JHANE BARNES Digital designs
MARTIN ST. LOUIS Calculating off-ice investments
LINDA RUDERMAN Wiring a home for happiness
‘NOTE’-WORTHY TECHNIQUE Hoff-Barthelson Music School
LESSONS FROM THE HOLOCAUST Carrying its message forward
WESTCHESTER & FAIRFIELD LIFE OCTOBER 2017 | WAGMAG.COM
exploring our tech-driven world JUDGED A
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CONTENTS OC TOBER 2017
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Against technology (sort of)
Jhane Barnes’ digital designs
Reel estate
Inner landscape Scoring as an investment adviser
Wired – or not – at home War and remembrance
Simons say
Against the grain
The fall of Nanking
72
COVER STORY
HARI SREENIVASAN
The dictator, the baby and the teapot
A ‘hand’-y man
A (medical) shoulder to lean on
Silver lining
Channeling my inner Gaudí
After Hopper
The cake, the rain and the songwriter
Art + tech = Clay Art Center at 60
Find your voice through technique
Harvesting grapes by machine?
This page The world of technology. Illustration by Sebastián Flores.
E VERY OB J ECT HAS A STORY
worth telling, worth find ing.
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FEATURES H I G H LI G HTS
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WANDERS Vermont’s ‘second spring’
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WINE & DINE Little-known wines score big
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WHETTING THE APPETITE Jackie Ruby’s Spiced Roasted Carrots and Chickpeas
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? IBM’s Watson – a guide dog’s best friend
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Tech issues
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WELL Weight loss through technology
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WEAR Straight talk about hair
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WELL Bouncing back at Boxing914
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WELL Manning up on hormones
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WELL Understanding that ‘gut feeling’
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WHEN & WHERE Upcoming events
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PET OF THE MONTH Lioness
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WATCH We're out and about
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WIT Are we too attached to technology?
COVER: JHANE BARNES Digital designs
MARTIN ST. LOUIS Calculating off-ice investments
LINDA RUDERMAN Wiring a home for happiness
“NOTE” - WORTHY TECHNIQUE Hoff-Barthelson Music School
LESSONS FROM THE HOLOCAUST Carrying its message forward
WESTCHESTER & FAIRFIELD LIFE OCTOBER 2017 | WAGMAG.COM
exploring
our tech-driven world JUDGED A
TOP
MAGAZINE
IN NEW YORK STATE 2014, 2015, 2016
When it comes to reporting on cutting-edge technology, Hari Sreenivasan is PBS’ go-to guy. See story on page 72. Photograph by John Rizzo.
110
86 90
COVER STORY
76
120
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ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR dviteri@westfairinc.com
EDITORIAL Georgette Gouveia EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ggouveia@westfairinc.com Mary Shustack SENIOR WRITER
Audrey Ronning Topping FEATURES WRITER
ART Kelsie Mania WEB DESIGNER kmania@westfairinc.com
Sebastián Flores ART DIRECTOR sflores@westfairinc.com
PHOTOGRAPHY Anthony Carboni, Sebastián Flores, John Rizzo, Bob Rozycki
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Marta Basso, Jena A. Butterfield, Cynthia Catterson, Alexandra DelBello, Ryan Deffenbaugh, Ronni Diamondstein, Jane K. Dove, Aleesia Forni, Phil Hall, Debbi K. Kickham, Laura Joseph Mogil, Jane Morgan, Doug Paulding, Danielle Renda, Giovanni Roselli, Bob Rozycki, Gregg Shapiro, Barbara Barton Sloane, Brian Toohey, Seymour Topping, Jeremy Wayne
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HEADQUARTERS A division of Westfair Communications Inc., 3 Westchester Park Drive, White Plains, NY 10604 Telephone: 914-694-3600 | Facsimile: 914-694-3699 Website: wagmag.com | Email: ggouveia@westfairinc.com All news, comments, opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations in WAG are those of the authors and do not constitute opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations of the publication, its publisher and its editorial staff. No portion of WAG may be reproduced without permission.WAG is distributed at select locations, mailed directly and is available at $24 a year for home or office delivery. To subscribe, call 914-694-3600, ext. 3020. All advertising inquiries should be directed to Anne Jordan at 914694-3600, ext. 3032 or email anne@westfairinc.com. Advertisements are subject to review by the publisher and acceptance for WAG does not constitute an endorsement of the product or service. WAG (Issn: 1931-6364) is published monthly and is owned and published by Westfair Communications Inc. Dee DelBello, CEO, dee@westfairinc.com
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ALEXANDRA DELBELLO
RONNI DIAMONDSTEIN
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JOHN RIZZO
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COVER STORY, PG.72 GEORGETTE GOUVEIA
NEW WAGGERS LISA KUMARADJAJA is a teacher, author and speaker who has taught hundreds of people around the world intuition development. The Briarcliff Manor resident holds degrees in engineering from Columbia University and in psychobiology from the State University of New York as well as a Ph.D. in metaphysical sciences. For more, visit intutionondemandbook.com. Photograph copyright Lisa Kumaradjaja.
Chappaqua photographer MARC WEINSTEIN is a lifelong New Yorker. He grew up in the darkroom alongside his father, a commercial photographer. Marc graduated in 1974 from Pratt Institute where he studied printmaking and photography. He moved to Westchester in 1985 when he merged his studio with Color Group Imaging Labs in Hawthorne. Marc has exhibited in many area galleries, including ArtsWestchester in White Plains, where he also curated the “Hurricane Sandy” and “Person to Person” portrait shows.
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EDITOR'S LETTER GEORGETTE GOUVEIA
LOVE IT OR HATE IT, WE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT. I’M TALKING ABOUT MODERN TECHNOLOGY, THE SUBJECT OF OUR OCTOBER “EXPLORATION.” WHILE IT HAS TRANSFORMED THE WORLD, IT CERTAINLY IS A TWO-EDGED TOOL, ISN’T IT? THAT’S AN IDEA WE CONSIDER IN OUR OPENING ESSAY, WHICH LOOKS AT SOME OF THE CHALLENGES OF OUR DIGITAL AGE, NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH IS THE ASSAULT ON OUR PRIVACY. (ET TU, EQUIFAX?)
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For many, however — like cover guy Hari Sreenivasan, “PBS NewsHour Weekend” anchor and host of PBS’ “SciTech Now” — tech is terrific. And after spending an hour with him as he smoothly segued from bytes to bitcoins, even the most confirmed Luddite would agree. Tech is also essential to Ritu Favre, the CEO of Biometrics, an advocate for STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) education and one of a growing number of women in her field. (See Jena’s story.) Even those for whom tech is not a career per se are finding it an invaluable component. Grape harvesting machines fi gure more and more in the wine industry, as New Wagger John Noakes writes. Technology plays a role in the way Waccabuc textile designer Jhane Barnes installs carpet tiles, as Laura describes. It’s safe to say that few enjoy manipulating technology more than artists, several of whom grace this book. Alexandra weighs in with a profile of Bedford’s Inness Hancock and her moody, abstracted landscapes. Visiting the Edward Hopper House Art Centerin Nyack, Ryan talks with Richard Tuschman, who makes dollhouse-size dioramas inspired by Hopper paintings, photographs them and then interpolates himself and others into the scenes — creating works that resemble stills for movies that were never made. Nancy Yates of Clay Art Center in Port Chester contributes a piece on how ceramicists are celebrating
the center’s 60th anniversary with a show on the relationship of 3-D technology to the age-old technique of making pots, while Mary’s visit to a silver show at the Museum of the City of New York yields a meditation on silverwork and tech. These artists are a reminder that the words “technology” and “technique” share the same ancient Greek root, meaning “art” or “craft.” And so October is devoted to “the technique of everything.” For yes, there is plenty of technique in music both classical and popular (our story on Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale, Gregg’s interview with songwriter Jimmy Webb); distributing movies (Phil’s story on real estate developer turned producer Charles S. Cohen); styling a look (Danielle’s take on fashion stylist and personal shopper Michele Roque Tarazi); growing businesses (Ronni’s story on corporate anthropologist Andrea Simon and her husband/partner Andrew, Phil’s article on hockey star turned private investor Martin St. Louis); and even surviving (Audrey’s and Tops’ stories on China in the nascent age of Mao.) But technique and technology are means to an end. They’re not ends in themselves. They serve us. We don’t serve them. So you don’t have to be plugged in to your iPhone 24/7 — a pet peeve of this month’s Wits. You could, oh, I don’t know, have a conversation, pick up a book, play a sport or an instrument, paint a picture — or just take a moment and watch the world go by. Georgette Gouveia is the author of the new “The Penalty for Holding” (Less Than Three Press) and “Water Music” (Greenleaf Book Group). They’re part of her series of novels, “The Games Men Play,” also the name of the sports/culture blog she writes at thegamesmenplay.com. Readers may find her novel “Seamless Sky” and weekly installments of her “Daimon: A Novel of Alexander the Great” on wattpad.com.
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TECHNOLOGY
(SORT OF)
BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA
Pluto. Courtesy NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.
LIKE MANY PEOPLE, I HAVE A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH TECHNOLOGY. THOUGH I SPEND MOST OF MY DAYS — AND NIGHTS — ON A COMPUTER, I RARELY TEXT. INDEED, I RARELY TURN ON MY CELL PHONE.
I suppose I could attribute this to being of a certain vintage or not having children, who would’ve spurred me to keep up with the times. Then, too, that I lost my newspaper job to downsizing in the digital age didn’t exactly warm my heart. But mostly, my apathy to technology stems from the idea that who we are is in part who we are not. I’m less intrigued with the present and the future than how the past influences them, and I’m less concerned with how things work than why they do. It reminds me of what Jane Wyman supposedly told a reporter after she divorced Ronald Reagan: “Ask him for the time and he’ll tell you how the watch was made.” Jane, I feel your pain. What would Jane, who died 10 years ago, have done in our present age of information overload, in which the watch never shuts up — about how many steps you’ve taken, what your heart rate is, why you should take the Merritt Parkway instead of I-95, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Or the computer with its endless “notice me, I’m always working” pop-ups, like an overeager employee who must constantly be micromanaged and reinforced with what a splendid job he’s doing. For a writer, whose main job is to think, this constant handholding gets old — fast. Of course, information overload should never be confused with useful information, because if there’s one thing that’s true in the digital age it’s that the people who create computers and their programs are not especially good at explaining their finer points. For example, I decided I needed some stars (like so, ***) to denote a scene shift in something I was writing and, in typing my stars, did something that created a hard page break — everywhere. No matter what you did — deleted text, block-saved text into a new document — the page breaks remained, like Javert dogging Jean Valjean in “Les Misérables.” What to do? Luddite though I am — and by the way, the Luddites were not against technology so much as they were for improved conditions for textile workers and weavers in early-19th century England — I Googled how to eliminate page breaks and learned that you had to click on the Show/Hide button and then on the break itself — which didn’t work. In the end, WAG’s associate creative director Dan Viteri clicked on Normal and then Clear Formatting. I then reformatted the document. Sigh. Did you ever notice how in the global marketplace, much of the instruction for technology exists in the form of diagrams instead of a specific language? People, when you want a loaf of bread, do you draw a picture or do you say to the baker, “I’d like a loaf of sourdough, please”? The written and spoken word matter. I am, however, not a complete Luddite. Often I look at machinery with awe, because I could nev-
er have thought of it. Like my Samsung washing machine. I still can’t get over the notion that while I’m busy doing other things, Mr. Washing Machine — unlike needy Mr. Computer — is doing his job. He even sings Schubert’s “Die Forelle,” a jaunty song about a fish, when he’s done. (For the money I paid for him, he should sing the entire score of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.”) He and his new companion, Mr. Maytag Dryer, are my idea of technology, because — and this is tech’s dirty little secret — it’s not a timesaver if you have to spend (waste) a lot of time continually interacting with it. Apart from the time-draining aspects of technology, I also worry about the way it obviates technique. Every kid with a karaoke machine, every parent with a cellphone camera, every person with a Twitter account thinks he’s a singer, a moviemaker and a writer. (Remember that the word “Twitter” contains the word “twit.” Or, to borrow Truman Capote’s snide assessment of Jack Kerouac, “That’s not writing. That’s typing.”) The words “technology” and “technique” share the same ancient Greek root, meaning “skill, craft, art.” But technology can create a false sense of technique and talent. In order to hone your craft, you have to use technology rather than letting it use you. Technology can also create an illusion of authenticity — the holy grail of the present age. Along with all the articles sounding the alarm about how screen time has adversely affected our independence and cognitive skills, there are those that suggest social media has made us more isolated. You don’t necessarily know the poster on the other end of the supposedly clever name that sounds like some leftover CB handle. And, as one who has spent a lifetime reporting, I can tell you that when you are busy recording experiences, you’re not having them. Or rather, you are having filtered experiences. I’ll never forget watching a young man intent on capturing an image of Vincent van Gogh’s penultimate self-portrait at a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit. Finally, I couldn’t stand it. I went over to him and said, “Why don’t you put away your cell phone and actually look at the painting and have a conversation with it?” I know: I’m sure he thought I was nuts. But I believe technology serves us best when it does what we cannot. The guided cortisone injection I had earlier this year, which used ultrasound to pinpoint the problem in my frozen left shoulder, was miraculous. And I’ll never forget the early birthday present I received on July 14, 2015, courtesy of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which did a flyby of my favorite planet, Pluto — yes, it will always be a planet to me — sending home detailed images of the little charmer, with its heart-shaped spot and its five moons. I heart you, Pluto, just as I heart Mr. Washing Machine. Speaking of which, he’s nearing the end of his wash cycle. Time for our duet.
