The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

diversity

Memories Made during Huge Turnout at the 6th Annual Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival

by

PHOTO BY BO SANDERS

The sixth annual Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival was held on Saturday, September 29th at the Robert E. Bell Middle School’s grounds. With a bright blue sky above, smiling faces all around, overjoyed kids playing and browsing their favorite books, the festival was a special and memorable day for the approximate 7,000 local book lovers as well as visitors from as far away as Boston, Albany, Maryland and New York City.

The goal of this year’s festival was to attract people from all backgrounds and expose children to authors and books about different cultures. The festival showcased a diverse group of 95 authors. The festival exceeded its expectations as the kids were quite eager to learn about the unique culture and diversity around them through the pages of books and conversations with the authors.

The event saw a huge turnout this year. Dawn Greenberg, the event organizer, said “The police estimated there were at least 7,000 attendees. Last year we had about 6,000. We worked very hard to get the word out throughout schools in Westchester County, lower Connecticut and New York City. Our goal was to have every child in the area attend and get a book.” The festival sold more than 9,000 books.

Rye Brook resident Michael Barnett attended the book festival with his two daughters. He stated “I’ve been to this book festival several times. This is the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen. We did notice a lot of books with characters of different races and ethnicities and I think it’s great.”

Inside Chappaqua asked several authors and illustrators “What does diversity at the festival mean to you?”

Torrey Maldonado, who was voted a “Top 10 Latino Author” and best Middle Grade and Young Adult novelist for African Americans, uses his students and his experiences in his work. He said “Being here at the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival is amazing. I feel like I am more at an amusement park. Because every book is a different journey, different thrill ride.  You can get elementary, early childhood books or just enjoy something fun and thrilling at that level. I have met a lot of different people here from different places so it seems to be like the United Nations, but about books.”

Jerry Craft, an illustrator and author who has won five African American Literary awards, said  “It’s showing the crowd different kinds of books that they may not necessarily be familiar with. Whether it is boys having books that have female characters, African American characters or Latino characters. That’s something I always try to vary in my work.”

John Parry is an illustrator. “I think diversity represents all of us. For me, most of my book focuses on Latino culture or other different cultures.  Growing up, all my friends were from different backgrounds and different families and learning from each one of those families is so important. I think that helps to influence me in my work. Having the background I have is a very positive thing for me. So, I celebrate those things. Like diversity, the more the merrier, and everyone is invited to the party.”

Vivek Agastya is a Chappaqua resident who thinks it is important for his kids to be exposed to diversity in literature: “As the dad to two Chappaqua girls that are part of a minority community, I think it’s helpful for my kids to be able to experience literature that has a diverse theme. The diversity theme of the festival gives me a chance to expose them to that.”

MORE PHOTOS BY BO SANDERS

 

 

Diversity: A Key Focus at the 2018 Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival

by

The sixth annual Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival comes to town on Saturday, September 29th with more of everything–new authors, food trucks, activities and special attractions like the Bubble Bus.

Food trucks will include Mobile Pie, Walter’s Hot Dogs, The Melt Mobile and Three Little Pigs. Dessert will be available at the Great Chappaqua Bake Sale and also at Penny Lick Ice Cream’s cart which will feature a custom CCBF flavor in homage to author Bernard Most: If the Dinosaurs Came Back for Ice Cream. The Mike Risko Band and the Random Farms Kids’ Theater will provide entertainment.

Ninety-four authors including favorites like Victoria Kann, Rosemary Wells, Nick Bruel, Jane Yolen and Mark Teague will sign books and chat with their fans. Books are available through Best Book Fairs (cash or credit cards accepted). The festival, an all-volunteer effort, will also feature 18 new authors. A focus for the festival’s organizers was bringing books to a more diverse audience in 2018.

Dawn Greenberg, founder and executive director of the festival, noted: “Each year the author selection committee attempts to find books that will offer our visiting families the opportunity to be transported by our authors to different and diverse worlds, giving them a window on all kinds of characters and experiences–real and fictional.  We are thrilled to bring in a wide selection of authors and genres this year who are getting great buzz in the children’s publishing world for their riveting stories and fresh voices.”

Snapshots from 2017

Tony Abbott with kids
PHOTO BY BO ZAUNDERS

PHOTO BY JOANNA SEGAL

Greeley Grad’s Passionate Plea to Reject Choice of Trump National for Senior Prom

by

Calls Prom Venue Choice “A Short Sighted Loyalty”

Editor’s Note: On Friday, February 17, Horace Greeley High School (HGHS) Principal Robert Rhodes sent a letter to HGHS seniors and their parents explaining the reasons as put forth by a Senior Leadership Council behind the decision to hold this year’s prom at the Trump National Golf Course in Briarcliff Manor.  HGHS  grad (Class of 2012) and Harvard grad  (Class of 2016) Aemila Phillips immediately sat down to write a response–in the form of an open letter to HGHS students–and asked if Inside Chappaqua would publish it. Here’s Aemilia’s letter which speaks for itself. Rhodes’ letter follows as a reference point; Rhodes states that the Council has scheduled a meeting on March 2 “for any students from the Class of 2017 who feel that attending Prom at Trump National is not something they are comfortable with.”

