Jersey City Magazine Winter 2020-2021

Fit for

INSIDE: Lockdown!

Torch Song Falcon Crest Seltzer Squad

FALL | WINTER 2020/21

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CONTENTS JCM

COVER 22 FIT FOR LIFE Zooming Along Cover Image of Laura Miller

FEATURES 10 FALCON CREST A 5,000-year-old sport

14 THE STATUE OF LIBERTY A Torch for All Seasons

18 A DAY OF DELIVERANCE Sacred Heart’s Ordeal

28 FEEDING THE NEEDY Ani Ramen Adapts

30 SPIRITUAL HELP An Intuitive Consultant

18

32 HOME WORK The Hudson Reporter

34 SOBERING THOUGHTS The Seltzer Squad

DEPARTMENTS 5 EDITOR’S LETTER 6 OUR STAFF 8 CONTRIBUTORS 13 POINT AND SHOOT Our New Reality

24 YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS Erin Fox

26 DOWN MEMORY LANE John Leal

28

4 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

EDITOR’S LETTER JCM

Going Viral

I

t would be impossible to address our readers without addressing COVID-19. Our wonderful staff is working from home. Our freelancers struggle to get pictures and interviews with people who are justifiably fearful of their fellow humans.

Our ad department is in solidarity with its valued clients, many struggling to stay afloat.

Most of our stories touch, however tangentially on the effects of the coronavirus.

The truth is, I don’t know what more can be said about this vicious pandemic.

So, I will just say to our loyal readers and advertisers, be safe and be well as we collectively envision and inhabit our new reality.

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FALL | WINTER 2020/21 Volume 17 • Number 1 Published twice annually (except during a pandemic) A Publication of

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J C M CONTRIBUTORS

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is a photographer whose work has been exhibited in galleries and published worldwide.

A recent transplant to Bayonne, he spends his spare time trying to figure out the best pizza place in town.

8 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

TARA RYAZANSKY

DIANA SCHWAEBLE

TARA RYAZANSKY

is a writer who moved from Brooklyn to Bayonne.

She works as a blogger for Nameberry.com and spends her spare time fixing up her new (to her) 100-year-old home.

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Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21 • 9

Falcon Crest A Jersey City couple resurrects a 5,000-year-old sport

By Tara Ryazansky Photos by Max Ryazansky irds are common in Jersey City.

Aside from flocks of pigeons, you’ll occasionally see a cardinal or even a pheasant in Liberty State Park. Yet, the sight of a bird of prey swooping in on a mouse seems more like something you would see in a nature documentary than in Lincoln Park. Unless you happen to run into Emilio and KristieAnn Ramos.

The Jersey City couple practice falconry. They bring their Harris Hawks, Bodhi and Ariya, and Red-Tailed Hawk, Billie, to hunt for small animals like squirrels in Lincoln Park and Liberty State Park.

These birds aren’t their pets, despite the clear bond.

“It’s the art of training a wild bird to hunt prey,” Emilio says. “The sport of falconry is like getting to watch the Discovery channel up close.”

Emilio is a retired Jersey City police officer. KristieAnn proudly points out that he was the first Filipino police officer in the department.

“I retired two years ago from the bomb squad as an emergency-service bomb technician, one of the snipers for the SWAT team, and a scuba diver for the department,” he says.

B

Love at First Flight He found the sport about ten years ago when a friend who practices falconry took him to watch his bird scare pigeons away at the Liberty State Park terminal. Emilio was instantly hooked. His friend warned him that falconry can become all consuming. “He told me if I didn’t have time on my hands, don’t do it because it becomes a lifestyle.”

KristieAnn, who is semi-retired as an activity director for an assisted living community, did not get into falconry as quickly as her husband. She would join him when he took his Red-Tails to hunt, but she wasn’t interested in pursuing the sport. Five years ago when Emilio got Bodhi, his first Harris Hawk, KristieAnn’s interest grew.

“I saw how well the bird flew with him, and how our dog, Khaleesi, worked with the bird,” she recalls. Emilio got a female Harris Hawk, Ariya to join the male, Bodhi. “When I saw him flying them together as a cast, which is where they hunt together, it was the coolest thing,” KristieAnn says. “It was even cooler to see them get one rabbit.”

10 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

Soon after, KristieAnn was injured at work. The pain from her injury made it difficult for her to sleep. Emilio urged her to use that time to study while she was up late at night. KristieAnn passed the falconry exam and got her certification a year ago. She is among less than 600 female falconers nationwide.

Conservation, not Cruelty “As an apprentice you have to trap your first Red-Tail,” KristieAnn says. The description that follows may be unsettling to some readers, but there are permits, licensing, and regulations for the safety of animals. Falconers must obtain a falconry permit from the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife to safely trap their birds.

Trapping a falcon involves lying in wait with a pigeon in a harness or a gerbil in a netted wire cage that will lure the bird.

When the hawk comes down to get its meal, it gets caught by its talon. Neither the bait animal or the hawk is harmed.

“Most falconers are interested in conservation,” Emilio says, noting that bringing the young falcons into captivity greatly improves their chances of survival. Many don’t survive their first winter. According to the New Jersey Falconry Club, 75 to 80 percent of immature raptors die each year.

Falconry has also been instrumental in supporting endangered species. “Peregrine numbers are up because falconers all over the United State raised them in captivity,” Emilio says. “Some gave their birds to Cornell University to breed them.

Now in New Jersey alone there are 50-75 breeding pairs.”

The couple, along with their falconry club, put up Kestrel nest boxes and owl boxes so that endangered species have a space to nest and have babies. “We truly believe in conservation,” Emilio says.

Good Omen Meanwhile, the Ramos’s were out for their second weekend trying to trap a Red-Tailed Hawk for KristieAnn. “I had a good feeling that day,” KristieAnn recalls.

“We left for the Meadowlands at 7:11 in the morning, and I was like, ‘look at the time.’” The couple’s neighbor, Billy, had had recently died. His birthday was July 11. “Whenever anyone asked when his birthday was, he would say 7/11. It’s a lucky number.”

Within an hour they got the bird.

“We hooded the bird and wrapped its talons in masking tape,” KristieAnn says.

“After that you take a stocking to wrap the body. It’s almost like you’ve got a gentle baby in your arms.” She named the bird Billie to honor her neighbor, choosing the feminine spelling because the hawk is female. Females are larger than males.

