QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, May 26, 2011 Page 24
SQ page 24
Becoming pen pals with famous writers Corona students get a lesson in ‘old time’ communication — letters by Anna Gustafson
lives on paper to such entertainment stars as Nora Ephron, who penned the screenplays They weren’t quite drawing on a cave for “Julie and Julia” and “When Harry Met wall, but students at PS 16 in Corona said Sally,” and her sister Delia Ephron, who they engaged in one of the more archaic wrote the screenplay for “The Sisterhood of forms of communicating this year — they the Traveling Pants.” wrote letters. The pen pals met each other for the “We were able to experience an old-time first time on Friday at PS 16. way of communicating,” said Fabiola “It’s a really great thing to do,” said Radosav, one of the 24 fifth-grade students Nora Ephron, who wrote to the 11-year-old at the school who became pen pals with Fabiola. “Nobody writes me letters anytelevision and film writers this year. more. I get letters from the gas company, The students, writers and actors are all the credit card company. There is no more part of PencilPALS — Performing Artists mail as we know it, so it’s thrilling to get for Literacy in Schools, a collaboration letters from Fabiola.” between the Screen Actors Guild FoundaThe students told their famous countertion and the Writers Guild of America, East parts about everything from their desires to Foundation, which aims to inspire students be astronauts or doctors, and, for Fabiola, to read and write by having them detail their she wrote of the possibility of becoming a writer like Nora Ephron. “I wrote to her about there being a Romanian tradition where parents set up a tray of objects when you’re 1 year old, and I picked up a pencil, which means I’ll be successful at writing,” Fabiola said. Delia Ephron, who wrote to Grace Han, 10, called her endeavors in letter-writing an “adventure.” “It’s a great way to be friends,” said Delia Ephron, who also wrote the screenplays for the movie “Bewitched” and “You’ve Got Mail.” “We wrote about our dogs, what we ate at Thanksgiving. It was a great way to connect.” Yorly Lam, 11, said she Playwright and television writer Jacquelyn Reingold, left, enjoyed foregoing texting and eand Emily Mannan, 10, meet for the first time at PS 16 mailing for letter writing. “When you write e-mails, you after writing to each other for the past year. Editor
PS 16 students Yorly Lam, left, and Derek Kwok meet with Brant Englestein, who has written for PHOTOS BY ANNA GUSTAFSON “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.” write them really fast,” Yorly said. “You’re not really meaning anything in e-mails, but you actually mean something in letters.” Emily Mannan, 10, said she especially enjoyed discussing favorite books with Jacquelyn Reingold, a playwright who has also written for the shows “In Treatment,” and “Law and Order.” “I love the enthusiasm Emily has,” Reingold said. “Not only did she write these fun letters, she sent me these great drawings, such as the view from her window. She also sent me a great short story that she wrote.” That story, Emily explained, was about a girl who follows her dream to become an inventor despite her parents’ insistence that she become a lawyer. Janine Esposito, the class’ teacher, said
writing to their pen pals gave them a “boost of self-confidence.” “They’re getting to send samples of what they wrote to professional writers,” Esposito said. “It was great because some of their pals would give them suggestions for what they would do in their writing, which they would then use.” Brant Englestein, who has written for “Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” said he would often think of his pen pal, Derek Kwok, 11, as he traversed the world. “When I went to Prague for work, I was excited to write a letter from there to Derek,” said Englestein, who is now writing for “The Borgias,” a Showtime program about the powerful Italian dynasty of SpanQ ish origin.
Boro parents welcome charter at LIC school Speakers at PEP meeting berated city for plans to lay off teachers by Anna Gustafson Editor
While there was plenty of contention at the city Panel for Educational Policy meeting at Long Island City High School last week, Queens residents were, for once, not the ones angered by the PEP. Borough residents in the past have spent hours berating the city before the panel voted to close Jamaica High School, PS 30 in Rochdale Village and IS 231 in Springfield Gardens, but those from Queens who spoke during the May 18 meeting said they were pleased that the PEP voted to allow a charter to slightly expand in PS 111 in Long Island City. “We welcome the co-location of Voice with PS 111,” said Valarie Lamour, a member of Community Education Council 30, which represents schools in western Queens. “It’ll help our district with overcrowded schools.” The PEP vote will allow Voice, a charter school specializing in music, to permanently site its kindergarten through second-grade classes at PS 111. The city had originally proposed the school be able to expand through fourth grade, but CEC 30 members objected to that idea and the Department of Education ultimately compromised. Deputy Chancellor Marc Sternberg said the compromise was an “improvement that responds to the needs of both schools and adds new seats to the district.”
Many from Brooklyn, however, were irate at the meeting that the PEP approved the co-location of Brooklyn East Collegiate, a charter, at PS 9. Much of the meeting was spent discussing that co-location. Queens teachers at the PEP meeting did raise frustrations with Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to eliminate about 6,000 teaching positions in the city. “Francis Lewis High School is at 200 percent capacity now, and that’s at a 10-year low,” UFT representative Arthur Goldstein said of his school in Fresh Meadows. “You have a $3.2 billion surplus, yet you want to get rid of 8 percent of working teachers.” James Vasquez, the UFT Queens High School representative, criticized schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott over the impending layoffs. “Your mannerisms and way of speaking is so much more respectful,” than his predecessor, Cathie Black, Vasquez said. “But as much as you say you respect us, you’re also saying you’re going to lay off thousands of teachers. If your solution is to do the same things as Chancellors Klein and Black did, what kind of respect is that?” Kenneth Achiron, the UFT representative at Long Island City High School, called for the layoffs to be rescinded. “The mayor’s priorities are misplaced,” he said. “We Q need every single teacher there is here.”
Valarie Lamour, a member of Community Education Council 30, said at the PEP meeting that she welcomes the Voice charter PHOTO BY ANNA GUSTAFSON school at PS 111 in Long Island City.