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OCTOBER 2017
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Jhane Barnes. Courtesy the designer.
A WALK AROUND JHANE BARNES’ BRIGHT AND AIRY DESIGN STUDIO, LOCATED INSIDE A SPACIOUS WACCABUC HOME JUST A FIVEMINUTE DRIVE FROM HER ACTUAL RESIDENCE IN THE HAMLET, REVEALS A VAST ARRAY OF SAMPLES FROM THE AWARD-WINNING CLOTHING AND PRODUCT LINES SHE’S CREATED OVER THE PAST FOUR DECADES.
They range from Barnes’ renowned luxury menswear that launched her career back in 1976 to her sophisticated carpeting, flooring, textile, furniture and eyewear collections. What makes Barnes stand out in the design world is her ability to conceive beautifully complex patterns on a computer using her own customized software. The results are alluring blends of colors, shapes and textures that are based on mathematics, specifically algorithms (sets of rules or instructions to perform a task) which she alters and enhances to create her distinctive style. Growing up outside of Baltimore, Barnes was always drawn to math and science and even dreamed of becoming an astrophysicist one day. However, her high school trigonometry teacher gave her a D and tried to dissuade her from going in that direction. “He told me I would only be an average scientist, but my personality was definitely not average,” she says. As it turns out, the person who saw immense talent in Barnes was her experimental clothing design course instructor, who took her on a senior class trip to Europe and introduced Barnes to the fashion scene at such haute couture houses as Gucci, Pucci and Yves Saint Laurent. “My teacher went to my parents and told them that I had to go to design school,” Barnes recalls. “Not only that, she said it had to be in Manhattan, because it’s the most important city for fashion.” Barnes was accepted into the Fashion Institute of Technology and her first big break came at the end of her senior year in 1976. That’s when she was included among the top students chosen to present their clothing designs at a fashion show attended by leading industry representatives. After the show, Barnes gave her model the clothes she had created and he wore them out to a restaurant that night. “A retail executive spotted them and said, ‘Those are the best-fitting pants I’ve ever seen,’” she recalls. “He told my model that I should come to his office the next morning and ended up ordering 1,000 pairs. I had to borrow $5,000 from my biology professor to fill the order.” Barnes’ distinctive line of men’s clothing became known for its unusual details and silhouettes, from her pants with no back pockets to her sport coat blousons and pleated yoke jackets. Among those spotted wearing her earliest designs were John Lennon and Paul Simon, and they were also favorites of Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Jack Nicholson and even President Bill Clinton. In addition, Barnes designed the basketball uniforms for the NBA’s Orlando Magic, and her clothing was sold at such large retail chains as Saks, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom.
Her trigonometry teacher would be surprised at how integral math, science and technology have become to Barnes’ work. “I was never a very good artist and drawing didn’t come easy to me. However, I was an early adapter of the computer,” she says. Barnes started weaving her own textiles and got an Atari game computer to operate her looms in 1984. “That was my first computer and I learned how to expand the design of my textiles by doing longer repeats and larger patterns, because I didn’t have to hold it all in my head,” she says. Barnes soon switched to Mac computers, and in 1992 hired William Jones, a mathematician (who recently passed away), and Dana Cartwright, a physicist and software developer, both from Syracuse University, to help her with her designs. “In the beginning, they didn’t know much about textiles and I didn’t know much about math, so over the years we had to teach each other our vocations,” she says. Together, they worked out a system in which Barnes would develop new concepts — whether based on fractal geometry inspired by mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot or DNA codes, starbursts and galaxy clusters — and Cartwright and Jones would write the new codes to generate the patterns for her to adapt on the computer. Barnes explains she never follows trends but rather “creates from within to try to control all the processes of the final product. My inspiration is all the computer tools I’ve built over the years. I’ve built so many with my mathematicians, and they’re all ideas that I dream about or wake up with. I’ll never run out of ways of combining them because we’re always writing new ones.” In talking about how she transferred her menswear concepts over to contract (business to business) interior design, Barnes says, “What made menswear salable for me was that, from a distance, I never made guys look like they stood out in a crowd. But the nearer you got to them, the more interesting their clothing became.” She adds: “Customers would keep my clothes in their closet for many years, because there was always something new to discover about them.” Barnes says the same concept also works great with the interior products she designs. As an example, she points out that commercial carpets have to be on the floor for seven to 15 years. “You have to be able to walk into a building or your office and not say, ‘Oh no, not that carpet again.’ It has to be something that’s pleasing and also makes you want to look at it and inspire you,” she says. Working with the company Tandus Centiva (formerly Tandus Flooring) for more than 20 years, Barnes has designed carpets and flooring for some of the world’s largest corporations, uniWAGMAG.COM
OCTOBER 2017
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versities and health care companies, including PepsiCo (in its former Somers headquarters), Gensler, Kaiser Permanente and Bank of America, as well as Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce, Stanford University and Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Barnes says that one of her biggest inspirations lately came from observing the broad mixture of angles and curves in the large public spaces inside the new buildings she’s been designing carpets for across the country. “Designers don’t want very linear carpeting, because it may not look good, especially when it hits a curve,” she says. “Our newest patterns don’t use any horizontal, vertical or right angles. Instead, they’re all acute and obtuse so you can turn them any which way in a space and not fight with the parameters of the building.” Through the years Barnes has been in busiJhane Barnes creating at her computer. Courtesy the designer. ness, she’s also created innovative lines of colorful, computer-generated textiles and upholstery designs for industry leaders such as Knoll, Anzea reflective. Another is a metal frame inside a clear and LDI as well as trend-setting furniture for Berplastic frame, so you get the look of metal with the nhardt (including her elegant “Martini Table”), rescomfortable fit of the plastic,” she says. in panels for Lumicor and signage for a company In 2013, Barnes decided to discontinue manucalled Takeform. facturing men’s clothing (except for her successIf that’s not enough, she is designing glasses for ful line of socks that is still sold online). However, Kenmark Eyewear. (CEO Don Howard was a big she remains totally focused on the industrial defan of her clothing.) “One of our newest frames is sign side of her business, which generates more - The Wag - Neuberger Museumthe Benefete - FINAL.pdfthan 1 9/9/2017 PM in revenue per year for her made with09-09-17 sunglass material, making rims $40 3:24:27 million
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client companies. As far as the future and her next product line, Barnes says, “My whole career, I’ve never had a plan. The only thing that’s always out there is that I love creating and I love working, so I’ll never retire.” She adds, “If someone asks me to design something, I’m ready. I can sit and wait for the next gig to come. And it usually does!” For more, visit jhanebarnes.com.
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REEL ESTATE BY PHIL HALL
Charles. S. Cohen. Courtesy Cohen Media Group.
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IN APRIL, A PACKED AUDIENCE AT THE QUAD CINEMA IN MANHATTAN WAS ENGULFED IN LAUGHTER WHILE VIEWING A BEAUTIFULLY RESTORED PRESENTATION OF BUSTER KEATON’S SILENT MASTERWORK “THE GENERAL.” UNKNOWN TO THE AUDIENCE, THE MAN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MOMENT WAS AMONG THEM, SAVORING ITS RICHNESS. “Film has always been a larger-than-life experience,” Charles S. Cohen says. “It is about being enveloped and overwhelmed by the big screen. I enjoy watching films in other ways and formats, but there are too many distractions.” For Cohen, the screening of the 1926 Keaton film before an appreciative contemporary audience was a new peak in one of the most fascinating careers in independent cinema. “I’ve always been a lover and student of films,” says Cohen, who plans to do for the Larchmont Playhouse next year what he did for the Quad. “I made short films in high school and college, and I wrote a movie trivia book in 1985.” However, Cohen’s initial career focus did not include cinema. A Brooklyn Law School graduate, he joined his family’s real estate business in 1979. Under his guidance, Cohen Brothers Realty saw its business quadruple to 12 million square feet through more than 70 acquisitions and financings. Today, the company is one of the most respected and successful players in New York’s tumultuous commercial real estate industry. But the lure of the big screen never abated, and Cohen, who splits his time between Manhattan and Greenwich, branched out in 2008 to produce his own films. Cohen Media Group made its entry into the film industry in a big way: Its debut feature, the haunting “Frozen River,” with Cohen serving as executive producer, snagged the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and earned Academy Award nominations for Melissa Leo’s performance and Courtney Hunt’s screenplay. But while “Frozen River” was an artistic triumph, Cohen was baffled by the lack of financial payback. “I was frustrated as a producer that I did not recover my investment,” he says. “I could not understand why. So I investigated the distribution side of the business.” As a result, Cohen Media Group expanded as both a production and distribution entity. The company’s focus is wide and varied, ranging from the acquisition of classic works — most notably the Raymond Rohauer library of classic silent films and the award-winning Merchant Ivory canon — to provocative and invigorating new films, including Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman,” which won this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film.
Finding great films was not a problem for Cohen, but initially he encountered some obstacles in getting them before audiences — especially in New York, which is the most crucial market for a non-Hollywood studio release. “As a distributor, the greatest challenge is finding screens,” he says, referring to the shrinking number of art house venues offering foreign, independent and retro presentations. In 2014, Cohen solved that problem by acquiring the Quad Cinema, a venerable if somewhat outdated theater in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. “Everything was changed,” Cohen says. “The interior was completely gutted and reconstructed. We brought in a new HVAC system, new projection — but, of course, it is still a four-screen theater. Otherwise, we couldn’t call it the Quad.” The newly renovated Quad opened earlier this year, offering a bold and refreshing mix of new releases and imaginative retro film showcases. In September, the theater premiered a Cohen Media Group release that Cohen saw as one of his most important presentations — Marina Willer’s acclaimed documentary “Red Trees,” which traced her paternal family’s journey as one of only 12 Jewish families to survive the Nazi occupation of Prague during World War II to a new but tumultuous life in Brazil. “When I saw the short, I was very touched by it. It was unlike any other Holocaust film I had seen. Instead of the usual black-and-white images of fighting troops and concentration camps, it is full of color and light. Marina first showed me 10 to 15 minutes of footage and I was totally captivated. She planned the film as a short, but I encouraged her to expand it into a feature.” Cohen is aiming to add another Oscar to his company’s credit by positioning “Red Trees” for consideration in the Best Documentary Award category. “We’re working on that,” he says. “The film projects a profound message of hope.” Cohen has a full slate of films lined up for the remainder of 2017 and into early 2018. Among the more intriguing offerings are the Agnes Varda and JR documentary “Faces Places;” a restoration of the 1965 Merchant Ivory classic “Shakespeare Wallah;” Ziad Doueiri’s “The Insult,” which is Lebanon’s entry for the upcoming Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar; and a restoration of the 1967 comedy classic “King of Hearts.” And the aforementioned audience that loved “The General” should be happy to know that an encore is in the works. “I’m producing a documentary on Buster Keaton, written and directed by Peter Bogdanovich,” Cohen says. For more, visit quadcinema.com.
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LANDSCAPE BY ALEXANDRA DELBELLO
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Inness Hancock. Courtesy the artist.
INNESS HANCOCK PAINTS NOT ONLY LANDSCAPES IN THE NATURAL WORLD BUT HER EXPERIENCE IN THEM. SHE SEEKS THAT SPECIAL CONNECTION BETWEEN HERSELF AND HER SUBJECT, BETWEEN HER PAINTINGS AND THEIR VIEWERS.
