September 22, 2017

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Harrison REVIEW THE

September 22, 2017 | Vol. 5, Number 38 | www.harrisonreview.com

SUNY Purchase presents Durst lecture series

NEW LEASH

ON LIFE

Pet Rescue in Harrison is helping pet shelters in Texas affected by the devastation of Hurricane Harvey by taking in more than 35 adoptable dogs and providing those shelters with food, blankets and crate donations. For more, see page 6. Photo courtesy Facebook.com/NYPetRescue

Library Play2Learn Festival draws record crowds The Harrison Public Library Foundation’s Play2Learn Festival drew record crowds to Riis Park on Sept. 10. An estimated 2,000 kids and their parents thronged the park and the library itself in celebration of play as a learning process. More than 20 hands-on activities kept them both busy and delighted on a perfect September day. “We are ecstatic about the response to our second annual festival,” said Galina Chernykh, director of the Harrison Public library. “It really showed how much our community loves its kids and how much its Library

loves them, too.” This was the second annual Play2Learn Festival. The event was created in 2016 to celebrate the importance of play in a child’s life and to help parents and their kids experience the many ways to learn while playing. The festival was free to the public. “The Play2Learn Festival was made possible by the hard work of 50 dedicated volunteers and generous donations from local businesses and individuals led by Fidelity Investments and Willow Ridge Country Club,” said Dave Donelson, president of the

Harrison Public Library Foundation. “It is a prime example of how donors can really do something tangible to enhance the quality of life in Harrison.” The costs of the event were entirely covered by donations. Popular attractions included the Bubble Bus, Nora’s Ovenworks cookie art, constructing Dr. Seuss characters with Legos, creating your own soft drinks courtesy of Pepsi, and playing an endless variety of musical instruments. Popular food vendors and representatives of the Harrison Farmers’ Market offered refreshments and musical enter-

tainment continued throughout the event. Joining the crowd was County Executive Rob Astorino, who proclaimed the date “Harrison Public Library Play2Learn Festival Day” in Westchester County. State Assemblyman David Buchwald also delivered a proclamation honoring the festival in the 92nd Assembly District. Other notables in attendance included state Sen. George Latimer and Mayor Ron Belmont. The Harrison Public Library is located at 2 Bruce Ave. in Harrison. For more information, visit Harrisonpl.org. (Submitted)

SUNY Purchase College will present Michael Chabon: A Reading and Conversation on Sept. 25. The program, which is free and open to the public, will take place at SUNY Purchase in the Natural Sciences Building Lecture Hall located at 735 Anderson Hill Road in Purchase. The bestselling author, who has won a Pulitzer Prize and many other awards, has been named Suny Purchase’s 2017-2018 Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature, and will be featured in a series of events. “Michael Chabon is a perfect fit for the position of the Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature,” said Anthony Domestico, assistant professor of literature at SUNY Purchase. “His varied tastes are reflected in the programs he’s designed for the coming year: a lecture and a reading from his work, a film screening and a public conversation with Neil Gaiman. He has a fascinating mind and is a distinctive prose stylist. We’re lucky to have him with us for the 2017-2018 academic year.”​ One of the most acclaimed and popular contemporary American authors, Michael Chabon received a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and more than 30 other awards. The bestselling novelist is the author of “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh,” “A Model World,” “Wonder Boys,” “Werewolves in their Youth,” “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” “Summerland,” “The Final Solution,” “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union,” “Maps & Legends,” “Gentlemen of the Road,” “Telegraph Avenue,” “Moonglow,” and “The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man.” Kathleen McCormick, profes-

Michael Chabon. Photo courtesy Benjamin Tice Smith

sor of literature and pedagogy at SUNY Purchase, commented, “There’s a keen frisson at Purchase since it was announced that Michael Chabon was becoming the Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature. Chabon’s a wonderfully capacious and beautiful writer, moving easily across genres—sci fi, magic realism, comic-book heroes, and now he’s written a ‘fictional memoir,’ ‘Moonglow.’ I’m teaching the book and it is inspiring students to read more of Chabon’s work. His range and ease of blending literary and genre fiction will have incredible appeal to the Purchase community.” The Durst Distinguished Lecture Series and the Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature are funded by the Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature Endowment. The mission of the Durst programs is to infuse the experience and intellect of leading writers into the SUNY Purchase community, while providing diverse opportunities for these writers to interact with students and influence campus life. For more information, please visit purchase.edu or call 251-6550. (Submitted)

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September 22, 2017 by The Harrison Review - Issuu