Once Billie was freed from her wrap and cleaned of mites and bugs, the training began. “It’s a wild, wild bird,” KristieAnn says. “The first thing you want to do is get it up on your glove. It took about seven days to get this bird to feed off of my glove comfortably. I can put food on my glove, but I can’t make the bird eat it.”

Training and Television Next it was time to train the bird to hunt.

This involves getting her to jump back to the glove after a flight. “People say, ‘How do you get this bird to come back to you?’

There’s steps that you take to build that relationship.”

Falconers wear heavy leather gloves and high boots. The hawks wear hoods and an anklet attached to either a jess, which is a short leather strap or a creance, which is a longer line that attaches to the grommet of the bird’s anklet. “The creance is almost like a longer leash,” Emilio says. “When you’re training a bird, you start at one foot; the next day you might be at three feet.” Eventually Billie was flying 150 feet on the creance.

The next step in KristieAnn’s apprenticeship was to build a mews, or hawk house.

Despite having these structures, Billie, Ariya, and Bodhi sometimes join the couple in their Jersey City home during the winter.

“My general rule is if it’s below 20 degrees we bring the birds inside so that they don’t suffer the cold,” Emilio says. “They go in the basement on their perches and basically hang out and watch TV. They watch anything that we’re watching, action movies, sports.”

The Wild Blue Yonder When spring emerges they are outside and hunting again. For KristieAnn, there’s an element of physical therapy in taking Billie to hunt. The sport involves some running and lots of time outdoors. “It’s been a big challenge for me because of doing it and having this injury,” she says. “Some of your aches and pains go away because you’re focusing on the bird.”

12 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

“We do love training our birds and hunting our birds,” Emilio says. “It’s more about the bird than catching something. It’s about the bird training and flying. When you watch the birds fly it’s very artistic and beautiful.” He says the sport dates back five thousand years.

He appreciates the rich history, but he also just enjoys falconry. “It’s fun. If it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t do it.”—JCM

POINT & S H O OT

OUR NEW REALITY

Photos by Victor M. Rodriguez see page 17 Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21 • 13

A TORCH

The Rambusch tradition of excellence continues

for All Seasons

By Diana Schwaeble Photos courtesy of The Rambusch Family

F

ew icons hold as much universal significance as the Statue of Liberty.

Standing vigil in the Hudson River, Lady Liberty has been a beacon of hope for countless generations of Americans, or anyone searching for freedom.

Tasked with moving and repairing the torch of the Statue of Liberty is no small feat. Were it any other company but the fourth generation of Jersey City’s Rambusch Company, the job might seem too daunting. Working on historic buildings, museums, and cathedrals is all in a day’s work for the storied company, which has completed hundreds of significant and lasting commissions.

The twin brothers Martin and Edwin now lead the company. While the breadth of the work has changed, their work ethic has not. First generation master painter Frode Rambusch founded the business in Manhattan in 1898, focusing on painted decoration, glazing, and murals. Four generations have refined and expanded the work. Though Martin and Ewin are twins, they have different sensibilities, and they head different divisions of the company.

“Edwin runs the lighting,” Martin said. “Custom lighting and what we call standard lighting. Custom lighting would be a one-of-a-kind chandelier or a piece of metal that has a glow. I’m involved in crafts, which is stained glass, church furnishings, artwork, and then the sale and coordination of that as well.”

Recently, I visited their Jersey City factory, which looks unremarkable on the outside, tucked on quiet Cornelison Avenue. The shop is not what you’d expect, especially when you consider the majesty of their work: temples, monuments, and memorials. Though their work often honors the dead, it is a testament to life.

Carrying a Torch When the National Park Service and the general contractor, Phelps Construction Group, started to develop a team to work on the torch, they asked Rambusch if it wanted to be involved. “It’s really not hard to figure out what the answer should be other than, ‘sure, of course,’” Martin said.

Not everyone can do this kind of work, and fewer now choose it. They have 30 full-time employees. But attracting craftspeople to work on tile or a light fixture for $30 an hour is tough when they can work as a plumber and make almost twice that, Martin said. Or work making code for $150 an hour. The biggest challenge is finding talented people, he said, adding that there must be a balance of art and craft.

“We are interested in having capable, artistic people,” Martin said. “We are looking to work with craftsmen more than artists, because their capacity is to craft several things. It’s not one perfect piece. And if the client says they don’t like it, they don’t run away and destroy it.”

14 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

Image by TBishPhoto

A Two-Year Plan It took about 18 months to develop a plan for the torch project, Martin said. They were told that the plan was to move the original torch from the base to the new museum. The finish and condition shouldn’t be changed, and it needed to be illuminated. They discussed the right source of illumination, including the color and density.

Edwin had previously worked with a LED system that is tunable by color, volume, and density. Using LED to light the torch became a very attractive solution. “So to have an infinite color solution made us comfortable that we could reach the unknown of what their request was,” Martin said.

Moving the torch to the new museum was a two-week process. They would board the last boat at 3 p.m. and start work at 5 p.m., working until 2 or 3 a.m. They had to be sure to have everything needed since they were working on an island. Not to mention, the issue of working at night. “It sounds romantic until your whole sleep schedule is all off,” Martin said. “They say you can sleep until 10 or 11 a.m., and you are still up at 6, and then someone is calling you at 8:30 a.m.

There was a challenge of putting a whole day into your already full day.”

“And then the challenge that we wanted to move on pace and on schedule,” Martin continued. “There was nothing more important than the Statue of Liberty. There is one, there is no other. Therefore, what is the old saying? ‘Slow is fast. Smooth is fastest?’ The enormity of what you were doing, which in one minute is really exciting, and the next, holy Christmas, I have to really be careful here.”

The process included cleaning, documenting, prepping, dismantling, and moving. They spent another three weeks blending the finish, which was done within conservation standards, without impacting the original finish.

“When you are on the torch—and we were lucky enough, because we were working on it— it’s a fragile thing,” Martin said. “It moves. It’s not rock solid. You’re almost on a boat. There is a little move and shake, which makes total sense.”

Lady Liberty’s Lore Visiting the Statue of Liberty can spark vivid memories, not always reliable.

Martin related, “There was an introduction at one of the ceremonies, and the director of the tour said, ‘Well, everyone will tell you that they have been on the torch of the Statue of Liberty, which is impossible. It’s been closed since 1917. You were in the head, and you looked at the torch. But everyone tells you they were on the torch.’”

Martin said that it became clear that the fewer changes they made, the more successful the project would be. “We just put back what was there,” he said. “So we took out 15 sources of illumination, and we put back 15 sources of illumination in the exact same location.” The change was simple. It went from an incandescent source to an LED source.