“When that conversation happens between the painting and the viewer,” she says, “that is the definition of art more than anything else.” Serene and abstract, her canvases are seamless in their richness. “I’m looking for the balance between tranquility and action,” she says. “There’s always a lot of movement in the water or the skies for me. It’s really important to feel like you’re there, to feel the wind on your skin when you’re looking at them.” Hancock has been awarded an Artist-in-Residence Program grant by the U.S Department of the Interior to travel this fall to California where she will paint in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and Yosemite National Park for five weeks, making stops in Napa Valley, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. There she will focus on her series about the national parks before turning her attention to another artist in residence program, at Arte Studio Ginestrelle in Assisi, Italy, in 2018. She primarily works in series, creating multiple paintings at a time, some taking years to finish. “I get to see the evolution of how I’m thinking about
Two abstracted views of Istanbul, here and the following page. Courtesy the artist.
that particular idea through the course of maybe five or six different paintings.” It helps her tackle different kinds of subject matter at once. Since the time she was scribbling with crayons at the age of 2, Hancock knew she wanted to be a painter. And growing up on the coast of Maine did nothing but drive her artistic passion even more. “From the time I got my first car, I was ready to go,” she says. From 16 she would drive along the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, finding any reason to go hiking or camping. In her Bedford studio — she also has one at her home in Northeast Harbor, Maine — canvases are stacked against the walls, each containing balanced compositions of line and color. With edges soft and controlled and colors rich and vibrant, the landscapes are as much about feelings as they are about images. Hancock attended the University of Southern California where nearby Joshua Tree National Park inspired her fi rst series. It consisted of 5-by8-foot paintings that she set up in the desert, a series that dovetailed with her thesis in philosophy. “A lot of my paintings were more allegorical and narrative then.” She moved for a time to London, from which she travelled through the English countryside into Scotland, carrying her paints, panels, pastels and chalks. Later on she made her way down to the south of France where she developed a love for marine painting. “Different palettes work for different locals,” she says. “The light in Scotland is radically different than the hot sun and clear sky on the coast of France. So that was a great education about how to paint with light and with different color tones, color values and temperatures.” It was during this time that Hancock really homed in on how to paint outside and sell her art on the go. She always travelled with a sketchbook and watercolors “in a very old-fashioned way,” she says. Hancock has painted at 26 UNESCO World Heritage sites since then. After living in France, Hancock returned to the United States, where she studied at The Art Students League of New York in Manhattan. She was the youngest member to be recommended for membership. At the College of Charleston, Hancock finished her degree and worked by painting houses, a new form of inspiration. “We had to be out at the houses by 6 a.m., so I would drive from downtown
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Charleston into Kiawah down the causeway during the beautiful sunrise. It was kind of a nice meditation on my way to work, and then I got to be outside all day.” Being a landscape painter, it makes sense that her work (and her mood) are seasonal. Fall is a contemplative time for her. The colors are cooler “so the warmth of the colors from the light appearing through the trees appears more vibrant.” Her compositions become still, calm, simple and abstracted. During the winter, they are the most abstracted as she is in “hibernation mode. Telling a story more through my palette choices than through a linear drawing.” In spring, she looks again at the shapes of the leaves and sky through the tree branches and that inspires a different kind of artwork. “The colors become lighter and clearer with the seasons, and that often determines how excited the compositions are and how excited the use of my colors becomes.” “At the beginning of the painting, I love it,” Hancock says, “and at the end I love it. But all that time in between I hate it and it’s like a constant struggle that you have to persevere through. You have to confront your own fear, trust yourself and be OK to not be good at it.” For more, visit innesshancock.com.
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MARTIN ST. LOUIS ACHIEVED MANY HEIGHTS DURING HIS 18YEAR CAREER IN PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY. He was a hero in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 2004 Stanley Cup victory; he played in six NHL AllStar Games and on Canada’s gold medal-winning hockey team in the 2014 Winter Olympics; and he racked up an astonishing 1,000 points over more than 1,000 games. But there were a few things that he lost as well. “These are not real,” he said, pointing to three of his front teeth. “They took a few beatings along the way.” Since his retirement in 2015, St. Louis has mostly been out of the public view. A Greenwich resident,
he spent much of his time with his family, coaching his three sons in their hockey endeavors. He made an emotional return to Tampa Bay in January when his number 26 was retired, a first for the team. In August, St. Louis reemerged in a dramatic reinvention as a co-founder in Seven7 LLC, a Stamford-based private investment company focused on providing fi nancial and operational input for start-ups. Teaming with former hockey player turned real estate executive Jeff Hamilton and Hedgeye Risk Management founder and CEO Keith McCullough, St. Louis acknowledged that this new endeavor is a different challenge for him. (The company’s name comes from the sum of St. Louis’ and Hamilton’s former numbers — 26 and 51.) “I don’t pretend to be smarter than I am,” says St. Louis, who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in community development and applied economics from the University of Vermont prior to his hockey career. “I am new to this, and I am learning every day.” Nonetheless, St. Louis’ unique insight into the hockey world was the impetus for three of Seven7’s first investment targets — Sauce Hockey, a sports apparel company; EZ Ice, a customized backyard ice rink that can be installed in under an hour on any surface; and LiveBarn, an online broadcaster of amateur and youth sports across the U.S. and Canada, including hockey games. “What I’m com-
fortable with right now is anything with sports,” St. Louis adds. “As we progress, we are going to diversify the portfolio. We’re not just going to be a sport company. We like innovation.” For many sports lovers, St. Louis’ hockey career was a quiet victory over a seemingly endless skein of doubts about his abilities. Born in Laval, Quebec, in 1975, St. Louis began his professional hockey career as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Vermont. At 5 feet 8 inches tall, St. Louis was initially viewed by most NHL teams as too short for the ice — the Ottawa Senators offered him a tryout prior to the 1997-98 season but opted not to sign him — and he wound up with the Cleveland Lumberjacks in the decidedly less-than-stellar International Hockey League. “For me, I had smaller players I looked up to when I was young,” St. Louis remembered in a 2015 interview with the New York Post. “And when I was looking at little guys, it was, ‘They’re there, why can’t I be?’” St. Louis got his wish when the Calgary Flames signed him in February 1998 following his extraordinary 50 points in 56 games during his debut season with the Lumberjacks. But Calgary seemed to lose its enthusiasm for St. Louis, shuttling him between the main team and its minor league affiliate before exposing him to the NHL Expansion Draft in 2000. This turned into a rerun of his initial foray into the NHL — no other team was interested — and Calgary dropped him from its roster. St. Louis signed with the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning, which was arguably the league’s least-respected team. His presence helped Tampa Bay regain its mojo. It reached the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 2003 and returned the following year to win the tournament. That season also saw him win the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s most valuable player. Yet when the Lightning’s general manager Steve Yzerman was given the same position with Canada’s Olympic ice hockey team, he excluded St. Louis from the 2014 team. He was only added after another player was dropped due to an injury. Deeply hurt by Yzerman’s initial snub, St. Louis requested and received a trade to the New York Rangers, where he helped bring the team to the Stanley Cup finals in 2014. He retired from hockey the following year. “When I retired, I was 39 turning 40 and I was playing with kids much younger than me,” he recalls. Looking back on his career, St. Louis appreciated being a fan favorite in the U.S. and Canada. However, he says that fans in the two countries view the hockey experience through very different lenses.
Martin St. Louis
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“The Canadian hockey fan is exposed to it at a much younger age than the overall American hockey fan,” he says. “Geographically, there are some hockey hotbeds like Boston, Michigan and Minnesota where they get in at a young base. But overall, most people in the United States become hockey fans at an older age. Most American hockey fans never played the game, where in Canada most hockey fans have played.” While having full faith in the companies he is studying for investment support, St. Louis recalls the opposite experience as a player — having money dangled before him for endorsing products and companies that meant little to him. “I always felt when I played people wanted me to endorse XYZ without my really knowing anything about the company and (perhaps) not even liking the product,” he says. However, one endorsement managed to enrich his wife Heather, albeit while gently bruising his pride. “My favorite one was with Crest,” he says. “They wanted my wife, too, but they didn’t know that my wife has unbelievable teeth. So, the whole thing turned out to be my wife’s endorsement. I became the supporting act.” This is one sports star, though, who has no trouble sharing the spotlight — on or off the ice. For more, visit seven7llc.com.
Martin St. Louis
Cheyenne Attacking a Pawnee Camp (Ledger Drawing), ca. 1875-78. Attributed to Howling Wolf. Private Collection, courtesy of Donald Ellis.
PICTURING HISTORY Ledger Drawings of the Plains Indians
Bellarmine Hall Galleries
September 27 - December 20, 2017 fairfield.edu/museum 28
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– OR NOT – AT HOME BY MARY SHUSTACK
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Photographs courtesy Linda Ruderman Interiors.
YOU CAN’T ESCAPE TECHNOLOGY – AT WORK, ON VACATION OR AT HOME.
When it comes to being at home, some feel that’s a good thing. Others choose to leave technology behind when they walk through their own front doors. Linda Ruderman, principal of Linda Ruderman Interiors in Greenwich, has had clients who feel both ways — and has helped create countless solutions that allow people to integrate the technology they want or need, while maintaining that important sense of your home as sanctuary. Such facilitating is nothing new for Ruderman, who has been creating interior designs for residential and commercial properties for more than 25 years. Ruderman, who grew up in Whitehall, Pennsylvania, earned a nursing degree from Lehigh Community College and would go on to become a flight attendant for United Airlines. During this time, she began to study interior design, decoration, architecture and art history through independent courses. She would eventually start her design business and worked out of New York City before relocating it to Greenwich in 1996. Since then, she has continued to grow her business into an award-winning, full-service company with projects nation-
wide. Linda Ruderman Interiors has a team of six, including two senior designers, a CAD (computer-aided design) operator, project managers and support staff. With her father and grandfather having both been in the textile industry, Ruderman tells us she was always surrounded by creativity — and an appreciation for beautiful fabrics and their origins. Ruderman has expertise in classical interiors, translating that approach into livable surroundings for today’s homeowners. Paramount to her work is creating a functionality that reflects a client’s own history, passions and needs. Ruderman, not surprisingly, is quite plugged in to the pulse of the region thanks to her extensive experience. “In general, I find residents in this area take great pride in their homes and enjoy decorating them to enhance their lifestyle needs,” she says. “In the suburbs families like to entertain at home — backyard barbecues in the summers and intimate dinner parties in the winter. Spaces for children to hang out with their friends are important for most families.” And, she knows technology plays a part in all of that. WAGMAG.COM
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Linda Ruderman’s projects incorporate as much – or as little – technology as a client wants.
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In reflection of this month’s theme, Ruderman recently took time to answer a few of our questions on the subject. In today’s world, it’s impossible to avoid technology — and many do not want to. In your field, how have the ever-evolving technological advances — amenities for the home — affected your work? “Technology plays a large part in designing new homes today. The smart home can literally be controlled from your iPhone and every room can be controlled from an iPad that sits in that room. You can even control your oven from an app.” How do you keep up with trends? “There are many trade shows that we attend throughout the year that feature new products for the home, everything from appliances (to) building materials — and of course, technology. Also, we work very closely with the A/V companies on our projects to coordinate all of the technology needed for that particular project such as motorized shades, TV installations, lighting, etc. We are always up to speed with what is available to our clients.” When working with clients, do you constantly get requests for integrating technology? If so, what are the most popular features a homeowner is seeking? “Yes and no. Believe it or not, some still prefer to flip a switch and keep things simple. Technology can get very complicated. Lifestyle plays a big role in how clients select the amount of technology for their home. “The most popular are motorized shades, (a) Lutron Lighting system, audio/visual systems,
temperature control and security.” Can you give a quick recap of any project that was simply filled with technology? “One of our recent projects in New York City — the entire apartment is controlled by the client’s iPhone, no matter where he is in the world. We recently did a photo shoot at the apartment, and he was controlling the lighting and temperature for us while he was sitting in the airport in London. Pretty cool.” Keeping in mind that it’s more important than ever to feel your home is your sanctuary, do you feel technology helps that — or can it detract from that? “I really think that depends on the type of person you are. There are clients that want it all and love what it provides such as the ability to control their entire home from their iPhone no matter where they are in the world. Others want to simplify their lives and just select what they are comfortable with for the moment that they are in. For some clients, the technology becomes frustrating because they really are not proficient in using it. It takes awhile to learn how to work the devices if you are not computer savvy.” On a personal note, is there any technology that you yourself cannot do without? “I like the flip of the switch method. I do not have to put on my glasses to see what button I have to push! LOL. However, motorized shades are a must, a great sound system and security for my family.” Linda Ruderman Interiors, Inc. is at 74 Greenwich Ave. in Greenwich. For more, visit lindaruderman.com.
A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP: NEW YORK MEDICAL COLLEGE AND THE HOLOCAUST & HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION CENTER
The Garden of Remembrance, one of the ways the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center connects with the public. Photographs by Sebastián Flores.
THE HOLOCAUST, OR SHOAH, REFERS TO THE EXTERMINATION OF SIX MILLION EUROPEAN JEWS BY THE NAZIS AND THEIR ALLIES DURING WORLD WAR II. IT WAS AN ABYSS OF BIGOTRY, HATE AND VIOLENCE.
