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Inside Armonk

Cozy at Home

November 11, 2020 by Grace Bennett

PHOTO by Erica Berger

If you are reading this cozying up to our ‘Home for the Holidays’ editions of the Inside Press, or taking in some of the stories right here, then mission accomplished! My simple goal is that you might find the basic joy of ‘the season,’ and to make your days just that much brighter. I hope too that you will love an Inside Chappaqua cover story spotlighting nine inspiring women who have set out to build bridges in town in a multitude of ways in our schools and in our neighborhoods.

As we continue to ‘share the heart of the community,’ you will find welcoming spotlights, including a ‘Gotta Have Arts’ cover story in Inside Armonk of resident artist Evan Lorberbaum whose work can often be found at the Armonk Outdoor Art Show.  In Inside Chappaqua & Millwood, ‘meet’ the new Chappaqua library director Andrew Farber, and new resident Térron Richardson and learn more of his delightful candle line. If your heart has been broken, know you are not alone this holiday season, as you will see when you read about “Lonely Hearts,” a special support group formed by Chappaqua social worker Lexi Joondeph-Breidbart, who describes her own heartbreak.

If you like most have been lamenting 2020, do take a moment to remember and cherish a positive memory or two, whether something little or something ‘big’–such as a child’s wedding, as was true for everyone’s favorite neighbor and prolific blogger Marlene Fischer (“Thoughts from Aisle 4”) who turned her experience into a book; please turn to the spotlight on Marlene and a book excerpt. More stories/essays in these issues touch on love for our moms and dads in assisted living, sisterly love, ‘blanketing’ many deserving residents with love, and on missing the love of extended family at Thanksgiving. So, enjoy!

With seasonal time off from iLearning and work challenges, I also felt certain readers might appreciate a few ideas for fun and safe excursions, so we present three stellar suggestions. Follow new guidelines, but please also visit or otherwise support a favorite restaurant or two this holiday season with home delivery or curbside pickup options; area proprietors are working harder than ever to make the experience as safe and inviting as possible. Speaking of safety, you will also find advice here from area fire chiefs that will help protect your home from fire.

In the child-care arena, uplifting end-of-year news is the long awaited for opening of a modern and inviting new building for the Ossining Children’s Center (highlighted on a ‘Happenings’ page). I also commend a generous tribute from the Mount Kisco Child Care Center to their teachers and staff. A campaign is underway honoring their courage and dedication.

Wishing you peace and blessings.

Filed Under: Just Between Us Tagged With: Cozy, Excursions, grace, holiday season, Home for the Holidays, Inside Armonk, inside chappaqua, Just Between Us, Spotlights

Now I Meow: Learning to Silence the Tiger Roar Within

October 22, 2017 by Rachel Baron

Let’s play a short game of “Never Have I Ever.”

• Bought the “My Baby Can Read!” Program?

• Enrolled your two year old in Mandarin lessons?

• Prepped your four-year-old for a pre-school entrance exam?

It’s been ten years since I was pregnant with my son. Due to a severe and unannounced complication, Jesse became my only child. All of those proverbial eggs went into this one basket. My husband and I, ignoring our collective DNA, believed our seven-pound,12-ounce baby would one day be a boy of grit and determination.

Why on earth did we think a child born from our creative chromosomes would express an interest in perfect penmanship, homework done without a hint of procrastination, or a sincere desire to conform to school and suburban societal standards? Both of us were boundless daydreamers, not “good students.” Neither of us went to an Ivy League school. It took me 12 years to get a Bachelor’s Degree. Who was I as a parent to have such unrealistic expectations of an infant?

I decided to ignore genetics, and turned to nurture and instead of nature. From before that soft spot closed on his not-so-hairy head, I read to Jesse for hours: Sandra Boynton board books, The Old Man and the Sea. By the time he was two I’d bought a small chalkboard, where I would write out the alphabet every day, singing along with an actual pointing stick. Of course he knew the whole song by 26 months and four days but who’s counting?

Right before Jesse turned three in February of 2011, a bestselling book was released. You know the one. The Tiger Mom. Her Battle Hymn. With children practicing instruments on vacation. This tome was sweet validation for my maniacal child rearing practices. Immediately after reading the book, I began teaching him to sound out three letter words:

Bat, cat, hat, pat, sat. Bet, jet, let, met. Bit, fit, hit. Cot, dot. But, cut.

By the time Pre-K rolled around, he was more than ready for real kindergarten. Imagine my elation at my four-year-olds parent teacher conference upon hearing, “What a smart boy. Such language skills!” That sound you hear? My inner tiger roaring across the Okavango Delta.