Did we Mention the Vatican?

Image by TBishPhoto

16 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

At the Rambusch factory, there is no idle chatter near the breakroom or separation between executives and staff. Everyone is united in purpose.

Martin and Edwin stroll the floor on an equal footing with their craftspeople. They’re working on things bigger than themselves, big enough to mark history.

But Martin will tell you that they don’t think of the magnitude of a project, though they’ve worked on the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in D.C., the Boston Public Library, the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Siena, and the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, to name a few.

“We were lucky enough to work on the New York Fire Department’s memorial to 911,” Martin said. “Those spaces, those environments we are designing, shaping, crafting, are precious to that community.”

Martin is not given to touting the significance of their work. It was an hour before he mentioned that they had just completed work at the Vatican: “Last summer we created and installed a statue at the Vatican. That was very exciting. So after 122 years of doing work for the Catholic Church, we have a piece now at the Vatican.”

Martin points out recent work. Competing with the sound of metalwork is the silence of the space, with vast ceilings and religious icons everywhere.

“We’re lucky to have been involved in some wonderful projects,” Martin said. “You don’t always listen to your parents, but one of the things my dad said is, ‘I feel sorry for you boys. You are going so fast that you really can’t take a breath to appreciate some of the beautiful things you are doing.’ Which is true. So from a point of view of history, we’ve been very, very lucky.”—JCM

from page 13

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Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21 • 17

SACRED HEART’S Surviving December 10, 2019

By Kate Rounds Photos courtesy of Rosemary Sekel n Thursday, December 5, 2019, 34-year-old Jersey City livery driver Michael Rumberger picked up two passengers at the Hudson Mall in Jersey City and drove them to a moving company at West First Street in Bayonne, where he was shot in the head. His Lincoln Town Car was driven to 17th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard in Bayonne. On December 7, Rumberger’s body was found in the trunk.

Rosemary Sekel, advancement director at Sacred Heart School at 183 Bayview Avenue on the corner of Martin Luther King Drive in Jersey City, recalls that she probably left later than her usual 5:30 p.m. on December 5 because the next day was open house and report card day. “The teachers may have been putting the finishing touches on decorations Thursday evening,” she recalls. “After that,” for her, “it was Route 78 and All things Considered.”

On December 10, Jersey City Detective Joseph Seals went to Jersey City’s Bayview Cemetery to meet with a confidential informant. According to a senior law enforcement source, it was not related to the Rumberger murder.

The cemetery, built in 1848, features classic gravestones, tombs, and worn paths, with sycamore trees standing guard. It’s bisected

by Garfield Avenue. To the west roars the New Jersey Turnpike, with the public Skyway Golf Course across the way. To the east are views of New York City, as the graveyard slopes down toward Liberty National’s PGA greens.

According to U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito, Seals saw a white U-Haul van parked in a spot that made him suspicious. When he investigated, the occupants who had been living in the van, opened fire. One media outlet reported that Seals had been shot behind the ear. At about 12:38 p.m. the Jersey City Police Department received a 911 call from an individual who discovered Seals. The detective was pronounced dead at Jersey City Medical Center, leaving a wife and five children.

O

Students waiting in Sacred Heart Church on the day of the shooting

18 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

DAY OF DELIVERANCE At about 12:21 p.m., a white U-Haul van, emblazoned with an ad announcing its rental price of $19.95, ran a red light at Bidwell Avenue traveling south on MLK Drive. Seconds later, it parked along the curb outside Sacred Heart School. The school, established in 1913, originally served Jersey City’s growing immigrant population and today reflects the diversity of MLK Drive with its large African-American community.

David Anderson, 47, driver of the white U-Haul, exited the van with a long rifle and began to fire on the JC Kosher Supermarket at 223 MLK Drive. The store, which caters to the Hasidic community, has a sandwich bar and shelves packed with popular kosher items.

Cholent and kugel are freshly-made on Thursdays.

“There’s no question it was an attack on the Jewish community,” Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said at the time, noting that the kosher market abuts a synagogue and yeshiva.

“Before the shooting began, we received two blessings,” Sekel recalls. She is a short, loquacious woman, devoted to the school.

“The day was unusually mild for December, and our eighth-grade teacher rang the bell to end recess for the second lunch about two minutes early. Recess is held in the parking lot next to our cafeteria/ gym building. This is about 200 to 300 feet from the school. Most of the lunch classes were back in the school except for the seventh grade. They were walking into the building. I was in the computer room, which is just a few feet from the main entrance, the office, the teacher’s room, and nurse’s office.” She was with Sister Frances Salemi, Sacred Heart’s Principal.

As Anderson crossed the street in the rain, he left the driver’s side door open. Francine Graham, 50, exited the passenger side and followed Anderson into the store. People on the street scattered, running in the opposite direction and ducking behind parked cars.

The assailants, both wearing tactical gear, fatally shot co-owner Leah Mindel Ferencz, employee Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, and customer Moshe Deutsch, a rabbinical student.

The assailants were implicated in the Rumberger murder of December 5.

“We are an inner-city school and to hear what is probably a gunshot is not unusual,” Sekel says. “Within seconds, though, the second volley of shots rang out, and they were definitely more war than inner-city gunshots; everyone started reacting.”

At approximately 12:22 p.m. two Jersey City Police Officers who were one block south on patrol heard the shots and ran to the scene.

Two minutes later, marked and unmarked police vehicles arrived and established a perimeter. At about 12:43 p.m., JCPD officers drove up with a BearCat armored personnel carrier.

Sister Frances often arrives at Sacred Heart at 5:30 a.m. She lives in Newark with the Sisters of Charity and drives to the school every day on Route 1 and 9. On December 10, she arrived at 6.

She recalls that it was cold at that hour. She entered through the back door, made coffee, and sat down to some paperwork. A few students arrived as early as 7 a.m.

Sister, a sturdy, casually-dressed woman of a certain age, exudes confidence, kindness, and gentle authority. Bullet holes were still evident in her office to the right of the front entrance at a midJanuary meeting. She has an “open-door policy.”

The seventh-grade class, now in the front hall, instinctively dropped to the ground. Their teacher motioned to the girl holding the door to quickly close it. The class stood and ran upstairs.