WAR AND REMEMBRANCE BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA
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But it has also been the springboard from which the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center has launched discussions of civil rights abuses and other social injustices. “If we can understand the Holocaust, it will help us understand today’s events,” says Millie Jasper, the Harrison-based center’s executive director. Last year, the center launched its Holocaust Memorial Preservation Workshop, an 18-week course in which the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors learn how to share their stories, using audio/video files and PowerPoint presentations. “We get a lot of requests for Holocaust speakers from high schools, for example,” Jasper says, referring to the center’s Speakers Bureau, made
This past school year, 12 first-year medical students interviewed Holocaust survivors under the auspices of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center as part of their course work in the required “Introduction to the History of Medicine” at New York Medical College in Valhalla. The 209 students in the class had been given the option of interviewing a survivor — instead of writing a paper on a famous person in medicine — by Dr. Edward C. Halperin, the college’s CEO and chancellor. Besides interviewing the survivors in their homes, the students had to read a book on medical practices under the Nazis, which included horrific experimentation on Jews in the concentration camps. “I felt that way the students would explore history as well as gerontology,” Halperin says. On Nov. 15, students throughout the college will have the opportunity to take a field trip to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan to see the exhibit “Operation Finale: The Capture & Trial of Adolf Eichmann” (through Dec. 22), which considers the last years of one of the architects of the Holocaust. Afterward, the students who interviewed the Holocaust survivors, now in their second year, will be able to discuss what they learned in that assignment with firstyear students. “The reason we have this,” Halperin says of the Holocaust component of the curriculum, “is because this is the way we teach medical ethics.” Also in November, the college will host the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center’s three-year-old Institute for Middle School Leaders, with seventh graders discussing social issues in an age-appropriate manner. “History is sometimes linear and sometimes circular,” Halperin says, adding that the ignorance, prejudice and hate that fed the Holocaust are still with us. The way to combat these, he says, is through education. — Georgette Gouveia
up of 28 Holocaust survivors and two World War II concentration camp liberators. Sadly, however, it is a group that is increasingly dying off. “One day when survivors are no longer able to tell their stories, we’ll have other generations going forward. That’s why we call this group GenerationsForward, with the ‘forward’ in italics.’” Technology plays a key role in preserving and communicating not only the stories of the survivors but the poignant tales of those who lived with them as well. “The Holocaust survivors tell stories that are extraordinarily engaging,” Jasper says, “but the second generation has a story to tell — of being raised by frightened parents who were overly cautious or hearing parents wake from a nightmare.” The workshop, which contains roughly 12 people, is led by Jill Purdy Sarkozi, founding CEO of Safekeeping Stories. In turn, Jasper says, the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center can scan its materials and place them on an interactive website map, part of the center’s Holocaust Survivor Legacy Education Project, as a resource for everyone. It’s just one of the many ways in which the
center connects with the community, teachers, students and those in the legal and medical professions. (See sidebar.) In 1992, the center — formerly the Westchester Holocaust Education Center and Westchester Holocaust Commission — inaugurated the Garden of Remembrance at Westchester County’s Michaelian Office Building. The garden contains Rita Rapaport’s “Gates of Remembrance,” whose seemingly wind-blown posts, bars and plaques suggest everything from concentration camp entrances to the Bibles destroyed on Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass,” a 1938 pogrom against Jews in Nazi Germany that many see as the beginning of the Holocaust. There are the names of 26 places in which Jews and other Nazi victims were tortured and executed. There are quotations from people such as writer Elie Wiesel, who survived, and a statue of writer Anne Frank, who didn’t. The Holocaust center also hosts public lectures at various venues, including Purchase and Iona colleges, the Emelin Theatre and the Jacob Burns Film Center. For teachers, there’s professional develop-
ment in the form of lectures and screenings, and an Educational Planning Committee made up of 25 local middle and high school educators who revise related curricula to meet state standards. For the last 16 years, the center has also held an Institute for High School Student Leaders, which Jasper describes as a “wonderful program for 10th graders,” at Manhattanville or Iona colleges. Last year, 400 students from 35 public and private high schools in the Westchester area came together to discuss topics of choice on such subjects as human trafficking, hunger and homelessness and female genital mutilation. Meanwhile, the Speakers Bureau has reached more than 25,000 students as well as churches, synagogues and, through the Louis D. Brandeis Law Society, state supreme courts in Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties. The survivors’ stories touch hearts and minds, particularly young ones, bringing tears to the eyes. And yet, Jasper sees these as stories of hope. “They have no room in their hearts for hate,” she says of the survivors. “And they created meaningful lives.” For more, visit hhrecny.org.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5 AND OTHER EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE MONTH
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Andrew and Andrea Simon. Photograph by Bob Rozycki.
SIMONS SAY: ANTHROPOLOGY’S A TOOL FOR BUSINESS GROWTH BY RONNI DIAMONDSTEIN
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CURIOSITY MAY HAVE KILLED THE CAT, BUT FOR ANDREA SIMON AND HUSBAND ANDREW, IT’S THE SECRET TO THEIR SUCCESS. THE YORKTOWN HEIGHTS COUPLE USES THE TECHNIQUES OF CORPORATE ANTHROPOLOGY, A RED-HOT FIELD SINCE THE START OF THE DOT. COM ERA, TO HELP BUSINESSES AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT THEIR ENTERPRISES. “We believe the ‘way forward is all around you,’ and our mantra is that we take observations and turn them into innovations,” says Andrea, a Ph.D. and former academic who founded Simon Associates Management Consultants (SAMC). “We both enjoy working with people. We also are very curious. At times it is hard to help someone see things in new ways, much less change their behaviors. The work is both hard but gratifying. When they have an ‘aha’ moment, we just smile. “Anthropologists often say that we tinker
with our observations and watch people or even participate, like the TV show ‘Undercover Boss,’” she adds. “Our approach is designed to help us better understand the clever, creative ways people do things, believe in things and share their stories. Then we try to fi nd ways to help them so our company can add value to their lives innovatively.” Andrea says they view their role for their clients as explorers. They take them out with them to explore, observe and “hang out.” Together they watch what is happening. “Then our job is to fi nd unmet needs to be solved or nonusers who could use our client’s services. Rather than duplicate another company’s solutions, we fi nd ways to add value….” Andrea recommends reading your company’s emails, listening in on customer service calls and analyzing blogs about your field as the fi rst step in changing the environment of your company, followed by listening sessions
with clients and an evaluation of what needs to be improved through such tools as Blue Ocean Strategy, Innovation Games, Change Map and the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). “Everyone needs to become more innovative and collaborative and less bureaucratic and market-driven,” Andrea says, adding that the entire process is unfamiliar to most people. “In fact, people hire us to help them change — not because we sell a process called ‘anthropology.’” Still, “It’s difficult to change people’s mindsets,” says Andrew, a former executive with L’Oréal and Citicorp who grew Questar Assessment Inc. into a highly successful competitor in the K-12 educational market and joined SAMC in 2011. He and Andrea observed that while their clients could see new opportunities, they had a difficult time executing their new strategies. So the couple began to stay around to help them, with Andrew launching their Inbound Marketing division. One of the ways in which they help clients is through a more effective use of technology. “Technology is transformative and making people change.” Andrea says. “Everyone is getting
TECHNOLOGY IS TRANSFORMATIVE AND MAKING PEOPLE CHANGE. EVERYONE IS GETTING DISRUPTED BY SOMETHING THESE DAYS. THERE WILL BE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES AND ROBOTS ON FARM FIELDS. — Andrea Simon
DISCOVER YOUR
MIGHT
disrupted by something these days. There will be autonomous vehicles and robots on farm fields.” She and Andrew have had a wide range of clients, including Marcal Paper, Centenary College, Montefiore Medical Center, Atlantic Health Systems, Elkay Manufacturing, Hurley Medical Center, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Monroe College, Cabeau Travel Pillows, ParagonRx and Eli Global. Their success in guiding businesses to excel prompted Andrea to write her Axiom Award-winning book, “On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights.” The book highlights eight clients who came to them when they were stuck or stalled. “We helped them see opportunities that were all around them,” Andrea says of the book, a toolbox of practices and ideas for businesses. She shares its message in more than 50 speaking engagements a year, from Prague to New Delhi and in nearly every state in the Union. The Simons also practice what they preach. Says Andrew: “With the amount of change that is taking place, for us it is important to try to stay on the edge of what will be going on in the future.” For more, visit simonassociates.net.
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Ritu Favre. Photograph by Scott R. Kline.
AGAINST THE GRAIN BY JENA A. BUTTERFIELD
IF YOU WERE TO TAKE THE MEASURE OF RITU FAVRE’S LIFELONG BEHAVIOR USING SOME KIND OF BIOMETRIC TOOL, YOU’D SEE A PATTERN OF ACCOMPLISHMENT THAT STARTED EARLY — LONG BEFORE THE AGE OF 12 WHEN SHE ENTERED HIGH SCHOOL, OR 15 WHEN SHE GRADUATED AND WENT TO COLLEGE, THROUGH THE GRUELING YEARS IT TOOK HER TO EARN A MASTER’S IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, AND THEN A RAPID ASCENT UP THE MANAGEMENT LADDER AT SEVERAL MAJOR TECH COMPANIES BEFORE SHE BECAME CEO AT THE NORWEGIAN FIRM NEXT BIOMETRICS. Biometrics is the measurement and analysis of personal characteristics, like fingerprints and shopping habits. It’s one of the fastest-growing segments within the information technology sector and its increasing prevalence affects our future as a society. People who work in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) are driving the progress.
THE QUESTION IS, WHERE ARE ALL THE WOMEN? They represent 11 percent of executives among tech companies worldwide. The number gets lower when you climb the ranks to CEO, as Favre has done as the first woman to head a global fingerprint sensor 38
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company. This startling inequality has many institutions scrambling to change the perception of bias. Recently, an employee at Google theorized that women have traits making them less biologically suited to work in tech. His memo went viral and Google fired him. Repeated condemnation of these views, however, has yet to establish them as obvious bias. These are merely differing opinions, the argument goes, pivoting the discussion off-topic and refocusing it on freedom of speech. (No freedom of speech argument, however, can be made for the culture of sexual harassment that women have recently said exists in the tech industry.) Favre’s own story, however, echoes what research suggests: It’s not that girls don’t have what it takes to excel in STEM; it’s that society tells them they can’t. As a pioneer of a company that’s risen to the top of its sector under her leadership, Favre serves as inspiration. The cornerstone of NEXT is to position the world’s first flexible fingerprint sensor that meets all ISO (International Organization for Standardization) requirements for smart card markets at a time when the biometric sector is exploding. Its advantage is a sensor size large enough for print readings that’s durable, bendable and cost-efficient. Favre’s enthusi-
asm for the technology is now focused on scaling up the distribution of the device and refining its simplicity, a goal that is catapulting NEXT to the forefront of the industry.
HER STORY Favre was largely shielded from gender bias by a family that refused to perpetuate it. When she was young, growing up in Mesa, Arizona, it never dawned on her that she was a “girl,” she says. She credits her parents, who placed great importance on education. “My father said, ‘It doesn’t matter if I have a girl or a boy. I want my children to be independent,’” Favre recalls. No subject was deemed too hard. Favre laughs as she recounts one of her earliest motivating factors — learning enough to stop her father from tutoring her in 8th-grade algebra. Her parents’ gender-neutral expectations carried her forward. At Arizona State University, “I still didn’t really notice that I was a girl,” she says. “All I knew was that these classes were so hard.” But she was expected to succeed, so she did. “When I started to hit management ranks, that’s when I really start to feel it,” she says, “like a lot.” Favre was surprised at “being talked over, not listened to and discounted.” If she was forceful in her viewpoint, she was seen as emotional or angry. If she wasn’t, she was deemed too weak. These are experi-
ences echoed by women in tech — and in other fields such as politics — the world over. Some countries are addressing the problem through mandates. Though Favre and her family are based in California, she thinks working for a Norwegian-based company has made a difference. “I do think America is struggling with how to fit diversity,” she says, noting that mandating to some extent forces people to learn to work together. Norway was the first country to introduce quotas requiring that public companies fill at least 40 percent of their board seats with women. There are two women out of five on Favre’s board. “When all the men are talking and agreeing with themselves, they don’t see a problem,” she says. Family/work balance is often sighted as a contributor to the gender gap. Favre thinks that in order to succeed, she had little choice but to absorb the added pressure, not trade one responsibility for the other. She says that as a CEO, wife and mother of two, “I basically have three full-time jobs. The person that’s left behind is you.”
only 11 percent of women earn bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering, according to the NGC (National Girls Collaborative) Project. Women make up half of the total U.S. college-educated workforce but only 29 percent of the fields of science and engineering. The question that persists is: Why doesn’t the number of women in STEM reflect the interest girls demonstrate in math and science early on? While there may be a number of nature-nurture factors, including different expectations for each gender and workplace discrimination, will Favre is determined that her daughter’s choices not be a result of unconscious bias.
