___________ SEA CLIFF/GLEN HEAD __________
HERALD Art exhibit is ‘Safe & Sexy’
What’s new with George Santos?
Celebrating Kerri Scanlon
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VOL. 32 NO. 12
MARCH 16 - 22, 2023
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Raising money to rescue rabbits By WILL SHEELINE wsheeline@liherald.com
Rabbits are hopping their way back into Sea Cliff with the return of the Long Island Rabbit Rescue Group fundraiser on Saturday. The event raises money for Long Island’s largest volunteer rabbit rescue organization. The event is the Rescue Group’s first in-person fundraiser in Sea Cliff since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The group is made up of rabbit enthusiasts and owners from across Long Island, who address rabbit-related issues in their
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THE EASTER BUNNY will again make an appearance at the Long Island Rabbit Rescue Group fundraiser, like it did in 2018, with Brendan Kenny, John Haff, Sawyer Deseve, Isaac Bratter and Seamus Casey.
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*HW 5HVXOWV 6LJQ 8S 7RGD\ Sharing a story of the power of healing through poetry 5' $&7 12: Ɯ '($'/,1( $35,/ just felt an urgency to By WILL SHEELINE wsheeline@liherald.com
Former New York Jets running back Hank Bjorklund’s life changed forever in 2015, when he be gan experiencing health issues related to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the brain disease associated with former football players. A lifelong athlete, Bjorklund has turned to writing and performing poetry and music as a way to keep his mind sharp and his spirits up. Bjorklund prided himself on staying fit and healthy throughout his life. Only five months before he began developing
health issues, his doctor told him he was in remarkable shape for a man of his age. “There was a young cardiologist supervising my physical, and at the end of it she told me, ‘You’re average,’” Bjorklund recalled. “I was incredulous. I said, ‘Average?’ and she said, ‘Yes, average for a 20-year old.’” The former professional football player also played for North Shore High School in his youth. Bjorklund played three seasons with the Jets from 1972 to 1974. After leaving football, he studied law at Hofstra University and spent time with his family. After putting professional
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write about my life, to try and make sense of the life I’ve had. HANK BJORKLUND NSHS alumni
football behind him and working as a corporate lawyer, Bjorklund continued to stay active, hiking and traveling with his wife, Victoria. In 2015, however, Bjorklund’s body began to fail him. His doc-
tors told him that he was suffering from a degenerative neurological disease, which some identified as possibly being CTErelated due to his years playing football. Now wheelchair-bound, Bjorklund said he struggled with the diagnosis, feeling a sense of helplessness. Until one day when he woke up and began writing poetry as a way to express himself and his emotions. Bjorklund said he enjoyed writing poetry back in high school, but hadn’t done so in decades. “I just felt an urgency to write about my life, to try and make sense of the life I’ve had,” he
said. “I felt that I could get more in touch with those feelings through writing poetry.” Bjorklund joined a local group that reads and discusses poetry, made up of residents in the North Shore School District and Glen Cove. The group was run by Nassau County’s former poet laureate, Evelyn Kandel, a Glen Cove resident who immediately took a shine to Bjorklund and his wife. Kandel said she was struck by how expressive and impressive Bjorklund’s work was, especially considering the fact that he hadn’t written anything like it CONTINUED ON PAGE 8