Sister Frances announced over the microphone, “Lockdown, shelter in place.” They sheltered in place for three to four hours on classroom floors. Sister answered the phone in the nurse’s office which rang and rang. School Secretary Evelyn Roe was under her desk, sending a blast message to parents that the school was in lockdown, and the children were safe. Later, kids made a Christmas plaque to cover a bullet hole in Roe’s office.

After about 45 minutes, the police, who had been all around the school, were buzzed in. “Since we were directly across from the schul and the grocery store, Sacred Heart was the only spot from which they could fire back into the store where the shooters had killed three people,” Sekel says. “They shot back from the classrooms on the side of the building across from the store.”

At approximately 1:49 p.m. bodycam footage released by the Office of the Attorney General shows an officer with a handgun in an upper floor classroom of Sacred Heart School returning fire coming from the kosher market.

At about 1:50 the officer reports, “I think he’s down … I got a gun on the ground. Nope he is still moving behind the, behind the wood.” He continues to return fire.

Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21 • 19

Flowers were left after the shootout.

Parent Melissa Germain 20 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

Bullet casings fall on the school’s windowsill atop a children’s book. Two magazine clips rest on a box on the sill to the officer’s left.

A minute later, the officer begins to move through the desks, out into the hall past a series of gray lockers and red classroom doors into another classroom, weaving through desks to a far-left window. “He is still moving,” he reports before continuing to return fire out the window.

Paper candles and angels blowing horns are taped to the windows.

“We didn’t know exactly what the nature of the attack was,” Sekel relates. “There were periods of incredible automatic gunfire, booms that sounded like cannons and then silence, sometimes for 20 minutes, a half hour, and then more gunfire. Lying on classroom floors, huddled with absolutely silent children, I think we all experienced some of its frightening cacophony.”

Sheltering in place doesn’t work so well when bullets are coming into the place where you’re sheltering, she noted. “Our seventh-grade teacher deviated a bit from emergency procedures.

When he and his class reached the second floor, he carefully looked out the MLK Drive windows and realized that that side of the building was in the crosshairs of the perpetrator, directly in the line of fire. He let his class continue to the third floor.”

After alerting Sister Frances, three teachers made their way to classrooms on the second floor on the MLK side of the building, knocked, and got the children to crawl across the hall into safer classrooms.

The active shooter protocol dictates that when you have a lockdown, under no circumstances should you unlock and open a classroom door, no matter who’s there or what they say. “Thank God the teachers in the classrooms on the safer side relied on their instincts, made a difficult judgment, unlocked their doors, and let the children in,” Sekel says.

Student Blake Davenport

Principal Sister Frances Salemi and Kenya Curry

Teacher Siony Delos Reyes

Ajah Archibald and Sister Frances Salemi At approximately 3:25 p.m., the BearCat armored personnel carrier rammed through the storefront and engaged with the two suspects.

The van, outfitted with ballistic panels, contained five firearms: an AR-15, a 12-gauge shotgun, a 9 mm Ruger semi-automatic, a 9 mm Glock 17, and a 22 Ruger Mark IV with a homemade silencer and homemade device for catching bullet casings.

The van was later found to contain pipe bombs that could kill or injure people up to 500 yards away, as well as enough material to make a second bomb.

At approximately 3:47 p.m., the shootout ended. Officers found five bodies inside including those of Anderson and Graham.

“At about 3:30 or 4 we were rushed to the basement, where we stayed for about 45 minutes,” Sekel relates. “We had 200 children. The basement is not only safer but it is where the bathrooms are. Only the boys’ room could be used because the girls’ room had a window facing the street. Children were allowed to go to the bathroom one at a time with an adult. The Kindergarten class put the tables on their sides to make a fort-like barrier.

“Police instructed us to make sure all the children were accounted for, line them up two by two, count off 20 at a time, and escort them up the back cellar stairs across to the priory, 30 feet away. It was lined with police.”

The priory is connected to Sacred Heart Church, designed by architect Ralph Adams Cram, who designed New York City’s Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Sacred Heart is a massive Gothic affair standing on the northeast corner of MLK Drive and Bidwell Avenue.

Class by class, the children used the church’s one bathroom. “It was a blessing that the day was warm,” Sekel recalls. “The church is big and takes a long time to warm up. Many of the children did not have their coats.”

Together, they recited The Lord’s Prayer. Blake Davenport, a seventh grader on the upper floor, has siblings in the school. “I was thinking about my brother and sister on the lower level,” he says.

One girl reveals, “I was the first to cry.”

Melissa Germain, a parent, reports that after the shooting, her son, Joshua, a second grader, was disturbed by noises. “Our neighbors were doing home renovations,” she says. “He heard tools they were using on their house and automatically thought it was a shooting.”

A woman who has three children in the school had already lost a son to gun violence. She wrote to Sister Frances, “You told me you would always keep my children safe. You were true to your word.”

Siony Delos Reyes teaches first grade. She has three children of her own. Like any mother, she says, she would lay down her life for them in an instant, but she wondered if she would do the same for her school children. If she did, she would never see her three girls again.

“I felt so blessed that day,” she says. “I think on that day I would have given my life for the children.”—JCM Hudson Reporter staff writer Marilyn Baer contributed research for this story.

Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21 • 21

Olena Yakobchuk | Shutterstock.com

Zooming

Along

How one fitness instructor adapted to the new normal

By Tara Ryazansky Photos courtesy of Laura Miller

F

itness instructor Laura Miller isn’t afraid of change. “I had the corporate job, and I really changed it up to be selfemployed,” she says. “But I wasn’t forced to adapt. I chose to.”

Even when the coronavirus shutdown required nonessential businesses to close, Laura met the challenge and found a way to adapt her business model to work during the quarantine.

Miller created HipFit dance fitness in 2014. She felt she had become less active while stuck behind a desk at her ad agency job. She had danced throughout her childhood and continued with classes until she graduated from high school. “I was taking Zumba classes here and there, but it just wasn’t hitting the mark,” Laura says. She wasn’t that into the moves or the music. “I always loved hip hop.”

This inspired her to create HipFit. “It’s combining hip hop and fitness,” she says. “It’s about an hour long, and there’s no prior experience required. I just suggest you enjoy dancing as cardio.

I’m combining dancing with a lot of exercise movements, but it’s not really 80s and workouty. I want people to feel like they’re learning some moves that they can take to the club.”

Entrepreneur Extraordinaire Laura built two businesses simultaneously when she left her ad career. Along with HipFit, she created a hand-painted signage business called Letter by Laura. Her sign business took off and became her primary source of income while she taught HipFit classes at Grassroots Community Space at 54 Coles Street.