STEAM HEAT One effort gaining momentum is the addition of the arts rolled into the standard formulation of STEM, making STEAM. “I like the idea a lot,” says Favre, who sees that adding art and design as an entry point into the classic STEM subjects will make the fields more accessible to students who never considered them. Still, she worries we run the risk of diluting certain challenges by adding the arts after a history of diverting women into the “softer” subjects. Girls shouldn’t be deterred from that level of difficulty. “When math gets hard,” Favre says, “we as a culture need to say, ‘You can do it.’” For more, visit nextbiometrics.com.
WOMEN IN STEM Prior to high-school graduation, girls’ participation and achievement in math and science is on a par with that of boys. They perform equally well on standardized tests and enrollment in advanced science courses. These rates shift at the undergraduate level where
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THE FALL OF NANKING BY SEYMOUR TOPPING
The Gate of Heavenly Peace in Beijing, where Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949. Photograph by Audrey Ronning Topping.
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ON OCT. 1, BEIJING WILL CELEBRATE THE 68TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEFEAT OF CHIANG KAI-SHEK IN THE CHINESE CIVIL WAR AND THE FOUNDING OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. NATIONAL DAY IS USUALLY MARKED WITH A GIANT MILITARY PARADE THROUGH TIANANMEN SQUARE UNDER A LARGE PORTRAIT OF MAO ZEDONG, WHO LED THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY (PLA) ACROSS THE YANGTZE RIVER FOR THE CAPTURE OF NANKING (NOW NANJING), CHIANG'S CAPITAL. THIS YEAR'S NATIONAL DAY HAS SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE SINCE IT COMES AT A TIME WHEN CHINA IS COMPETING WITH THE UNITED STATES FOR GLOBAL LEADERSHIP IN ECONOMIC AND MILITARY DEVELOPMENT. Since coming to power in 2012, President Xi Jinping has been seeking to heighten the nationalism and pride of the Chinese people in their cultural and political history. His current “China Dream” envisions a "Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), which my wife, Audrey, has written about in WAG and which would, under Chinese leadership, launch a global infrastructure program dubbed "the New Silk Road." It is in fact an expansion of Mao's vision of the People's Republic of China, which was realized when the PLA took over Chiang's Nationalist capital, the key to Mao’s eventual control of the entire Chinese mainland six months later. As a correspondent for the Associated Press, I covered the fall of Nanking. At dawn on April 23, 1949, I was awakened by the sounds of explosions on the Nanking riverfront. Communist troops were storming across the Yangtze in all manner of boats under the cover of artillery fire. I clambered into my jeep and headed toward the river quays. Mobs in the streets were looting houses. Chiang Kai-shek's government had fled to Canton, the southern metropolis, and the luxurious houses of officials were being stripped. The sky was brightened by flames of burning government buildings, including the massive Judicial Yuan. Saboteurs had been at work. On the highways, the military checkpoints were unmanned and I soon learned that the Nationalist garrison had abandoned the city and the municipal police had fled with them. Thousands of refugees and disheveled Nationalist soldiers were fleeing south. The river port was ablaze with torched buildings and exploding fuel dumps. In the American Embassy, young diplomats patrolled the grounds with flashlights. A platoon of Marines had been stationed in the compound but had been flown out on April 20 to Shanghai to avoid possible clashes with the Communists. Six Marines were left behind to protect the 200 embassy personnel. At 6 p.m., I picked up Bill Kuan, a Chinese report-
er, who worked for the Agence France Presse. After inspecting the airfields, which we found wrecked, we headed for the Nanking Hotel to find the Peace Preservation Committee, appointed to hand over the city to the Communists to minimize damage in the takeover. Committee members said that they had made contact with the Communists and delegates would meet their advancing troops. Hoping to meet the Communists I drove slowly toward the Northwest Gate at 3 a.m. Suddenly, I heard a command to halt. Two soldiers with rifles pointing at us emerged from the shrubbery beside the road. They were the point soldiers of the first column of Gen. Chen Yi's Communist troops, ordered on forced march to enter Nanking. The officer, who was to meet the Peace Preservation Committee questioned Kuan and me, then ordered us at gunpoint back into the city. I drove my Jeep back into Nanking, past the burning Judicial Yuan to the city telegraph office. There Kuan and I flipped a coin to determine who would file first. Kuan won and sent a three-word flash: "Reds Take Nanking." My 65-word dispatch followed. Immediately after my transmission, Communist troops cut the landline between Nanking and Shanghai. When Kuan’s dispatch reached the foreign desk in Paris, the editors waited for additional detail but radio transmission was out until morning. The delay denied Kuan a world beat and bestowed it on me. My dispatch went out immediately on the AP wires. Through the years, Chinese websites have carried a photograph of Mao Zedong reading the front page of a Peking newspaper citing my dispatch on the Communist seizure of Nanking. At daybreak I picked up Chester Ronning, charge d'affairs of the Canadian Embassy, and we drove to the Northwest Gate where we witnessed the entry of thousands of Communist troops into the city. I had met his daughter Audrey in the Chinese capital when she was attending Nanking University. We had become engaged, but at this point she had been evacuated with her mother and siblings to Tokyo with other diplomatic families as the Communists closed in on Nanking. At first, I was imprisoned by the Communists, who thought my typewriter meant I was a spy. Two weeks later, I was freed and spent the next six months reporting from Communist-occupied Nanking. After Mao's establishment of The People's Republic of China, I flew to Audrey's home in Camrose, Alberta, where we were married. We returned to Hong Kong, which became our base for reporting on Mao's complete control of the Chinese mainland. It remains to be seen if Xi will enjoy success with his "New Silk Road" or, like Mao, enjoy initial success but then stumble and suffer the kind of violent reversals that overwhelmed Mao and the country in the disastrous Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.
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Mao’s Teapot. Characters (not shown) read: “Ice in the pot, heart of jade.” Daniel Ta-Che Yang, now 92, holding the teapot given to him by Mao Zedong for saving his life in 1925. Photographs by Nelius Ronning.
THE DICTATOR, THE BABY AND THE TEAPOT BY AUDREY RONNING TOPPING
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TODAY’S WORLD IS NO STRANGER TO STRONGMEN AND DICTATORS, BUT MANY PALE IN COMPARISON TO MAO ZEDONG, LEADER OF THE COMMUNIST REVOLUTION. IN HIS TURBULENT LIFE, THERE WAS ONCE A STRANGE ENCOUNTER INVOLVING A 5-MONTH-OLD BABY BOY AND A CLAY TEAPOT, WHICH MAY HAVE CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY IN CHINA AND IN THE WORLD. This is the unwritten story of that chance meeting, as told by the child, Daniel Ta-Che Yang, now 92 years old, to my first cousin Nelius Ronning. Daniel still has the teapot, which he brought with him when he came to the United States in 1949. This story was revealed by his mother before he left China, on the condition that he tell no one until after she died. Daniel, a retired civil servant in Los Angeles who now lives in Eagle Rock, California, was a close friend of my family and asked me to record his remarkable tale. The event happened in the autumn of 1925 on a road between the city of Changsha, in Hunan Province, and the village of Shaoshan, where Mao Zedong was born on Dec. 26, 1893. Since his death in 1976, Mao’s birthplace has become a popular tourist attraction. At that time, the Nationalist Party was fi ghting for control of China and the Communists were beginning to foment a revolution. Daniel's Uncle Tan was the local postmaster. One late evening he was riding in his mail truck to a nearby village to establish a new post office
when the old van blew a tire. It was harvest time and the rice growing in paddies by the roadside was tall, green and dry. When the driver got out to change the tire, Uncle Tan began walking along the road. Suddenly a soiled fugitive emerged from the rice paddy and called: “Hello Tan. Am I ever glad to see you! Can you give me a ride?” Tan recognized him as Mao Zedong, a schoolteacher in Changsha, where he knew him by another local name. Mao was then 31 years old. He looked anxious. Tan could see he was in trouble. Mao said he was running away from the authorities in Changsha and immediately needed to hitch a ride. The police chief and the governor had ordered his arrest after he denounced them as corrupt officials. “I spoke the truth,” Mao declared. “When the armed police were chasing and shooting at me, I dashed into the rice field and hid.” Hours later, he luckily saw Daniel’s uncle and hitchhiked a ride in the mail truck to the home of Daniel’s grandparents in Ningshan County.
The following is Daniel’s story as passed down by his mother and told to Nelius: “My mormor and morfar (grandparents) were sick. They were elderly. That was 1925. I was only about 5 months old. Approaching midnight, my uncle came to my grandparents’ home and introduced his mysterious friend by his local name (Mao It-tsu). Chinese people are allowed to have three names. My mother provided food for them. Mao Zedong thanked my mother for the food and said, ‘I heard from your brother that you are married to the Yang family in Changsha. My spouse is also from the Yang family in Changsha. So we are relatives.’ My mother asked, ‘What is our wife’s name?’ He said, ‘Yang (Ca-fe).’ Then my mother said, ‘Wow, you are Mao Zedong, right?’ He said, ‘Yes, but please keep it quiet. I am in deep trouble. I hitchhiked to come here.’ Then my mother told my uncle, ‘Our dad will not be happy. Mao is a fugitive. This is very dangerous for us. If the local government finds out, you will all be in trouble. (Our) mother and father will have trouble.’ While talking they heard a loud pounding on the door. It was the local authorities, who had talked to
drinking water like here. You had to take your own drinking supplies. So Mao had a teapot and a lot of tea leaves. Mao thanked mother again: ‘You saved my life. I don’t have anything to thank you. Here, take my teapot as a little souvenir. When my mother said, ‘No thank you. You better keep it,’ he put it beside my crib and said, ‘Well, let your son have it then.’ That is why I still have Mao Zedong’s teapot.” The teapot is now one of Daniel’s most precious possessions. It was his reward for laughing when Mao Zedong tickled his feet and posed as his father for the one shining moment that saved the life of Mao Zedong. As the world knows, Mao went on to survive the Long March and organize the Red Army to win the Chinese Civil War by defeating Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Army. On Oct.1, 1949, Mao stood on The Gate of Heavenly Peace in Beijing and proclaimed the establishment of The People’s Republic of China. His controversial authoritarian Communist rule of China lasted 27 years. Ironically, in 1949, Daniel fled China, falsely accused of being a spy for Chiang Kai-shek because he helped three Swedish women missionaries escape from the Communists. Little did anyone know that he had been the baby who saved Mao’s life.
the mail truck driver. He told them, ‘Yes, my boss, Mr. Tan, picked up a hitchhiker who came here.’ Then they asked my uncle; ‘Mr. Tan do you have any strangers in the house?’ He had told Mao to hide in my mother’s bedroom where my mother was changing my diaper. When Mao came into the bedroom, he said, ‘Let me change your baby’s diaper. You go out and talk.’ My mother went out and said, ‘Yes, this is my brother. My parents are sick. We are here to help with my family.’ Mao was changing my diaper. He was tickling me a little on the bottom of my feet and under my arm, saying, ‘My dear precious baby, your grandmother loves you.’ His tickles made me laugh loudly. ‘Your grandfather loves you, your uncle loves you, your mother loves you and I love you, too.’ So the policeman asked my uncle again: ‘Do you have any strangers?’ ‘No. No strangers.’ He thought Mao Zedong was my father. Then the police left. Mother told Mao he had better leave soon. She gave him extra food to take with him. He thanked my mother profusely and said he would visit his schoolmate who had graduated from Hunan Teachers’ College. Before leaving he wanted to give her his clay teapot. In the olden days in China, there was no safe
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Paul Fragner, MD. Courtesy the doctor.
