The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) named last week National Influenza Vaccination Week. Tuesday, December 9, was Children’s Vaccination Day. Thursday, December 11, was Senior’s Vaccination Day.
“[Parents and grandparents] may bring in a child for immunization, but they won’t for themselves,” said Norma Villanueva, M.D., M.P.H., the Network Chief of Child and Adolescent Health at Lutheran Medical Center.
Read the rest of the article here...By Heather J. Chin
The Christmas melodies of Gavin deGraw and Aretha Franklin were two of the main attractions at the New York Stock Exchange’s annual tree lighting ceremony this year. Beyond the glitz of Rockefeller Plaza, Wall Street’s celebration has the distinction of being organized by New Yorkers for New Yorkers, with plenty of holiday cheer permeating the gloom that become a familiar part of our days.
Hundreds of New Yorkers past and present gathered downtown for an evening of celebration, rumination and time with family before facing a new year and uncertain economic times.
Larry Lampiasi came downtown to watch his granddaughter sing with her schoolmates in Brick, New Jersey’s Monsignor Donovan Choir. As a self-employed salesman, he says he’s felt the economic pinch, but thinks the holiday season will help.
The ceremony outside the NYSE building on Broad Street between Wall Street and Exchange Place is quite possibly the most personal, meaningful and even oldest of all the high-profile holiday events in New York City, as it takes place in the heart of old New York and has been a tradition since 1923.
This year, while Mr. DeGraw and Ms. Franklin’s drew audience members who recognize their music and name, the evening’s entertainment and festive atmosphere also catered to the younger generation. Performances from local teen musicians were featured: Long Island rock band Push Play and 14-year-old Tiffany Giardina – her music is included in an upcoming movie, “Another Cinderella Story” – who grew up in New York.
Also on hand was 25-year-old jazz pianist and singer Peter Cincotti, whose blend of traditional jazz and classic styles with rock and pop made his song “December Boys” and his Christmas-themed melodies transfix crowd members of all ages.
By Heather J. Chin
Sunset Park – Prostitutes have long plied their trade along the Gowanus Expressway’s southern end in Brooklyn, coexisting quietly with their working class neighbors and largely ignored by police. But when residents began complaining in late September that men had begun soliciting sex from young girls and teachers at a nearby elementary school, the cops took fast action.
A series of morning crackdowns over three weeks resulted in 39 arrests along 56th and 57th streets between Second and Third Avenues, according to Deputy Inspector Jesus R. Pintos, of the 72nd Precinct. But the prostitution busts were only part of a larger effort that shows how local law enforcement can involve community organizations to find long-term solutions for neighborhood crimes.
The campaign began with getting the offenders off the streets. In what Inspector Pintos described as “precinct-based enforcement,” officers arrested 21 johns – the term used to describe the predominantly male clientele of prostitutes – and eight prostitutes. They also arrested nine others for related crimes of car theft (cars used by those arrested) and drug use or sales. Five vehicles were also confiscated at the scene.
Within days, the only signs that illegal activity had taken place were used condoms and other debris scattered on the sidewalk. The Brooklyn D.A.’s office lent several hands to deal with that. Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes assigned individuals sentenced to community service hours in the neighborhood to assist the precinct in sidewalk clean-up.
To maintain the quality of life in the area and prevent the problem from simply relocating, police increased surveillance. First they installed Sky Watch – a surveillance tower that extends via mini-crane atop an NYPD car, traveling between high crime areas in the city – along the main intersection on Third Avenue and 56th Street during the two weeks following the arrests. Precinct officers were also assigned to conduct regular sweeps of the problem corridor, making arrests when necessary.
For residents and schoolchildren, the effect of the changes was immediate. “Where did the prostitutes go, Mommy?” one grade-schooler asked her mother on the way to school a week following the first arrests. The grateful mother shared the story with Deputy Inspector Pintos at the monthly Community Council meeting. Says Pintos, “We’re making headway, but we’ll continue to monitor the problem.”