“The whole program really started very small,” Laura says of HipFit. In the early days, there were times that only a few people showed up. The class grew and would typically meet up four times a week. “It has since really transformed into such a wonderful community of people who have become friends and acquaintances,” she says “It’s supportive and nonjudgmental. Not to mention they’re getting a great workout and having some fun.

I think people really look forward to this class. They’re not dreading it like you might dread another type of workout.”

When Coronavirus came along, the workout classes stopped.

Letter by Laura took a hit, too, because area restaurants made up the majority of Miller’s clientele. No one needed a beautifully written specials board amid a pandemic. Miller turned her focus to HipFit.

HipFit at Home “I had those financial burden concerns, but just as important was not letting the HipFit community down and not losing this

22 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

community,” Laura says. She decided to instruct her fitness classes online. “I threw myself into trying to stream some classes. I had no idea what I was doing.”

Soon, Miller found that the best solution was holding her class meetings via the Zoom video conferencing app. This way her clients could Venmo her payment and then access info to join the class via laptop or mobile device.

“Now I have it figured out,” she says. “The beauty of it is that so many people turned out online to take this class.” She made her Jersey City home into her new gym. “I’ve transformed my little spare room into a studio.”

A Timeless Trend Plenty of Jersey City residents are carving out space for at-home fitness. Despite gym closures, fitness remains a priority. “A lot of feedback that I’ve gotten is that people have been feeling very anxious and HipFit has been a relief from that,” Laura says.

“Things like that really touch my heart.”

Laura thinks that even when we become less isolated, home fitness will remain popular. “These options will be out there more and more,” she predicts. “It’s interesting to see HipFit translate so well. You know, you’re in your apartment alone dancing, but

Remember the days before masks and social distancing?

people are into it. They’ll do some hip-hop dance cardio at 8 in the morning.”

Before the pandemic, Laura regretfully put HipFit on the back burner in favor of her lettering business. Now HipFit has her full attention.

“I am really focused on HipFit, and it’s really rewarding, Laura says. It’s reaffirmed that I need to spend more time on this. When things get back to normal, and we’re back to the studio, we’re going to keep this going. I’m really proud of the class and the community it’s garnered.”—JCM

Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21 • 23

It’s in the

CARDS A Jersey City artist makes cards, kits, and critters

By Tara Ryazansky Photos courtesy of Erin Fox ike most kids, Erin Fox made construction paper birthday cards when she was little. “We’re very much a snail mail family,” she says. “My mom even does handmade cards.”

Fox studied graphic design and did illustration, but her artwork never made it onto greeting cards until three years ago.

She was working part-time at Kanibal & Co. on Montgomery Street in Jersey City. Shop owner, Kristen Scalia approached Fox about making a custom holiday card. “Since Erin is one of our staff members here as well as a local illustrator it felt like a good partnership to create a custom line for the store,” says Scalia, who loves working with talented Jersey City locals. “This way the money goes back to the artist, which goes back into Jersey City as a whole. It’s always been an important mission of the store to also support the community which supports us.”

“I never put two and two together to make a line of greeting cards until Kanibal,” Fox says. That first card, which featured a steaming mug that

L

24 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

reads Seasons Greetings from Jersey City held by mittened hands, is still available at Kanibal & Co. online.

A Card Company of Her Own The success of that first endeavor inspired Fox to create more. Now, under the company name Moxie Fox she sells cards that fit many occasions.

“I have sympathy, thinking of you, engagements and weddings, thank yous …” The list goes on. “I love that in general, handmade stationery has been taking off. It’s an actual little team or person making this little piece of stationery for you, which is different than your glittery Hallmark card,” Fox says.

The product is different too. One of her wedding cards features bride and groom skulls and says “Together Forever.” It’s a unique take on “‘til death us do part” that you probably wouldn’t find mass- produced. Fox says. “They can be funnier. They can have swear words and be a little off the beaten path.”

Moxie Fox makes more than greeting cards. She’s created custom wedding stationery. “I’ve done everything from quirky couple portraits to elegant florals,” Fox says. “It’s always fun to learn a couple’s style and personality.

I especially love helping with the little things like matching labels for favors, or cute bar signs. It’s almost like creating a brand package for a couple, and making sure everything cohesively matches their wedding vision. I love it.”

Very Crafty Fox also created I Could Make That!

DIY craft kits for adults. These easyto-use kits contain the necessary supplies and information to help beginners make things, like a knit cowl scarf, ear warmer headband, felt succulent garden, or chic tassel necklace. They could be the perfect item for folks who are feeling crafty during the quarantine.

“I wasn’t seeing anything out there that was easy and giftable,” Fox says.

“It’s good for office gifts and white elephant gifts too.”

Fox has used her illustration skills to collaborate with Kanibal & Co on the Animals of Jersey City collection. “Being a local business, we often have customers with fur babies that come into the store to shop,” Scalia says. This inspired Scalia to urge Jersey City pet owners to submit photos of their animal friends on Instagram tagging @shopkanibal to enter the Animals of Kanibal contest. Check out #AOK19 to see the 2019 entries.

Ten to 15 randomly selected critters have their portrait done by Fox. Last year’s winners included rescue mutts, purebreds, kittens and a trio of chickens.

“I can’t pick a true favorite because people will be mad, but I love pit bulls with smiley faces,” Fox says.

The pet portraits adorn merchandise like tote bags and coffee mugs. A portion of the proceeds from these items supports animal charities such as See Spot Rescued and JerseyCats.

After the contest, pet owners reached out to see if they could commission Fox for custom portraits. “I’ve always been doing that for friends ‘cause I love animals, and they’re fun to draw,” Fox says. “The local vet started buying them, and there are rescues in town that I sort of work with too. It just kind of trickled out of the shop.”

This led Fox to launch a new website with a Build Your Own Custom Pet Portrait section. It also inspired her to teach a Pop Art Pet Portrait class at Kanibal & Co.

YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS JCM

Small Business Boost “It’s a great way to meet people, and Kanibal supplies the wine,” Fox says of the events, which are on hiatus for now. Participants walk away with a cool piece of art they’ve made themselves. The artists who teach the classes earn 100 percent of the profits because Scalia doesn’t take a cut.

Fox was recently awarded a grant from the Jersey City Project through its newly launched Small Business Grant Fund. “It was amazing to have been one of the small businesses selected to receive a grant from JCP,” Fox says.

“It was just the boost I needed to upgrade my equipment and therefore expand my services. I am so grateful for their help and support.”