September 2013 arrived, and sadly, Kindergarten started with a whimper. Jesse cried on the bus every. Single. Day. I thought to myself, “If he’s so sad, he can’t concentrate. But it’s ok, I’ve already taught him so much.” (In hindsight, I should have been thinking about his feelings, but I was a tiger, not a kitten.)

Fallen crimson leaves replaced fallen tears, and by Thanksgiving, I was most thankful that Jesse was doing better. Plus! The most wonderful time of the year was soon upon us: his very first report card. The day arrived and I tore open the envelope. A grade of “4” was the best. A “1” was the worst.

And there it was, in the right hand column, not under reading or writing or “rithmetic.”

There was a one.

I never realized there was an “emotional” side to a report card.

At his parent/teacher conference, Mrs. Crusher of Dreams tells my husband and I, “Jesse takes no pride in his work. He thinks he knows everything already.”

Of course my son felt this way and it was all my fault. It was time to accept a few truths. My parenting was much like my cooking: overdone. Children should learn things in their own time. And my son was no tiger cub. More like a sloth – cute as could be, moving at his own pace.

Every year since Pre-K I’ve made my son hold up a sign on the first day of school. You know the one. “Jesse’s first day of…” and the date. I always added the line, “When I grow up I want to be a…” First grade it was policeman. Second grade I winced as I wrote “garbage collector.” Last year my heart swelled when he wanted to run Apple. This year, fourth grade, I have done away with asking the question. Because I have finally learned – the only right answer is HAPPY.

Filed Under: Et Cetera Tagged With: advice, Armonk, Golf, Inside Armonk, Letting Go, mom, Parenting Advice, son, Tiger Mom

Meet the Inside Press Team

October 22, 2017 by The Inside Press

We have a talented group of writers and artists who contribute on a regular basis but we also have a strong core group of dedicated professionals who ensure that each issue of Inside Chappaqua and Inside Armonk is chock full of local news that you won’t find in other news outlets. With the growth of online media, we ensure that each issue’s content is available online and we also love to share our stories via social media. All of this though would never happen though without the generous support of our sponsors so we are all grateful for the support. In keeping with this issue’s gratitude theme, please take a moment to ‘meet’ the Inside Press team. We also thank you, dear readers, for the intense interest in our pubs.

Grace Bennett

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Following a career in newspaper and magazine journalism, and also raising two kids (Anna and Ari) to the first and fourth grades, I launched the Inside Press in 2003 and went live in 2009 with theinsidepress.com. I greatly enjoy the role of overseeing the editorial and working closely with so many generous sponsors in this incredibly beautiful and happening corner of Westchester. Long walks keep me centered through it all.

Stacey Pfeffer

Editor

After working in public relations in NYC and London for more than a decade, I decided to switch to freelance writing after the birth of my first child. I have written for a variety of regional media outlets.For the past two years, I have also written numerous articles for Inside Chappaqua and Inside Armonk, before assuming the role of editor. I love highlighting local stories in our magazines and online that you won’t find anywhere else.

Caroline Rosengarden

Advertising Manager

I’m the Inside Press Advertising Manager, which means that I communicate with advertisers all day long! I liaise with sponsors old and new alike to ensure their ads appear in the magazine exactly the way they expect. In the past, I managed national brands at ad agencies in NYC and San Francisco. I enjoy baking, walking with my husband and Ruby (our Golden Doodle) or reading books with my girls, Lucy (10) and Sadie (8).

Ryan Smith

Website Developer

I’m the company’s website developer who ensures the articles that go to print are available for consumption on The Inside Press website, theinsidepress.com, as well as in social media. I help keep the site fast, fresh, and secure!

I’ve previously served as the IT Director for a worldwide design agency and was in charge of development for a financial technology start-up. When I’m not taking things apart to figure out how they work, I enjoy hiking, ballroom dancing, and costume parties.

Lisa Samkoff

Art Director

A year ago I joined the Inside Press team as art director. In my role, I redesigned our company logo complimenting it with a complete re-design of the magazines giving them a more modern look. As an independent graphic designer and consultant specializing in branding, logos and signage, I often work on packaging and website design as well. When I’m not working, I’m cooking, planting, crafting, or going to games with my friends and family.

Rick Waters

Website Designer

I am responsible for making sure the articles and ads are neat and tidy for the Inside Press website. I transfer the Inside Press magazines into online articles and provide photo-resizing work. I also post various Inside Press articles throughout the year while optimizing photos and videos. When I’m not in the office, I am an avid cyclist, hiker and swimmer. I also enjoy cocktail parties and going on adventures with my dog.