Aemilia Phillips

By Aemilia Phillips

Dear HGHS students,

Eleven years ago, my Dad began a tradition of speaking to Bell Middle School’s fifth grade class during their annual Latin America unit. He’d bring artwork and family photos, piñatas and the ever popular Carlos V chocolate bars, all the while laughing and joking with kids he’d coached on the baseball field, and kids he’d met only a few minutes prior.

A Mexican immigrant himself, he used his story to provide a cross-border snapshot, to answer any and all questions from a bunch of bright-eyed 10 year-olds. That first year, he came to just my classroom. A year later, he presented to four more classes. And for the eight years after that, he spoke in front of the entire fifth grade.   

These are the values I choose to remember about my time in the Chappaqua school system – an emphasis on not only learning about other cultures, but celebrating them. Encouragement to embrace and welcome the diversity of the student body. Teachers who see education as not only a compiling of facts, but as a way for students to become intelligent and active citizens of this nation and the world.

The recent decision to hold this year’s senior prom at Trump National Golf Course stands in complete opposition to those supposed values. It shows a short-sighted loyalty to a single night of partying instead of a commitment to stand by the principles and values taught to students over the course of their 12-year education.

This decision is not about party politics. This is not a partisan debate regarding the nation’s controversial immigration policies. This is about the President of the United States, a man holding the highest office in this country, referring to Chappaqua students, to members of our own community, as murderers, rapists, and criminals. As not the best and brightest this country has to offer. As people who should be embarrassed to come from diverse backgrounds.

As we’ve seen play out on the national stage, the President’s business ventures and executive actions are one and the same. Money flows from Trump properties into Trump bank accounts, into the Trump campaign and into Trump national policies. The decision to hold senior prom at this location is an implicit endorsement of the President’s blatantly racist policies, and his exclusion of people we should be proud to call our own.

And so now, I’m calling on Greeley students to take a stand, in a way that I never had to during my time there. Say no to racism. Say no to the exclusion of your friends and family. Hold the prom in the gym, or under a tent on the soccer fields, if money is that big of a concern. Laugh, dance, and celebrate in a way that you can look back and be proud of. Next year, tell your college roommates that you had your prom in a ragtag tent with handmade decorations and stood up for what you believed in, rather than compromise your values for a party at a golf course. 

Now is the time to show up. Now is the time to ask how you as students and we as a community want to be remembered. And if I’ve learned anything from my time in the Chappaqua Central School District, it’s that Greeley students are more than up for the challenge – Now is your time to change the world.

In Solidarity,

Aemilia Phillips

Douglas G. Grafflin Elementary School ‘04

Robert E. Bell Middle School ‘08

Horace Greeley High School ‘12

Harvard University ’16     

 

Here is the letter sent by HGHS principal Robert Rhodes to Greeley Seniors and their parents with the subject line: Important Senior Prom Information for Seniors

Dear Seniors, 

Second semester of Senior year is upon us, and we are very excited for all it has in store for you.  We truly hope that you are able to fully experience the many moments to come!  We also realize that the arrival of Senior Prom may create a range of feelings given the Senior Leadership Council’s decision to hold the event at Trump National Golf Course in Briarcliff.  With our country already divided over political issues, we want to prevent the same divide from interfering with the Senior Class enjoying your experience.  Our hope is that the Class of 2017 can unite and leave Greeley remembering a great Senior Prom.  Typically, we see just about the entire class attend; it is a very special occasion for us as well.   

Regardless of your feelings about the Presidential election or current national climate, we hope that everyone will be able to attend the Prom.  We acknowledge that the heightened emotions carried by our current political climate may spill over to the selection of your prom venue.  On behalf of the Senior Leadership Council, we also want to share the process for selecting the venue so that everyone has the same information about how the decision was made. 

Every year the Greeley Senior Prom is sponsored and organized by the Senior Leadership Council.  This group of twenty to thirty students has been committed to working on class activities including: bonding events, charity events, fundraising, and planning for the Prom.  This started when you were in 9th grade; many of these students have dedicated the last four years to representing your class and promoting unity.  When it came time to decide on your Prom venue back in April of 2016, the Senior Leadership Council participated in a vote to decide whether to explore other venues or continue with Trump National as many previous senior classes had done before.  Students based their decision on:  1) financial information that was collected; 2) the seating capacity of the venue; 3) the close proximity to Greeley; and 4) the overall aesthetics of the venue.  If the Senior Leadership Council had one-third or more of the students ask to explore further options, the Council would have opened up the conversation to the full Senior Class.  The results showed overwhelming support to keep the venue at Trump National Golf Course based on the four factors listed above.   