A ‘HAND’-Y MAN BY JANE K. DOVE
THE HUMAN HAND REPRESENTS A TRIUMPH OF COMPLEX ENGINEERING, DESIGNED TO PERFORM A MULTITUDE OF DIVERSE TASKS WITH STRENGTH, DELICACY, DEXTERITY AND, AS WITH A CONCERT PIANIST, AMAZING TECHNIQUE. And the surgeons who specialize in the care and treatment of our wonderful hands have developed their own masterful techniques for healing these essential appendages. One of them is Dr. Paul Fragner of the Orthopaedic Specialists division of White Plains Hospital Physicians Associates, with offices in Armonk and West Harrison. He and his team treat adults and children for any disorder or injury involving the hand, wrist or elbow, surgically or nonsurgically. TECHNIQUE REIGNS SUPREME “In the world of surgery,” he says, “technique is everything. And in the lexicon of surgical seman-
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tics, the word ‘technique’ has two distinct but equally important meanings. The first, as in ‘he has wonderful technique,’ is the surgeon’s deftness, dexterity, accuracy and speed while using his hands to artfully and precisely manipulate surgical instruments to perform the desired procedure. Among colleagues, this is known as ‘having great hands’ in the operating room.” Fragner says that, in the second sense, technique refers to the surgeon’s particular preference for performing and accomplishing the specific surgical goal. “Surgeons often ask other surgeons: ‘Which technique do you use for correcting this problem?’ Or a surgeon may explain to his patient that he has developed his own technique for the procedure that combines several features of other techniques with less blood loss, a quicker recovery time and excellent results.” Because of their complex structure and many functions, hands demand the best possible surgi-
cal techniques,” Fragner says. “Depending on the procedure, you are dealing with bones, joints, tendons, ligaments, nerves and a host of other related parts. The hand, which I compare to a fine Swiss watch, is about as complicated as you can get in the orthopedic realm, and you need a lot of experience to become very good at hand surgery.” Fragner adds that just possessing great surgical technique, by itself, does not necessarily make one a great surgeon. “Just as many factors go into having outstanding technique, having such technique is only one of many ingredients needed to be an outstanding surgeon.” COMPONENTS OF TECHNIQUE Fragner says he has pondered why some surgeons “have better technique” than others and, in his opinion, “just like a world-class artist, musician, martial artist or architect, there are three essential components necessary to develop excellent technique — genetics, experience and passion.” In terms of genetics, Fragner says some individuals are lucky to have been blessed with nimble hands, while others, unfortunately, are “all thumbs.” “To a certain extent, of course, technical prowess can improve with excellent mentors
and training, practice and persistence. However, perhaps the latter group is more likely to become internists or pediatricians rather than surgeons.” Fragner says the value of the surgeon’s experience cannot be overstated. “This not only means the number of hours of training and in practice but also whom the surgeon has been fortunate to have had as instructors, teachers and mentors. The body of experience starts in medical school, continues through residency, then fellowship and on into practice.” And surgeons can never get enough practice. “The more procedures the surgeon performs, the more refi ned his technique becomes,” Fragner adds. “This is one of many reasons patients should never choose a surgeon who is new to practicing.” Finally, passion is a major contributor to developing outstanding surgical technique. “To truly excel at anything — surgery, cooking, tightrope walking or journalism — one needs to be passionate about it. Loving your craft and possessing a true desire to be the best at it is critical to actually becoming the best.” So that surgeon with the “great hands" most likely inherited a special genetic gift from his parents, trained and practiced diligently at the right
places at the right time with the right teachers and really loves doing surgery. Fragner puts himself in this fortunate group. A graduate of the SUNY Upstate Medical University College of Medicine, Fragner received subspecialty fellowship training in hand and upper extremity surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. He is chief emeritus of the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery at White Plains Hospital and has served as a medical consultant to the New York Rangers hockey team. While he loves performing an array of different procedures, he is especially gratified by his work with children. “I see a lot of little kids with sports injuries. They can often be treated right in the office, and I like it when I treat patients with problems that can resolve themselves over time with proper care but no surgery. “For me personally when I do perform hand surgery, I love that I am able to use my own hands to heal the young and old, injured or arthritic, athletes and secretaries, so they can get back to using their hands with freedom and no pain. For this, I am truly blessed.” For more, visit whphysicianassociates.org or call 914-946-1010.
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Seth R. Miller, MD. Courtesy Orthopaedic & Neurosurgery Specialists (ONS).
“I AM PERSONALLY VERY PROUD OF OUR PRACTICE — ORTHOPAEDIC & NEUROSURGERY SPECIALISTS (ONS) AND THE WAY WE TREAT EACH PATIENT AS AN INDIVIDUAL,” SAYS SETH R. MILLER, AN ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON WHO SPECIALIZES IN ARTHROSCOPIC SHOULDER SURGERY AND SHOULDER REPLACEMENT.
A (MEDICAL) SHOULDER TO LEAN ON BY JANE K. DOVE
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With offices in Greenwich and Stamford and now Harrison, ONS takes a conservative approach to patient care. “We recommend surgery to only about 10 percent of our patients,” says Miller, who is also a clinical assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the Hospital for Joint Diseases; a staff orthopedic physician at Greenwich Hospital and an assistant attending physician in orthopedic surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. “We want to make sure it is really needed, because we realize that surgery in any of our subspecialties is a traumatic event for our patients. If it can be avoided, so much the better.” A leading specialist in shoulder replacement surgery with 1,000 total shoulder and reverse shoulder replacements to his credit, Miller
helped found ONS in 1998. There he remains committed to providing excellent orthopedic and neurosurgical care through professional cooperation while showing compassion for patients. By setting the highest of standards, ONS can offer patients a wide range of choices that leads to the best possible outcomes. “For example, if needed, we will have two surgeons involved in a complicated procedure,” he says. “We do everything we can to ensure the results our patients get are the very best possible. And we deliver those results with compassion and understanding along the way.” SPOTLIGHT ON SHOULDERS After graduating from Harvard University in 1978, Miller went on to get his M.D. at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, followed by a residency in general surgery and then a sought-after one-year residency in shoulder surgery at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. “I studied under the renowned Dr. Charles S. Neer, who offered me this wonderful opportunity,” he says. “I was always interested in the shoulder and
had a great year with him, from l988 to 1989. At about the same time, I met another shoulder specialist who invited me to join him at Greenwich Hospital.” Miller says Greenwich had many orthopedic surgeons on staff but most practiced in the general area. “I did my share of general orthopedic surgery but really wanted to do as much shoulder surgery as possible. I spoke with several other subspecialists who, like me, wanted to improve patient care by combining several of our doctor’s groups into one entity.” In 1998, the group took the plunge and founded ONS, starting with only eight physicians. EXPANSION ONS now has 22 subspecialty physicians trained in orthopedic surgery, sports medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation. “Things really took off when patients realized they could get specialty care of the highest quality right in Greenwich. We now have two specialists for every part of the body.” The successful reception ONS earned from the local patient community there led to its expansion, fi rst to Stamford and then to a new facility in Harrison. Miller says he believed one of the keys to the success of ONS has been the one-stop approach the practice offers.
WE DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO ENSURE THE RESULTS OUR PATIENTS GET ARE THE VERY BEST POSSIBLE. AND WE DELIVER THOSE RESULTS WITH COMPASSION AND UNDERSTANDING ALONG THE WAY. — Seth R. Miller, MD
“Our patients just love that we can provide so much under one roof,” he says. “Everything is right here and there is no need to trek from outside office to outside office for tests, scans and blood work. We function as a team of doctors and other medical professionals, working closely and seamlessly together.” If a question about care or a procedure that can best be answered by another specialist comes up, Miller says, “All we have to do is walk down the hall. Patients find this very comforting and we pride ourselves as working as a collaborative team. At ONS you get the best possible care all under one roof. While our practice is large, it is very effective and attuned to the patient, what he or she really needs.” SATISFIED PATIENTS He believes ONS is well-served, as are its patients, by not being a part of a larger patient care “network system.” The proof is in the response. “We get positive feedback in the 96 to 97 percent range,” he says. “As a result, we are not controlled so much by cost-cutting to enhance the bottom line of the network. As a private practice, we control our own destiny and even have our own foundation. We are free and now big enough to control our financial destiny on our own.” For more, onsmd.com.
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SILVER
BY MARY SHUSTACK “Silver Light” by Aranda\Lasch & Marcelo Coelho is featured in “New York Silver, Then and Now” at the Museum of the City of New York. Courtesy and © Aranda\Lasch & Marcelo Coelho. 48
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“New York Silver, Then and Now” at the Museum of the City of New York features creative pairings of historic inspirations from the museum’s permanent collection with contemporary works. Here, 1765 silver candlesticks by Samuel Tingley Jr. and “Silver Light” by Aranda\Lasch & Marcelo Coelho. Courtesy Museum of the City of New York.
WHEN YOU THINK OF THE TRADITION OF SILVER IN NEW YORK, IT’S REASONABLE FOR THOUGHTS TO TURN TO HISTORIC PIECES SUCH AS ORNATE TROPHIES OR INTRICATE TABLETOP GOODS.
An exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, though, handily proves that silver is a vibrant, viable material that today remains at the heart of creativity — and takes advantage of the latest technology. “New York Silver, Then and Now” is a bold step, an exhibition designed to create a dialogue among 25 contemporary artists, silversmiths and designers and outstanding works of New York silver in the museum’s permanent collection. The contemporary works of art — original pieces created with a modern audience in mind — are displayed alongside their historic inspirations, often to stunning results. Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, for example, homed in on the most intricate details of an 18th-century tankard by Benjamin Wynkoop to create her own statement, “Magnification: Engraving.” Meanwhile, the social commentary is clear in another pairing. An 1889 Tiffany & Co. Goelet Prize for Sloops, an award on which idealized females swirl across its base, sparked Amy Roper Lyons’ “Women’s Work #1.” The contemporary sculp-
ture depicts a realistic female figure, showcasing strength and purpose as a meditation on beauty. Throughout the exhibition, there is an emphasis on technique both historic and contemporary, which is spotlighted through works sometimes decorative, other times practical. A GLOWING EXAMPLE Looking more closely at one pairing offers a way to explore the exhibition’s approach on both the creative and technical fronts. In a display case visitors see a pair of circa-1765 silver (cast, soldered and chased) candlesticks by Samuel Tingley Jr. and its modern match, “Silver Light, 2017” by Aranda\Lasch and Marcelo Coelho Studio. The contemporary piece uses PET (polyester) film, silver ink, silver epoxy, LEDs, with inkjet printing and is lent by the artists. Here’s how it’s described in the museum text: “Candlelight was a valuable commodity in the colonial world. The candlesticks by Samuel Tingley Jr., seen here, would have kept the dark at bay in a very elegant home. The polished silver of the canWAGMAG.COM
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dlestick reflected and enhanced the light. “Aranda\Lasch and Marcelo Coelho have updated Tingley’s candlestick by utilizing the silver found in ordinary computer circuitry. Putting this commonly available material to new uses, the fi rm has embedded the circuitry into a clear, cylindrically shaped fi lm. The result is a modern candle that spreads electronically inspired patterns of light.” As Benjamin Aranda of Aranda\Lasch, a New York- and Tucson, Arizona-based design studio, said: “It’s cutting-edge technology.” But, he said, it was also more than that. “I think we also were asking questions about (silver) … how the value has transformed over time,” Aranda said, noting its historical role in displaying wealth. “We wanted to show that silver was really becoming more a conduit for energy. It has a kind of surface read and you can make the connection really quickly. It’s like a lot of projects in our studio. It works, but there’s a lot to it when you dig in.” THE CURATOR’S VOICE “New York Silver” is organized by guest curator Jeannine Falino, a New Rochelle resident whom we caught up with at the exhibition’s press preview.
Pair of Candlesticks (detail), Samuel Tingley Jr. ca. 1765. Silver, cast, soldered, and chased. Museum of the City of New York. Courtesy of Museum of the City of New York.
“I thought it would be really fun to include people from other aspects of the creative arts,” she said of how the contemporary participants were chosen. “I have to say everyone was really, really willing to go outside their comfort zones.” And, in doing so, conversations have been encouraged on topics ranging from the role of women to the use of slave labor in mining, from silver’s place in society to the ways art reflects its own times — and much more. The efforts, as Aranda of Aranda\Lasch said, are worth exploring: “I think Jeannine really produced something really unprecedented here.” And Falino was indeed impressed by the results of the year-long process. “Some of them are functional. Some of them are avant- garde, which we love.” It all, she said, explores themes of “craftsmanship, content, purpose and use.” As she looked over the dozens of pairings that will fill the museum’s Tiffany & Co. Foundation Gallery through June 2018, Falino had a moment to reflect on the project. “This is really fun,” she said. “It’s definitely not your grandmother’s silver.” Museum of the City of New York is at 1220 Fifth Ave. (at 103rd Street). For more, visit mcny.org.
JOIN US FOR TH E FIRST AN N UAL
A family-friendly football and shopping event featuring: • Live football games on big screen TVs • Local pop-up shops • Football skills and drills for kids • Food trucks and cocktails
Sunday October 15th 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. (RAIN OR SHINE) The Warehouse at Fairfield Theatre Company 70 Sanford Street, Fairfield CT 06824
100% of the proceeds from this event will benefit the Blue Buffalo Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization that supports numerous life-enhancing programs to benefit furry friends and pet parents.
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Photographs by Marc Weinstein.
CHANNELING MY INNER GAUDÍ BY MARC WEINSTEIN (Editor’s note: Marc Weinstein’s Antoni Gaudí-inspired photographs are part of “A Pursuit of Perspective,” on view at the Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden in North Salem through Nov. 11. Here Marc discusses the journey of his abstract blue works.)