Others are trying to help those arrested in the busts. The Red Hook Justice Center, in collaboration with the 72nd precinct, is offering first-time offenders an alternative to trials and jail. Instead they have to attend “Project Respect,” often called the Brooklyn John School. The six-year-old program puts offenders face-to-face with former prostitutes, videos of sexually abused children and images of the diseases inflicted on them.
EPIC (Ending Prostitution In our Communities) and “Saving Teens at Risk” are two programs targeting prostitutes above age 21 and younger girls, respectively. They offer educational and rehabilitative services to help these women find other options and to deal with the issues that originally caused them to turn to the streets. Kings County DA statistics note that 80 to 90 percent of the women prostituting themselves have been sexually abused. The U.S. Dept. of Justice says that girls enter prostitution at an average age of 13.
According to Gerianne Abriano, Bureau Chief at the Brooklyn D.A.’s office, “the vast majority [of offenders] that come to Red Hook go through these programs. Anyone with a prior record, we try to get them drug [or other] treatment. [And as for] the prostitutes, they tend to be the most accessible. We have good results with them.”
Now, this program may be used with Chinese students, but I doubt that their ability to solve it at a young age means “smarter than” compared to at least the Pine Mag. editors. It’s probably just a matter of how much training you have in spatial reasoning. Perhaps the students get a focus on this earlier than students with other nation’s curricula.
Still, I cringe at the thought of someone to suggest that my being able to solve the puzzle (see below) is due to my being Chinese American. Paranoia? Perhaps. But this twisted logic is hardly absent from discussion in an American society that seems to be experiencing an upswing in xenophobic thought. As usual, I’ll slough off this thought, though.
In my case, years of learning according to the NYC specialized math and science curriculum probably helped condition me to find this a rather straightforward exercise.
Whatever the case, I’m pleased! Woohoo!
SIn Manhattan’s Times Square, a festive atmosphere reigned as poll results trickled in on the outdoor jumbo screens. And amidst the neon lights, crowds erupted into cheers, whoops, car honks and all-around exuberance when Barack Obama was announced as the President-Elect of the United States of America.
In a city where strangers can go entire rides on the subway without acknowledging one another, people of all ages, backgrounds and histories blended together in a jubilant mass, posing for photos with each other and hugging and smiling at one another. The atmosphere was akin to a New Year’s party, but with a uniting theme: hope, change and a new future.
Click on the image above for a slideshow of the night's festivities.
By Heather Chin
Some residents in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood have already chosen their president: Daniel Dory, a local 23-year-old who previously served as unofficial “mayor” of their street.
Danny, as everyone calls him, has trisomy 21 Down Syndrome, where each gene has an extra chromosome. But his outgoing and independent personality, combined with a love of life and all the people in it, make him a natural friend and leader. They also challenge commonly held public preconceptions about what someone with this most common of genetic conditions is capable of achieving in life.
Sarah Palin’s nomination as the Republican vice presidential candidate promised to broaden that awareness. As Americans met the Alaska Governor and her family, including her newborn son Trig, who has Down Syndrome, Gov. Palin declared that if she and John McCain were elected, families of special needs children would have “a friend in the White House.” In that large and tight-knit community whose voices often go unheeded, such promises have sparked contrasting feelings of hope and circumspection.
Read the rest of the article here...By Heather J. Chin
Kermit the Frog said it, now average New York-area residents are, too.
As the green movement gains momentum in cities and small towns across the country, citizens are becoming more aware of both the issues being discussed and the ease with which they can live a greener lifestyle. Especially now that fuel prices have shot through the roof and oil and gas are such hot commodities, people - and governments - are more willing to embrace everything from recycling and reusing water bottles to shutting of light-switches and faucets.
Helping support green education this year was New York City’s 20th annual Ecofest celebration at Lincoln Center. Held on the alternately rainy and sunny last Saturday of the month, the festival was full of clothing and food vendors, school parents, community organizers, dancers, tourists and volunteers, this event serves both as a reinforcement and a new introduction to environmental living.