The Senior Leadership Council students also carefully weighed the controversy around the selection of this same venue by the previous year’s seniors, the Class of 2016.  That class had systematically reviewed as many venues as possible without finding a suitable alternative, let alone one that matched their criteria.  The Class of 2016 did all this during the time that President Trump was a candidate running for election.   When it was time to make a decision, both Senior Leadership Councils, those of 2016 and 2017 decided that the venue was the best choice for their respective classes.  A deposit was paid months ago for the Class of 2017 Prom, prior to the election.  Large venues book quickly, months and sometimes over a year in advance during prom and wedding season.   

There are students in the Class of 2017 who support the President and those who dissent from him.  What unites you is that you are the Horace Greeley Class of 2017.  We want to both be mindful of individual feelings and decisions and support you as a group.  The last thing we would want to see is your class in conflict with itself.  The Senior Leadership Council has been hard at work planning for the Prom.  On their behalf, we are encouraging any students who feel uncomfortable with the venue decision to still attend because we would not want you to miss out on the memories.    

We also believe that there may be ways to maintain personal beliefs and still attend the Prom that would allow the Class of 2017 to remain unified AND support all its members.  The Senior Leadership Council has scheduled a meeting on March 2 at 7:45 a.m. in F1 for any students from the Class of 2017 who feel that attending Prom at Trump National is not something they are comfortable with.   The goal of the meeting is to help brainstorm ideas or action(s) that will support anyone who wants to attend and feel like they are being true to their beliefs.  That can only happen when people are talking with one another.  The Senior Leadership Council wants to support everyone and we encourage anyone with concerns to attend. 

Respectfully, 

Robert Rhodes, Principal 
Lyn Stewart, Acting Assistant Principal

 

Public Demonstration Tonight in New Castle to “Embrace All”

by

Chappaqua, NY– New Castle’s Community Inclusion & Diversity Committee is holding a public  demonstration tonight, Feb 1st, 7 p.m. at the Town Gazebo “to build awareness, to promote inclusion, and to embrace and support all in our community–regardless of race, religion and sexual identity.” 

Participants are being invited to wear a name tag “with both your name and the name of the places from which your family originally immigrated.”

Town of New Castle Statement Condemns “Acts of Unlawful Discrimination,” and More

by

 ‘Inclusion and Diversity’ Committee Established

On November 18, 2016, the Governor and Governor-elect of the State of Vermont, together with a number of Vermont education and business leaders, released a Joint Statement reaffirming their longstanding and unwavering commitment to diversity, equity and inclusiveness.

Last night, the New Castle Town Board expressed their support for the Vermont Joint Statement and reaffirmed its own commitment to those principles expressed.  The New Castle Town Board issued the following statement: We, as a Town Board, condemn any acts of unlawful discrimination, violence, and intimidation that target differences in national origin, race, gender, sex, religion, disability, or political viewpoint across our nation. 

Such acts run counter to the rights and freedoms upon which our country was founded and to the core values of the Town of New Castle.  New Castle is committed to fostering welcoming communities and an equitable, diverse, and inclusive society.

As well, last night, the Town of New Castle established the “Inclusion and Diversity Committee.”  The resolution creating the committee set forth that the Town seeks to celebrate diversity and the value of a diverse community through meaningful visible strategies rooted in education, understanding and respect.  the Town finds that there is a need in the Town of New Castle for the organization of an Inclusion and Diversity Committee to highlight the beauty and benefits of appreciating different backgrounds, interests and sexual orientations. 

The Committee will work to effectively create community awareness about differences in others as related to race, religion, cultural differences, sexual preferences and gender identity.  The Committee will work to develop and implement programs designed to create a spirit of diversity and inclusion of all that live and work in the Town of New Castle as part of “one” unified community.  The Committee will work to promote the diversity goals of the Town–to understand and respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse community–and encourage respect and tolerance for those individual differences that enrich our community.

New Castle Town Supervisor Rob Greenstein stated “After the election, so many in our community are looking for ways to promote inclusion & tolerance. One such initiative was already in the works. After the Orlando shooting earlier this year, I suggested forming a Community Inclusion & Diversity Committee.  Now was the perfect time to press ahead with this initiative, and last night we did just that.  I look forward to working with this committee to support diversity, equity & inclusiveness.”