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THE GENESIS OF “GAUDÍ BLUE:” I WAS ALWAYS DRAWN TO THE ORGANIC FORMS OF ANTONI GAUDÍ, SO WHEN I VISITED BARCELONA, I IMMEDIATELY SEARCHED OUT HIS WORK. FIRST, WE WENT TO THE BASÍLICA I TEMPLE EXPIATORI DE LA SAGRADA FAMÍLIA, WITH ITS ORGANIC EXTERIOR AND COLD, FEARFUL INTERIOR. THEN CASA BATLLÓ, A MASTERPIECE OF CRAFTSMANSHIP AND CASA MILÀ, WITH ITS MASK-FACED CHIMNEYS. After appreciating the rest of Barcelona, we went on our last day in the city to Park Güell, with its imposing iron gates and Gaudí’s home. As we were about to leave the park, I was attracted to one of the two structures that frame the entry gate, the gatekeeper’s home. I entered and climbed the back stairs, absorbed by its walls of blue Venetian plaster illuminated by a window on each of three landings. My “Gaudí Blue” photographs are from my observations there — moments of color, form and Gaudi's structure. Vacation over, I returned to my home studio in
Chappaqua, excited to edit and print the images. But later, as I began to organize them, I realized that even by observing the angle of light in the photographs, it was difficult to remember the actual perspective of each one. So I experimented with printing them as a group on a single sheet. The resulting grid suggested to me the possibilities that became “Gaudí Blue.” I razored apart the images, trying various combinations until I achieved “Grid #1.” From that moment, the grids started to take on a life of their own. The appeal of the single images is the ambiguity of space and light and color in a two- dimensional frame. As grids, the imagery can be kaleidoscopic. I’ve also created a “Game” grid, which allows the observer to create one of his own. This was a successful event at Mary Colby’s Studio & Gallery on City Island, where the participating audience even wrote poetry as part of an open, amorphous grid. No longer mine, these images belong to the viewer. For more, visit marcweinsteinphotography. com and hammondmuseum.org.
AFTER
BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH
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“Hopper Meditations” artist Richard Tuschman at the opening of a display for his work at the Edward Hopper House Art Center in Nyack. Courtesy Robyn Silverstein.
A SET OF A DOZEN PHOTOGRAPHS ON DISPLAY IN THE EXHIBITION ROOM AT NYACK’S EDWARD HOPPER HOUSE ART CENTER CERTAINLY FITS IN AT THE FORMER HOME OF THE PAINTER WHOSE TABLEAU-LIKE CANVASES DEFINED THE SOLITARY IN EARLY-TO-MID 20THCENTURY AMERICA. Richard Tuschman’s “Green Bedroom (Morning)” (2013), archival pigment print from the series “Hopper Meditations.” Courtesy Klompching Gallery, New York.
The time period in each photo matches when Hopper created many of his most famous works. The images’ compositions and lighting create a sense of quietude that fit Hopper’s style. But the photographs aren’t actually from that period at all. They were created almost a century after Hopper’s death, using technology that would have seemed alien to the painter. “Hopper Meditations,” the series of photographs and digital illustrations by New York City-based photographer Richard Tuschman, pays homage to Hopper’s work by creating fictional scenes influenced in subject and mood by some of the artist’s iconic paintings. “I have always loved the way Hopper’s paintings, with an economy of means, are able to address the mysteries and complexities of the human condition,” Tuschman wrote in a description of his work for the online photography magazine LensCulture. Tuschman created the images by handcrafting small, but incredibly detailed, dioramas that match Hopper tableaux. He then Photoshopped live models, including himself, into each scene. Tuschman’s work is now placed prominently just a floor beneath Hopper’s childhood bedroom, where the artist himself once drew inspiration from the Hudson River view out his window and the way the light slanted across the room — a distinctive feature of many of his canvases.
The house was built by his grandfather in 1858 and served as his home from his birth in 1882 until 1910. After Hopper’s death in 1967, the house was saved from demolition and turned into a nonprofit art center. When Tuschman fi rst started on “Hopper Meditations” in 2011, he was trying to recreate certain Hopper paintings exactly. But then he shifted to focusing more on capturing the essence of Hopper’s works. “I was less concerned about imitating the details and more concerned about the general mood,” he says. Tuschman finished the final photographs in 2013. He described the process as two days of photography and two years of everything else. He worked with two different models on the photo shoots, getting all the material he needed from two separate shoots. But the most labor-intensive part was creating the dioramas. With the exception of some dollhouse furniture, everything in the dioramas was built entirely by Tuschman. Getting the lighting right, to match that of Hopper’s slicing style, was especially important, he says. “I loved the way he used light, it was almost acting like another character,” Tuschman adds. In Tuschman’s work, time — Hopper’s time — beWAGMAG.COM
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Richard Tuschman’s “Woman at a Window” (2012), archival pigment print from the series “Hopper Meditations.” Courtesy Klompching Gallery, New York.
comes another character as well. “It’s an era I’ve always been interested in,” Tuschman says. “I think it’s because it’s really my parents’ era. The fi rst time I really fell in love with photography was as a kid looking at my parents’ family photo albums. Because these were people I knew, but it seemed like a different world in a way. There was this kind of tension between distance and familiarity.” Tuschman lived for a time in Rockland County near the Hopper House and had an unrelated show of paintings there previously. While the work has already garnered quite a bit of attention online, including features in Slate, the Huffington Post and LensCulture, he says it was exciting to see “Hopper Meditations” displayed in Hopper’s original home. “They did such a beautiful job installing the show,” Tuschman says. “And it’s great to show it right in his house.” Richard Tuschman will be back at the Edward Hopper House Art Center Oct. 22 for a talk presented by The Nyack Library. He will discuss the inspiration and process behind the “Hopper Meditations” (through Oct. 29) and will have on hand one of the diorama sets used in the series. For more, visit edwardhopperhouse.org and richardtuschman.com.
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THE CAKE, THE RAIN AND THE SONGWRITER AN INTERVIEW WITH JIMMY WEBB BY GREGG SHAPIRO
BEGINNING IN THE MID-1960S AND CONTINUING TO THE PRESENT DAY, SINGER/ SONGWRITER JIMMY WEBB HAS BEEN AN AUDIBLE PART OF OUR CONSCIOUSNESS. THE SONGS HE WROTE THAT WERE RECORDED BY GLEN CAMPBELL (“WICHITA LINEMAN,” “BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX” AND “GALVESTON”), THE 5TH DIMENSION (“UP, UP AND AWAY”), ART GARFUNKEL (“ALL I KNOW”), AND RICHARD HARRIS AND DONNA SUMMER (“MACARTHUR PARK”), AMONG MANY OTHERS, ESTABLISHED HIM AS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SONGWRITERS OF HIS GENERATION. AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE, THERE IS MORE TO WEBB THAN HIS UNFORGETTABLE SONGS AND, IN HIS NEW MEMOIR, “THE CAKE AND THE RAIN” (ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, $26.99, 346 PAGES), HE FILLS IN THE DETAILS THROUGH THE EARLY 1970S: Jimmy, why was now the time to write your memoir, “The Cake and The Rain”? “My first book, ‘Tunesmith: The Art of Songwriting,’ gave me the opportunity to write about my craft, songwriting. This book, ‘The Cake and the Rain,’ gave me the freedom of space to write what I was thinking about during the ’60s, to have more than a three-anda-half-minute song to explain where I was and what I was feeling and to paint a picture of the ’60s and the music scene. I am 70 years old. Let’s be honest, there is more behind me than in front of me. It was time to start sharing these stories.” In telling your story, you play with the timeline. “Thank you for mentioning the timeline. This format took dedication and made the writing much more complicated. I write the story in two distinct and contrasting story lines. The first is in Technicolor — Hollywood, stardom, the girls, the fast cars and planes. The entwined story line is the stark black and white of my childhood in Oklahoma, the poor, rural life that surrounded me, my proud, hard-working grandparents. It is about our itinerant preacher family lifestyle. Both timelines tell the story of who I am, where my songs come from and what America looked like during those years. At the end, the timelines meet — or crash, actually.
Jimmy Webb. Photograph by Sasa Tkalcan/Helsinki Festival.
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In the book, you show respect for other songwriters by your use of citations. Song titles are followed by the songwriters’ names in parentheses. “That was very important to me because, obviously, I am a songwriter. Mr. Sinatra pushed many a songwriter into the spotlight by mentioning their names from his stage. He did that for me more than once. My friend and collaborator Glen Campbell would do that as well. Before the singer/songwriter era, which brought us James Taylor, Carole King, Billy Joel, before bands wrote their own material, there were actual songwriters who provided the songs. They didn’t sing them; they wrote them. Most often it was a team where one wrote music and one wrote lyrics. I actually do both on all of my songs. “Mr. Sinatra, Tom Jones, Barbra Streisand: They are pure singers who relied and still rely on the byprod-
ucts of our poet craftsman songwriters to provide their material. I am dedicated to promoting songwriters and continuing this craft in the highest form possible. It is my duty to remind the readers of the names of these great songwriters.”
changed dramatically after that. I have plenty of stories that didn’t fit in the first half and more to tell from 1973 on. I am anxious to start another book, after I finish writing this current portfolio of songs.” As someone who has written stage musicals, how would you feel about a biographical jukebox musical, such as Carole King’s “Beautiful” or The Four Seasons’ “Jersey Boys” being done about you? “Wow, now that would be an honor and a pleasure.”
Boats, airplanes and especially cars figure prominently in “The Cake and the Rain.” How do these various modes of transportation and, by extension, means of escape, figure into your life? “I love toys — always loved them as a child, because they were so few and far between. I grew up during the golden era of the American V-8 automobile. My Dad bought me a ’56 Olds when I was 15 years old. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen before or since. Sailplanes and yachts share the same magical quality of propelling themselves seemingly without outside input. Of course, the game of using wind power is the ultimate three-dimensional thrill — save perhaps one.” “The Cake and the Rain” ends in 1973. Does this mean that that is as much of your story as you wanted to tell or have you started work on the next installment? “Publishers have a strong feeling about how many words should be in a book. I had a lot of stories to tell and the event in 1973 that ended the book seemed like a natural stopping point. My life
Book cover by Garth Sadler.
In addition to the publication of your memoir, 2017 finds you as a presence on Glen Campbell’s final studio recording, “Adios.” What does it mean to you have your songs featured prominently on this project? “The first time I heard that album I was on tour, in some hotel somewhere. I will be honest, I cried. I have four songs on that album, four songs that Glen (who died Aug. 8) and I always talked about recording and never got around to. By some miracle, and the love of producer Carl Jackson, these songs have now been recorded. Glen’s voice is in fine form. That is the sound of my friend Glen, and his voice on these songs is a new memory I did not expect and that I will always cherish.” Jimmy Webb performs Nov. 3 at Daryl’s House Club in Pawling. For more, visit darylshouseclub.com.
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The 3-D ceramic printer being used by Bryan Czibesz, an artist in the Clay Art Center’s “Reinvented” show.
Four ceramic works by Joey Watson in the Clay Art Center’s “Reinvented” show.
ART + TECH = CLAY ART CENTER AT 60 BY NANCY YATES
COMPUTER CULTURE IS NECK-IN-NECK WITH CRITICAL CRAFT.
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THIS YEAR, CLAY ART CENTER IN PORT CHESTER, A NONPROFIT FOR THE ADVANCEMENT AND PRACTICE OF THE CERAMIC ARTS, IS CELEBRATING ITS 60TH ANNIVERSARY WITH A YEARLONG FOCUS ON THE ROLE OF CLAY IN THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. THERE HAVE BEEN FIVE CORE EXHIBITIONS, CULMINATING IN THE FALL EXHIBIT, “REINVENTED” (THROUGH NOV. 11), WHICH HIGHLIGHTS THE FUTURE OF CERAMIC ART AND THE CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGIES THAT ARE PUSHING CERAMIC ARTISTS TO TAKE RISKS AND EXPLORE NEW WAYS OF CREATING.