“My personal business really took off after moving here,” says Fox who came to JC by way of Pittsburgh. “At Kanibal, customers want the stuff that’s local. They want the stuff that’s handmade. Plus there’s a community of makers. You can reach out to anybody, and everyone is so supportive.”—JCM e-mail: hello@themoxiefox.space website: www.TheMoxieFox.space etsy: TheMoxieFox.Etsy.com

Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21 • 25

Photos courtesy of the Leal-Morehouse Family

John Leal Jersey City’s unsung hero

By Pat Bonner n the years before the turn of the twentieth century, Jersey City was booming. It was the terminus for several railroads, and due to immigration, population was increasing rapidly. The city had been taking water from the Passaic River near Belleville.

However, as Paterson developed, sewerage was being pumped into the river near this site, and Jersey City had to make other plans.

It stopped using water from the Passaic in 1895 and made a shortterm contract with East Jersey Water Company to use water from the Little Falls waterworks. Later, there was litigation over this, but it was merely a stopgap. The city needed a safe water supply and solicited bids for a permanent solution.

I

Big Bucks, Bad Blood The bidding process was complex and litigious. After eight requests for bids and assorted lawsuits, the city awarded the contract to a notorious local businessman, Patrick Flynn. Flynn may have been behind the East Jersey Water Company, but he set up a new company, Jersey City Water Supply Co. to build the waterworks.

In the contract, he agreed to build 26 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

a dam, a reservoir at Boonton, a pipeline, and to supply the city with 50 million gallons of “pure and wholesome” water per day.

This was a term in the contract.

The city had the right to purchase the system on completion for $7,595,000, about $235 million in today’s dollars. The contract was signed on February 28, 1899.

Though it had agreed to the contract, the city did not want to pay, dragging out the issue in court until the last appeal was dismissed 12 years later at the end of 1911.

The Right Resume Flynn started the work but became insolvent. He conveyed the contract to a new company in 1902 headed by an engineering professor from Cornell University. That same year, John Leal started working for the company as the chief sanitary adviser.

Leal was perfect for the job. A graduate of Princeton University, he went on to medical school and for many years practiced medicine in Paterson. Later, he took advanced courses in bacteriology and chemistry at Princeton. His father died from dysentery contracted from unsanitary water in the Civil War, which gave Leal a lifetime interest in safe water. He had been a crusading member of

DOWN MEMORY LANE JCM the Paterson Board of Health and was able to shut down numerous unsafe wells in that city.

Leal took center stage after the city refused to pay for the project.

It sued, arguing the water company did not comply with the contract. Leal was the guiding force and primary expert witness at the two trials between the parties.

previous four months. Both sides had been testing the water daily so no one could argue that the water was not sufficiently “pure and wholesome.” In fact, the trial had been going on for some time, and everyone in the courtroom had been drinking the chlorinated water without knowing it. Leal and his company prevailed in the lawsuit, and Jersey City became the first city to chlorinate its water.

See You in Court The first trial was largely a draw.

The judge ruled that the city had to pay for the construction of the dam, the Boonton Reservoir, and the 23-mile pipeline. However, he did accept the city’s argument that the water was not completely “pure and wholesome” because several days a year, usually after a large storm, the bacteria count was too high.

The cost of constructing sewers to capture the waste would have been very high. Rather than deducting an amount for the construction of sewers from the purchase price, the judge gave Leal and his company 90 days to come up with “other plans or devices” for making the water pure and wholesome year-round.

This wording about other plans or devices was key because it opened the door for Leal to put his theory about chlorine into practice.

Today, we put chlorine in our pools, but at the time of the trial, February 1909, it was seen as a poison. A few visionary water engineers, including Leal, had discussed using it as a disinfectant, but it had never been used in the water supply for a medium-sized city.

Safe Water Saves Lives Among the diseases caused by contaminated water is typhoid.

With the U. S. population increasing and rapid industrialization, typhoid was rampant in the country in the first decade of the twentieth century. Following Jersey City’s successful experimentation with chlorine, its use exploded across the country and the world. A number of cities began using chlorine in the years 1910-1913. All lowered the typhoid death rate. Omaha lowered the rate by 59 percent; Kansas City, 53 percent; and Erie, Pa., 65 percent. By 1941, the Census Bureau estimated that 85 percent of the U.S. water supply was chlorinated. Before 1908, when chlorination was introduced, there were about 30 deaths per 100,000 due to typhoid. The number of lives saved is in the hundreds of thousands if not higher.

Anonymous Source

The C Word At the second trial, the city was prepared to argue about the cost of constructing additional sewers and how large a credit it should receive on the contract price, when it was surprised to hear Leal proposing using chlorine to treat the water. The experts for the two sides were arguing about whether chlorine was safe when Leal testified that he’d been secretly adding it to Jersey City’s water supply for the

(l-r) Author Michael J. McGuire, grandsons Scott and Hank Morehouse

Leal never received the accolades he deserved. Recently a selfdescribed “drinking-water guy” named Michael McGuire has led the effort to recognize Leal. He has written an excellent book, The Chlorine Revolution. Leal’s body had been in a grave with no monument or headstone. McGuire and others erected a marker reading “John L. Leal–Hero of Public Health.” In fact, many in the field call John Leal our nation’s “Father of Public Health.”

No schools are named for him, and he did not win a Nobel Prize.

But his story and the fight for chlorination make a pretty good Jersey City yarn.—JCM

Feeding the Needy

By Tara Ryazansky Photos by Max Ryazansky

In

times of change businesses have to adapt, and Ani Ramen has done that in a big way.

As COVID-19 pushed Jersey into social isolation, the first step was getting folks home earlier instead of crowded into bars at night.

Owner Luck Sarabhayavanija closed Ani Ramen about a week before it was mandatory. “We couldn’t live with ourselves if we were part of that spread,” Luck says.

Feeding the Soul Luck Sarabh

ayavanija

How one business is coping with Corona

But even with Ani Ramen temporarily closed, Luck kept the business going, selling gift cards online. He doubled every gift card so customers could spend $25 to get a $50 card. They can be used now that Ani Ramen has reopened its Hudson Street location for delivery and pickup orders.

On March 19, Luck handed out prepackaged ramen kits.

“We wound up giving out 15,000,” Luck says.

A woman walking by was an essential worker at a nursing home that was in need.

Luck said he would give her 100 bowls for her clients.

“She whipped the minivan around, and we loaded the bowls up.”

