Notes from Amsterdam Avenue
From Spanish Harlem to Sesame Street This fall, 5th graders read The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by acclaimed Latina author and actress Sonia Manzano, former Cathedral parent (of Gabriela Reagan ’02) and Absalom Jones Benefit Honoree in 2007. The novel chronicles the coming of age story of Evelyn, a young Latina growing up in Spanish Harlem in the late 1960s. Ms. Manzano based the novel on her own experiences coming to terms with her Latina identity growing up in the Bronx. Ms. Manzano visited the school in November and spoke to the 5th grade about how Latinos were “invisible” in society when she was growing up. After she became friends with members of the Young Lords, a Puerto Rican activist group, she became proud of her culture and felt that she “didn’t have to explain who I was anymore.” Ms. Manzano would go on to play the character of Maria on Sesame Street for over 40 years. Sesame Street was one of the first shows to feature a diverse cast in an urban setting. Ms. Manzano told the students that only three people auditioned for the part of Maria: “If you never saw people like you on TV, how would you know you could do it?” she observed.
The 5th grade is all smiles after meeting author and activist Sonia Manzano
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FROM THE ARCHIVE S
THOMAS PYNCHON
ALUMNI PARENT, C ATHEDRAL CLA SS OF 2005 Before there was Cathedral Magazine, there was The Cathedral School Newsletter, and occasionally parents would contribute articles. In 1999, one such parent was the National Book Award-winning novelist Thomas Pynchon, who wrote an essay about a visit to the Cathedral: Well, we finally managed to get to the picnic this year which turned out to be a small miracle of easy-going and spontaneous community, not to mention another chance to appreciate the role (and bless the name) of V&T Pizza in the general neighborhood infrastructure. On the other hand, the Blessing of the Animals snuck up on us again for the second year running, so that’s twice now we’ve missed the sure sign of autumn at Cathedral—The Elephant. To compensate (sort of) we did get to see a giant bull-frog in a pond on a field trip to the Tenafly Nature Center, and the frog got to see the second grade, too. What I’m looking forward to now is another visit inside the Cathedral. Last year, my son Jackson and I and a small bunch of other kids got an impromptu tour from fellow school parent and Cathedral maven Gina Bria Vescovi (Alma ’02 and Luca ’04), whose enthusiasm was so contagious that the kids were soon running around and checking out organ consoles, amplifiers, and hiding places, scrutinizing the stained-glass window of the Titanic disaster for Leonardo Di Caprio’s presence, and generally being wowed by a nave high enough to accommodate the Statue of Liberty, not to mention a Pentecostal profusion of mini-chapels put in expressly, as our guide informed us, for newcomers to the U.S., because the beginning of construction here happened to coincide with the great wave of immigration a hundred years ago. What interested me in particular were the spiral staircases vanishing upward into shadows and, alas, inaccessible to the public. “So, what’s up there?” I asked. Gina beamed, mysteriously. “You wouldn’t believe what’s up there.” “Like what?” “Heh, heh, heh . . .” was about all she was prepared to say. Seems there is some problem about allowing adult visitors, even us long-suffering (and heaven knows deserving) school parents, too much access. Which is a shame, of course, considering that the guiding concept has always been that of a church that belongs to everybody. “The original core of this Cathedral,” according to Ms. Vescovi, “was an orphanage, in the oldest and best sense, a place for people who had nowhere else to go—and that meant anybody, no matter who they were, or how long they’d been in the country.” Still, the kids do get to go in all the time and use the space for its true purpose, and I have learned at least how to get from one basketball court to the other, and Gina has promised us a return visit soon. Maybe this time we’ll get upstairs. Then again, with Hallowe’en coming, I’m not so sure . . . like, a Cathedral with an annual tradition of showing classic horror movies? And what about that bishop’s ghost who’s rumored to walk around haunting the place? Maybe there’re bats up there? Vampire bats? Strange individuals swinging around on bell ropes, stuff like that? Maybe I should borrow my kid’s Darth Vader outfit from last year, buy new batteries for the light just in case?
Cathedral
W I N T E R 2018