Analia Boltuch (with her son Oliver)

Account Manager

I am the account manager for the Inside Press handling all bookkeeping needs. When not wearing my bookkeeping cape, I enjoy providing virtual assistant services to small businesses and entrepreneurs ranging from office management to social media. I’m also a wife and mom of three boys (one of them being of the four-legged variety!)

 

Filed Under: In the Know Tagged With: Behind the scenes, crew, Inside Armonk, inside chappaqua, Inside Press, team, The Inside Press

A Proponent of Dialogue, Armonk’s Don Gregg Shares his Views… on the North Korea Threat, Trump and More

June 3, 2017 by Andrew Vitelli

On April 17, as national news headlines warned of an impending crisis and possible war between the U.S. and North Korea, Westchester native and Armonk resident Donald Gregg was one of the few Americans sitting across the table from a North Korean, let alone a high-ranking diplomat. Gregg, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea under President George H.W. Bush, was having lunch with two senior North Korean diplomats and trying to make sense of the latest flare-up in their countries’ animosity.

“We were sort of laughing at the fact that here we are, speaking to each other very civilly,” Gregg recalls, addressing a small group of locals at St. Stephen’s Church in Armonk. “And the news was full of how North Korea was going to be at the center of the next crisis, and the world may come to an end.”

The meeting was nothing new for Gregg, who for decades has been calling for dialogue between the American and North Korean governments.

Gregg’s long career in public service included multiple stints on the peninsula, including as CIA station chief in Seoul from 1973 to 1975 and as ambassador from 1989 to 1993. After retiring from government, he served as chairman of The Korea Society, which promotes cooperation and understanding between Koreans and Americans.

Gregg’s first trip to Pyongyang came in 2002 at the urging of former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung. He has gone five times since, with the latest trip coming in 2014, and has witnessed significant economic growth over that period.

“The people were living better. The conditions were better,” Gregg says of his last visit. “The roads were better, the cars were better, the clothes were better. The body language was better.”

Gregg was in Seoul during some of the tensest moments between the North and the South under the reign of Kim Il-sung, so fear of a sudden attack by the leader of the Kim dynasty is nothing new to him.

But despite the rhetoric coming from Pyongyang, he sees North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, like his grandfather, as a rational actor unlikely to risk his regime through some kind of ill-considered act, like a major attack on the U.S..

“The North Koreans are not suicidal,” Gregg says. “They are not going to use one of their weapons against us, because they know their country would be obliterated.” Even the Kims’ pursuit of nuclear weapons has been undertaken with the regime’s survival in mind, he adds.

“I’ve talked to the North Koreans, and they say ‘We’ve looked at you very carefully. You do not attack people who have nuclear weapons,’” he explains. “That’s the root cause of it. They are scared to death of us.”

The CIA, White House and Two Koreas

Gregg grew up half an hour south of Armonk, in Hastings-on-Hudson. In 1953, he married Margaret Curry, an Armonk native and 1947 Pleasantville High School graduate.

Two days after Gregg’s 14th birthday, Japanese warplanes launched a surprise attack against Pearl Harbor and drew the U.S. into the war already raging across the oceans on each of its shores. In 1945, at the age of 17, Gregg enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he trained as a cryptanalyst. But before he could be sent overseas, World War II ended. Gregg served in the Army until 1947, then attended Williams College in Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1951 with a degree in philosophy.

Don Gregg with his wife, Margaret

Though he narrowly missed World War II, he would leave a mark on the four-and-a-half decade Cold War that followed. He joined the CIA in 1951 and served in Japan and Vietnam, learning to speak Japanese fluently. In 1973 he was sent to Korea, where he served as station chief. There, he helped stop torture by his Korean counterparts and played an important role in the rescue of Kim Dae-jung, who went on to become South Korea’s president.

Gregg worked at CIA headquarters from 1975 to 1978 and then as an Asia policy specialist for the National Security Council under the Carter administration. During the Reagan presidency, Gregg was director of the NSC’s Intelligence Directorate before being appointed Vice President Bush’s National Security Advisor.

When Bush became president, Gregg was appointed ambassador to South Korea. Forty years after joining the CIA in the early years of the Cold War, Gregg now played a role in its end. After Bush’s lone term ended, the Greggs returned to New York and in 1995 moved to Armonk, with Don chairing The Korea Society. He began teaching a course at Williams, looking to get top students interested in public service. In 2014 he published a memoir, titled Pot Shards: Fragments of a Life Lived in CIA, the White House, and the Two Koreas, about his experience.