Closed Doors, Open Hearts Nicholas Wilk

ins

28 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

Luck’s childhood friend, high-end hairstylist Mark Bustos, “goes to New York and gives haircuts to the homeless,” Luck says.

He wanted to collaborate with Bustos under the

#beawesometosomebody movement Bustos created.

Ani Ramen became the temporary home of two nonprofit popup takeout concepts, Rock City Pizza Co. and Bang Bang Chicken. Instead of offering ramen, Ani Ramen’s Newark Avenue location sold Detroit style pizza and Thai spiced rotisserie chicken via takeout and delivery.

The plan was to sell each item at a lower-than-normal price in hopes that customers would add a little extra to their tabs to donate a meal to essential workers and those in need. Pizzas were $11-$13. Adding an extra $6 buys a donated pizza.

Chicken was $15-$19, and $8 provided a free meal.

Fifty percent of the donated items were delivered to area hospitals and first responders. The other 50 percent was distributed to locals in need. It has fed more than 30,000 people.

Ani Ramen used #beawesomefeedsomebody as its Instagram hashtag. It’s documenting the popups at @beawesomefeeds and @ aniramen.

Luck launched a Kickstarter where folks preorder meals and donate. He hired back about 20 percent of his staff. Luck and his partners are not taking a salary.

“No one prepares you for a pandemic,” he says. “I think it was Teddy Roosevelt who said, ‘the worst thing you can do is nothing.’”

Ani Ramen opened its Newark Avenue location in late August as an Ani Ramen Express.

Ani Ramen’s motto is “slurp, sip, repeat,” but it seems like during the pandemic, it’s more like “Give back, repeat.”—JCM

Kevin Cox

Help is Out There

Jennifer Wai channels your spirit guides

By Tara Ryazansky Photos courtesy of Jennifer Wai ennifer Wai is an intuitive consultant. Sounds like a psychic.

“I think people hear the word psychic and think, ‘Call this hotline,’” Wai says. “But it’s all the same thing. I use the word empath and the word intuitive because they encompass it all.”

Wai is different from an old infomercial psychic, but she does work by phone. That format helped her fare well during quarantine isolation.

When Wai provides a reading, she does a quick assessment of her client around 20 minutes before they speak. “I just need their name,” she says. “I tap into their energy field which is what I call a soul stream.”

She filters information that’s given to her by spirit guides.

“It’s basically like their guides are talking to my guides,” she says. “A guide could be a being who is incarnated currently somewhere or was incarnated who is related to you in a soul way. They are a soul family member. They have made an agreement with you before you were born into your body.”

J

What do these guides look like? “Sometimes it’s an animal.

Sometimes it’s like a weird-looking being where I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I want to look at you again,’” Wai laughs. “I’m a Jew from Long Island, so this is all pretty funny to me.”

The Origin Story When Wai leaned into her innate psychic abilities, it wasn’t well received by many in her life.

She started exploring her intuitive abilities when she was in her late 30s. “Perfect midlife crisis timing,” she says. “Everybody has these abilities. We’re just socialized out of them.”

She watched online documentaries about people who channel aliens and angels and took an intuitive coaching course to build her confidence.

“I lost a lot of friends,” Wai says. “I don’t know how to shut up, and I don’t know how to edit myself.” She does talk a mile a minute, with genuine excitement. “A lot of people were freaked out by it.”

A community of believers gravitates to all things new-age. Wai was in the early stages of planning a fest in Van Vorst Park when COVID-19 broke out. She wanted folks to attend workshops, receive readings, energy work, or reiki healing. With nonessential activities shut down, the event was cancelled.

Jennifer Wai

30 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

Power Outage?

“I was on a live chat with a bunch of other psychics, and we were like, ‘Why didn’t we see this coming?’” Wai says.

“People have to hold their own light right now. We’re here to help that. It’s going to be a reckoning for a lot of people who are not willing to adapt or evolve.”

Her long-term clients are more than willing. Wai says she’s had an uptick in business consulting. “I spend a lot of time talking with partners and making sure that they’re aligned in a complementary way,” she says. “I think businesses in general need to be revolutionized. Things have to be personal. Things need to be community-based.

A message that I would want people to know is that as a business owner, you have employees who are dealing with something that has never before occurred. The business needs to provide a safe space for people to communicate for their energetic wellbeing. When a business runs really well, it’s palpable. You can feel it.”

She says that the opposite is also true, especially for those as sensitive to energy as Wai. “I ate a meal from takeout, and I could tell that whoever made it was under an immense amount of stress. This isn’t measurable stuff, but it is stuff to consider.”

She has also been helping clients dealing with work stress and career changes. “I love to help people pivot,” Wai says.

Around the end of March, Wai offered free half-hour readings for three weeks. It was her way of helping those who felt lost during the first wave of Covid-19. “I met a lot of amazing people through that. It’s really exciting for me to be invited into what other people are going through,” she says. “It helps me too.”

At the end of June when the Black Lives Matter movement came to national attention after the murder of George Floyd, Wai felt inspired to offer free half-hour readings again. “I did another round of free sessions at that time,” she says. “I didn’t specifically say it was for people of color because I think everybody needed it at that time. I ended it on Juneteenth, which is also my birthday.”

https://www.jenniferwai.com/ jw@jenniferwai.com @thejenniferwai on Instagram

Test Drive Of course, I signed up for a reading. Wai begins our session by guiding me through a short breathing exercise.

She calls on my guides and tells me what she’s intuited before our call. She starts all her readings by asking clients’ guides where the clients are in their lives. She sees visions in her mind’s eye and interprets them. “I kind of break apart that image and ask where does this person need support right now, and if I don’t really get a clear answer, I keep pushing for it,” she says.

According to my guides, I have too much on my plate.

The message sounds general at first, like something that could apply to anyone, but it soon becomes surprisingly personal. She says a few things that are so spot on that they give me chills.

I waffle back and forth between skeptic and believer, but I came away with solid life advice. Whether she channeled it from my spirit guides or not, it was eye-opening and fun.

For 30 minutes I wasn’t thinking about the Coronavirus.

“At the core of what I do I just want to help people,” Wai says. “I love my clients. We came here to have this human experience. I just want them to see what I see.”—JCM Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21 • 31

HOME WORK At home with NMG’s Hudson County editorial/graphics team, with special thanks to the members of our stalwart sales team who have been working valiantly against tremendous odds. COVID-19 put us out of the office, but not out of the loop.

