG DAY.

He bought flowers and planted them in the front beds. And the back beds, amongst the rocks. And it was good. But it wasn’t good enough. So, I went with him to the nursery and bought more flowers to keep the other flowers company. I was happy to go because it wasn’t like I was getting out much.

And then he planted those flowers as well. Since our yard backs on the woods, creatures like deer and chipmunks like to nibble on our flowers. To combat this danger, he bought deer repellant. Which sort of smells like a combination of urine and vomit.

Every few days my husband, bless his heart, went outside and sprayed all the flowers. And then we all headed inside and closed all the windows because it smelled that bad. Good luck to any animal who wanted to eat our flowers after my husband had sprayed; all I can say is that they would have had to be really hungry.

Then my husband went back to the nursery a third time and purchased bushes. And he hired people to plant all those bushes because it was too big of a project for him to tackle alone.

He also planted his annual vegetable and herb garden and put a higher fence around it to keep chipmunks and rabbits from enjoying our basil and lettuce. I do enjoy the produce we pick from the garden; we’ve got a real farm to table thing going on. Nothing tastes better to my husband than food he grew with his own hands.

Did I mention the tiki torches? My husband felt we needed tiki torches to keep the bugs away. We were now the proud owners of about twenty tiki torches which he strategically placed around our backyard. He refilled the torches regularly and ordered extra fluid just in case we ran out.

I have to give him credit where credit is due. He transformed our backyard into a tropical paradise. I sort of felt like I was in Hawaii except then I remembered I was in my backyard during a pandemic and not Hawaii.

I really hoped that he would win his war against nature. Because if he didn’t, I feared it would break him.