Gregg has been active locally as well, meeting every month with Armonk neighbors to discuss history, politics and current affairs. “Don has had an immense contribution on the global stage, but he has had an immense contribution locally as well,” says Rev. Nils Chittenden, the Rector of St. Stephen’s, where Gregg is an active congregant. “We as a congregation really appreciate and recognize that we are in the presence of someone that has really had a huge effect on shaping world history.”

A ‘Very Different’ President

Gregg has met eight American presidents. He also met the current president, and though their brief meeting took place years before Donald Trump would seriously consider any political run, Gregg’s view of the 45th president remains broadly the same. “I don’t like Trump,” he says bluntly. “He and I are very, very different people.”

Gregg holds out hope that Trump will change course on North Korea and move away from the escalating rhetoric seen during the first months of the administration. He notes some positives, such as the appointment of HR McMaster as National Security Advisor.

But just as Americans find it difficult to understand Kim Jong-un, Koreans have trouble making sense of Trump’s approach.

“We neither like nor understand the North Koreans,” Gregg wrote in a letter submitted in April to The New York Times, “and fill our gaps of ignorance with prejudice that prevents us from thinking vicariously about Pyongyang, its concerns and policy objectives.”

Filed Under: Armonk Cover Stories Tagged With: CIA, Don Gregg, Donald Gregg, Inside Armonk, insidepress.com, North Korea, North Korea Threat, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, South Korea, The Korea Society, White House

Corelab Armonk Brings the Megaformer to Your Backyard

May 25, 2017 by Inside Press

This summer, let Corelab Armonk be your workout of choice. Opened in late fall, Corelab Armonk has steadily been gaining a following with its Megaformer workout.  The studio offers a boutique-like setting with just seven of the Megaformer M3S machines to ensure that you get the most out of your workout.

Since its inception, the Megaformer has been creating ripples in the fitness world, developing a cult-like following not just locally, but internationally, with celebrities regularly turning up for their fix. In just 50 minutes, the Megaformer gives you a full body, high intensity yet low impact workout, that will leave you sweating and shaking while minimizing wear and tear on your joints.

The Megaformer was created by fitness guru Sebastien Lagree back in 2005, to combine the benefits of Pilates with the strength elements of bodybuilding.  According to Lagree, “Physical fitness is more than being able to run a long distance or lift heavy weights at the gym; or how long you worked out or at what intensity. While these are important measures of fitness, they only address single areas. Physical fitness is made up of five basic elements: cardio, strength, endurance, body composition, and flexibility.”

How does the Megaformer get all these elements into just 50 minutes?  The workout combines the spring-loaded resistance of the Megaformer with slow and controlled movements allowing precision in form as well as minimizing impact on joints, while quickly and effectively bringing your muscles to fatigue and boosting your heartrate. The use of slow and controlled movements is key as it taps into your slow twitch muscles fibers, increasing endurance and setting you up for a post-exercise fat burn, while creating a lean and toned physique.

 

It is these elements that drew Kimberly Holzmann-Krolick, founder of Corelab Armonk, to the workout back in 2008 while living in London. After returning to the States and training with Lagree in Los Angeles, Holzmann-Krolick opened her first studio, Corelab, in Katonah in 2013. Seeing firsthand the results of this workout on her own physique and then with her clients, she wanted to continue to grow the Corelab community in Northern Westchester.  According to Holzmann-Krolick, “Though the Megaformer is the hot workout these days, it has been around for well over a decade, and has only improved with time. What appeals to me most about this workout, is the long-term implications for your health and the inherent intelligence of the workout in building strength and endurance alongside balance and flexibility, but not compromising safety and limiting the chance of injury. It has absolutely amazing cross-training benefits for whatever sport you do, with our skiers and running clients swearing by it and is as good for men as it is women. It is the smartest full body workout I have encountered and one that I intend to do in some iteration well into my eighties.”

 

Corelab Armonk has morning, evening and weekend classes as well as offering private sessions.  The studio offers a first class free to all new clients. This summer, Corelab Armonk will offer discounts to students and will be running various events throughout the summer.  To sign up for a class, or get additional information checkout the website at www.corelabny.com. 

 

Corelab Armonk, 475 Main Street, Armonk, NY. Telephone: 914-401-4235. Website: www.corelabny.com Email: info@corelabny.com

Filed Under: Lifestyles with our Sponsors Tagged With: Armonk, core strength, Corelab, exercise, fitness, Inside Armonk, InsidePress, Megaformer

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