Staff Writer Marilyn Baer Photo by Malcolm Clark

To be a good journalist, you’ve got to be able to work from anywhere. Lately, that’s my living-room floor, where the coffee table is just the right height for me to type my notes as I watch the latest virtual city council meeting.

So far, 2020 sucks, but the one thing I’d like to keep from this year is the attire.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more comfortable than in my button-down shirt and athletic shorts.

Art Director Terri Saulino Bish Photo by Ronni Saulino Bish

Working from home has been a paradox. To quote Charles Dickens, “It has been the best of times and the worst of times.” I eat lunch with family, pet my dog’s big white head, and avoid countless hours navigating the maze of New Jersey highways. But I truly miss my coworkers, their smiles, their rants, and their unmatched creativity. So, I guess I will “reflect upon my present blessings” and greet this new reality with a smile.

32 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020/21

Staff Writer Dan Israel Photo by Thomas Szweada

Working from home has been an adjustment, but my “thinking chair” has made it easier. Occasionally one of my cats will come along to distract me, but I’ve maintained my productivity by dressing as if I’m still in the actual office. Some days are more casual than others, but it helps me get the job done!

Managing Editor Gene Ritchings Photo by Lauren Naslund

Dear Dr. Norquist: It’s Gene, working from home, just me and my risk factors. My tasks and responsibilities are the same. Just no commuting to Bayonne. I can see the street out my window. Have coffee whenever. Have lunch every day with the love of my life. It’s quiet. It’s safe.

I’m barefoot. Is it okay to like this?

Editor in Chief Kate Rounds Photo by Beth DiCara

Notice my Crocs? A must for your at-home ensemble. I’m moonlighting as an Amazon Package Rescuer-in-Chief for tenants and neighbors. The pay stinks, but it’s essential work. Speaking of essential, thanks to our editorial/ graphics team for their incredible work during an incredibly stressful time!

SOBERING THOUGHTS

Jersey City podcasters offer a fresh perspective on the liquor-free life

By Tara Ryazansky Photo courtesy of The Seltzer Squad

P

odcast cohosts, Kate Zander and Jes Valentine, first met at a Jersey City bar. That’s not unusual for a pair of sociable besties, but their podcast, Seltzer Squad, focuses on staying sober in the city.

It’s safe to say, a lot has changed since they first started hanging out.

They found their way to sobriety separately. Kate realized that she had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol during therapy. “Anytime I was around alcohol it was to feel the effects and get drunk,” she says. “I think I always suffered from social anxiety, and I definitely used alcohol to quote unquote help that.” It took her therapist telling her she had a problem for her to recognize it even though she’d been arrested on drunk and disorderly charges.

“Even getting arrested didn’t make me think I should stop drinking.”

Kate and Jes grew closer as they navigated the alcohol-free life. “Kate has been sober for much longer than I,” says Jes, who is a tattoo artist. “It’s been about a year and a half this time.” She currently works and lives in Brooklyn after 10 years in Jersey City. The two have been on and off the wagon a few times. Kate, who lives in Paulus Hook and works in media and marketing for beauty brands, just celebrated four years sober.

On the Wagon They both needed a sober community to lean on, especially because traditional

12-step programs didn’t vibe with them.

“I think it’s really outdated and very god heavy,” Jes says. “It hasn’t been updated since the 1930s. We’re in such different times. But, if someone is teetering, I am like, ‘Absolutely go to a meeting’. It obviously works for a lot of people.”

“In times of crisis, just going to a 12-step meeting, even if you don’t totally identify with it, it can still be helpful,” Kate agrees, though she never connected with what she describes as a masculine environment.

“I kind of felt excluded when I went.”

“The very first meeting I went to, there were only five other people, and they were all men over the age of 60,” Jes says.

“They were all nice, don’t get me wrong, but it felt a little strange.”

“There’s a lot more than one way to get sober,” Kate says, citing therapy and online groups as a means of support, as well as the Seltzer Squad. “The podcast helps keep me sober.”

“I always say to Kate, the podcast holds me accountable,” Jes says. “I’m not saying I would be drinking if I didn’t have the podcast. AA is all about being anonymous.

It’s always been this hush-hush problem. I think it’s still very much stigmatized, but people are trying to smash that stigma.

There’s a lot of shame in AA, and we’re trying to do the opposite of that”

Podcast Community “I think the community aspect of the podcast helps with the isolation,” Kate says.

34 • Jersey CITY Magazine ~ FALL | WINTER 2020 2020/21

Adds Jes, “I have had a lot of listeners reach out who don’t have sober buddies.

We did not expect the level of DMs or emails that we get. It’s hard because we can’t always reply to everybody. A lot of the questions aren’t questions for us; they’re questions for professionals.”

The podcasters created a list of resources on their website, SeltzerSquad.com. It features everything from therapists and rehab facilities to fun books and movies that resonated with the pair.

They both agree that keeping your mind and body busy can help when trying to maintain sobriety. That can be a challenge early on in sobriety or when triggered by stressors like being quarantined at home.

“Now it’s about getting online,” Jes says. “Listen to podcasts and watch movies. Anything you can do to get your mind off of drinking; do it. Paint, draw, or redecorate your apartment, I did that when I first got sober.”

“We also have a Facebook group that’s growing really quickly,” Kate says. “It’s a place to give and receive support.” The group is called Seltzer Squad.

After the Quarantine Once Jersey City returns to business as usual, there are plenty of places to break the quarantine without breaking your sobriety, they say. The social scene doesn’t exist only in bars.

“There are gyms, there are yoga studios,” Kate says.

“Think of how many parks there are,” Jes says, adding to the list of sober hangout options.

Plus, there are plenty of great brunch spots to enjoy a hangover-free breakfast.

“When you’re sober, you can wake up early,” Kate says, adding that Sam A.M. is her favorite.

And of course, the Seltzer Squad enjoys a good mocktail.

“The Cellar can do really good mocktails,” Jes says. “Porta also.”

“Hamilton Pork has really fun outdoor seating, and I think Matthew’s has kombucha on draft as well,” Kate says, “and I love that there’s a place called Sober Shot. I just like that name. Talk about smashing the stigma.”

“I think opening up a conversation about it helps,” Jes says. “If one person sees that I’m talking about it and is like, ‘I can talk about this too,’ the smaller and smaller the stigma will be.”—JCM

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Together is how we get healthy. Person by person, community by community, we commit to living better, happier, healthier. Which is why we’re continuing to heal, enhance and invest in Hudson County by expanding and strengthening our network of physicians and outpatient facilities.

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