Curated by Adam Chau, the center’s program manager, the exhibit features an international roster of 13 artists, who use digital technology in their ceramic art and are the trailblazers in the field, pushing the limits of what ceramics can do. Chau, a researcher in the field of digital ceramics, presents the idea that digital technology can work with traditional studio practices. Processes include 3-D printing, laser cutting, 3-D scanning, CNC routing (on a computer-controlled cutting machine) and more. In this new frontier of the digi-modern era we can find artists who use laptops right next to their potter’s wheels. Computer culture is neck-inneck with critical craft. “Reinvented” exhibiting master potter Chris Gustin was invited to use digital technology in a recent ceramic residency at Medalta, a ceram-
ics space in Alberta, Canada. Not familiar with the process, Gustin wanted to produce ceramics in a more organic way. He asked singer Titilayo Ngwenya to sing into one of his vessels and recorded the sound waves. The data was converted into a 3-D surface and then manipulated into a shape that references Gustin’s body of work. The pieces were 3-D-printed and put in a traditional wood-fueled kiln, a 16th-century firing technique that results in unpredictable surfaces. This work juxtaposes “perfect” technology with the organic nature of ceramics. “This entire project was a good one for me, getting me thinking in ways that opened a new door with my work,” Gustin says. “I think the difficulty in 3-D printing is how you bring the process into your work, where the technology offered actually adds to the ideas you’re working with. Most 3-D printing that I see does not have a lot of connection to ideas. It seems more tech-based, more about the wow. That’s what is interesting — how to reconcile the process with the ideas.” For the closing event for “Reinvented,” the center will host an intimate catered “Digital Dinner” on Nov. 7 with custom-designed 3-D printed tableware. Special dinner guests include artists Gustin and Megumi Naitoh, who will talk about their work. Guests will go home with their place setting at the end of the evening. The center was founded in 1957 by Katherine
Choy, a ceramicist whose experimental sculptural forms are included in the permanent collection of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and private collections around the country. The 11,000-square-foot space houses adult and youth classes, community outreach programs, professional artist studios and a nationally recognized gallery that continues to exhibit some of the nation’s most talented ceramic artists. The Shop at CAC sells handmade, one-of-a-kind functional ceramic pottery and sculpture by local artists. American ceramic art underwent a renaissance in the 1950s, and the center has played a crucial role in the reemergence of ceramics as an art form that is now an important part of mainstream contemporary art. The center has had an indelible effect on some of the top artists in the field, with many well-known ceramists having spent their formative days defining their style and learning from their peers at the site. But you don’t have to be a professional to appreciate the transformational qualities of clay. For more, visit clayartcenter.org or call 914-937-2047. Nancy Yates is the communications manager at Clay Art Center. She previously worked at Christie’s auction house in Manhattan as a fine art cataloger and sells artwork straight from artist studios to clients through Nancy Yates Art Advisory. She lives in Rye with her husband and daughter. For more, visit nancyyatesart.com.
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FIND YOUR
THROUGH TECHNIQUE BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA 62
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A young violinist at HoffBarthelson Music School.
The Hoff-Barthelson Music School Festival Orchestra. Photographs by Steven Schnur.
FEW DISCIPLINES REQUIRE MORE TECHNIQUE THAN MAKING MUSIC AND THAT INCLUDES SOMETHING THAT COMES NATURALLY TO MANY OF US — SINGING.
“You can develop talent through technique — not just how to play the notes but how to express yourself,” says Ken Cole, who is celebrating his first anniversary as executive director of Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale. “Technique is about enabling expression, finding your voice.” Sometimes literally. “In singing,” he says, “how do you color the voice and phrase the lines so you tell a story? Technique is about … how to take sound and tell a story.” “It has a lot to do with early nurturing,” says Jenny Hayden, a member of the school’s voice faculty. “(Soprano) Mirella Freni and (tenor Luciano) Pavarotti both had beautiful natural instruments. But they worked hard on their technique, which is particularly true of Italian singers.” Indeed, Pavarotti used to say, only half-jokingly, that he learned a lot about breathing for singing by embracing his frequent co-star, Australian coloratura soprano Joan Sutherland, famed for the purity of her tone and vocal pyrotechnics that included
bird-like trills and running passages that were as seamless and opalescent as a string of pearls. But technique, Cole and Hayden say, is not limited to Western classical tradition, which includes opera and the outsize vocal range it requires. Indeed, every musical genre or style — from Indian or Japanese music to Broadway to country — has a unique technique, Cole says. And that includes pop. “Someone like Adele or of her caliber has technique,” Cole says. “Frank Sinatra couldn’t read music, but he had tremendous technique.” Sinatra often credited his immaculate phrasing to observing Tommy Dorsey play the trombone during the two years he sang with Dorsey’s band. Technique can help singers bridge different musical styles. Hayden points to Barbara Cook. “She really could do Cunégonde in ‘Candide,’” Hayden says, referring to the demanding lyric -coloratura role Cook originated in the 1956 Leonard Bernstein operetta, which includes the show-stopping aria “Glitter and Be Gay.” Later, WAGMAG.COM
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Cook reinvented herself as a cabaret singer, in which she sang more in the speaking range of the voice associated with pop singing and not in the larger range of opera, Hayden says. Other singers do the opposite. Soprano Renée Fleming sang with a jazz trio in college but decided to remain on her classical path. Tenor Juan Diego Flórez first sang everything from Elvis Presley hits to folk songs as a replacement singer in the pub his mother managed in Peru. At Hoff-Barthelson — now in its 73rd season, “though we don’t look a day over 20,” Cole says — there is a full complement of programs for perhaps future Flemings and Flórezes as well as avocational musicians of any age and ability. “It’s about lifelong learning,” Cole says, whether that learner be a 3-month-old in the Early Childhood Music program, moving to sounds; one of the 750 students on site in the kindergarten through 12th grade after-school program; or an 80-year-old singer. In addition to voice, the school teaches all the orchestral instruments, plus guitar, ukulele, banjo, organ and harp. “One of the hallmarks of Hoff-Barthelson is its comprehensive approach,” says Cole, “so you don’t just take piano but theory, composition, conducting, sight-singing (reading music off a page), chamber music and orchestra.” Here technique is aided by technology. In the
Music Technology Lab, he adds, students can play a score that is translated into musical notation on a computer, enabling them to “visualize music differently.” But can technology — which includes passive forms of entertainment, everything from movies, TV and radio to computer streaming — impede musicianship and performance? While Cole notes that the development of mass media in the early 20th century has created a “particularly receiving” environment — being entertained rather than entertaining yourself through your own musicianship — he takes a broader view of technology. A piano or a violin is part of technology, says Cole, a violist. On long car trips, he likes to dictate notes into his iPhone. Or he takes the Amtrak local and gets a lot of work done on his laptop in the café car. Hayden likened technology to the two sides of a coin. On the one hand, she says, it’s helpful to record yourself so your can listen to your practice. But “if everything can be totally modulated, you can get a false sense of your technique and talent and what your actual sound is.” In the end, technology and technique are only another T word — tools. They may not matter, she says, “unless you have a natural gift for expression that grabs people.” For more, visit hbms.org.
IN THE END, TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUE ARE ONLY ANOTHER T WORD — TOOLS. THEY MAY NOT MATTER, JENNY HAYDEN SAYS, ‘UNLESS YOU HAVE A NATURAL GIFT FOR EXPRESSION THAT GRABS PEOPLE.’
Westchester Philharmonic October 15, 2017 at 3 pm Jaime Laredo, conducting Jinjoo Cho, violin
Dream Kitchens and Baths CRAFT-MAID ■ BIRCHCRAFT ■ HOLIDAY ■ CABICO ■ STONE ■ QUARTZ ■ CORIAN ■ DECORATIVE HARDWARE
Mozart, Dvorˇák and Beethoven. December 17, 2017 at 3 pm Winter Pops! with Ted Sperling Laura Michelle Kelly, vocals
Special appearance by Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin Broadway, American Songbook, holiday and classical favorites.
February 11, 2018 at 3 pm Ted Sperling, conducting Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin Beethoven and Saint-Saëns.
April 8, 2018 at 3 pm Edgar Meyer, double bass soloist-leader
Bach, Bottesini, Meyer and Mozart.
June 17, 2018 at 3 pm Jaime Laredo, conducting Anna Polonsky, piano Orion Weiss, piano
Rossini, Mozart and Mendelssohn.
Tickets: (914) 251-6200
or westchesterphil.org
Jinjoo Cho
Concerts are presented at: Performing Arts Center, Purchase College 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY. Programs, artists, dates and times subject to change. ©2017 Westchester Philharmonic, Inc.
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WARES
DESIGNER CLICK BAIT BY JANE MORGAN
THE IDEA OF TECHNOLOGY CONTROLLING ASPECTS OF AN ENVIRONMENT — SUCH AS LIGHTING, MUSIC AND THE OCCASIONAL MAGICALLY APPEARING BED — USED TO BE THE SOLE PREROGATIVE OF JAMES BOND WANNABE BACHELORS, EXPRESSING THEIR ALPHA MALENESS. NOW EVERYONE HAS THE MEANS TO IMPRESS, VIA SMARTPHONES WITH HOME-CONTROL APPS. STILL, MAKING THE SHADES GO UP AND DOWN — OR EVEN CHANGING THE COLOR OF YOUR WALLS REMOTELY, USING PROJECTED LIGHT — IS LITTLE MORE THAN A FLASHY PARLOR TRICK. In the last 10 years, technology has revolutionized interior design in two major ways — by eliminating client interface with both the designer and the designer’s resources. Online/virtual interior designers, or “e-decorators,” propose creative solutions and recommend furniture, lighting, accessories and paint colors from online retailers all without any personal interaction. No more meetings, phone calls, lunches, presentations, shopping trips to showrooms and hand-holding, as in actually holding hands. Although a remote consultant can feel, well, rather remote, there are home decorating hopefuls out there forging satisfying relationships with e-decorating companies and getting good results. All of these companies work in basically the same way with slight variations. First, you choose which design style appeals to you most whether it’s modern, traditional, country, relaxed or formal. Next you download pictures of your space along with measurements and your budget. An e-decorator sends two or three concept previews, submitting a floor plan, colors and a 3-D rendering of the space. The customer picks a favorite. The designer then provides a comprehensive shopping list of furniture from online retailers. Some companies even have a purchasing service as well. A word of caution though: You need to be meticulous with measurements and photographs, otherwise the whole process falls apart. My picks for a quality experience are Decorilla, Havenly, Laurel & Wolf and Homepolish.
In the digital age, you can easily tap your inner designer. Courtesy dreamstime.com.
DESIGNER-QUALITY ONLINE RETAIL RESOURCES
If we are going to get real about where people most frequently spend their online furniture dollars, we would probably look no further than Ikea. I promise you, though, there are many high-quality and personality-laden home shops online now that the average consumer could only previously access through a designer. The following are some of my favorites: • Eclectic: ABC Carpet & Home, Lillian August, Anthropologie 66
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• Glam: OLY Studio, Jonathan Adler • Edgy: Kelly Wearstler • Cottage/Provincial: Shabby Chic, Restoration Hardware • Traditional/Transitional: Horchow, Neiman Marcus, Williams Sonoma Home • Modern: Knoll, 2modern • Artisan: The Citizenry • Pop: Mod Livin’ • Fine antiques: 1stdibs • Paint: Farrow & Ball • Bedding: Gracious Home • Lighting: Circa Lighting • Teen: Urban Outfitters Apartment • Kids: Dwell Studio • Design/coffee table books: Rizzoli • Original artwork: Tappan Collective, Twyla (which nurtures young art lovers, enabling them to start a relatively affordable collection) • Upholstery & drapery fabrics: Mood Fabrics (Yes, it’s the same fashion fabric store from Project Runway.) • Local: (Not that it really matters, but local is such a thing now.) Nest Inspired Home in Rye A particularly cool website I recently discovered that really has it all is Modern Relik. It’s a style-maker — a leader in inspiration — and a design destination because of an interesting mix of classic style, “past relics,” and swanky, avant-garde pieces, curated flawlessly. It also includes a section called “The Verve: cocktail conversation on art, fashion, pop culture and all things fab.” C’mon, how amazing is that?
BLOGS
We take blogs for granted now, but before they existed, we all had to pay and wait for our favorite monthly shelter magazines to hit the newsstands to see the latest trends. Now, those visuals, as well as free advice, are available with new content to be had daily. Yes, there are a lot of amateur blogs out there, but several of them are both professional and multifaceted, covering everything in the realm of design, architecture, art and style. Here are my go-to favorites: • What’s new: Design Milk • Bohemian/modern style: SF Girl By Bay • Scandinavian style: My Scandinavian Home • DIY: Design*Sponge • Small spaces: Apartment Therapy • Renovations: Remodelista • Cozy/modern style: Lark & Linen Despite all of these myriad tech resources, life is still lived in the here and now and in finite spaces containing an ambience created by the human touch, with an ineffable energy all its own. Thankfully, there is nothing virtual about that. For more, visit janemorganinteriordesign.com.
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PRESENTED BY SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL REALTY
IN GREENWICH WAGMAG.COM
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FOR THOSE WHO LOVE A HOUSE BY THE SEA — AND WHO DOESN’T? — THIS AIRY, SUNDAPPLED PROPERTY IN THE RIVERSIDE SECTION OF GREENWICH CAN ONLY ENCHANT. Set high above Greenwich Cove, the 4,326square-foot house, built within a traditional framework in 2004, is all blue and white, with occasional splashes of green and plenty of windows to let in the sublime views, sunshine and sea breezes. Glorious sunrises give way to sparkling water, inviting morning jaunts from the private dock with water at all tides, while tangerine sunsets beckon a cruise to end the day. Sitting by the pool — surrounded by beautifully planted gardens that trim out the three-quarters of a manicured acre extending to the waterfront — you can while away the time watching shorebirds and spinnakers enhance the already breathtaking view across to Tod’s Point and beyond. A collaboration between the current owners and architect Mac Patterson of Austin Patterson Disston, the $7,395,000 house features four bedrooms, three full bathrooms and two half-baths. A master suite with a sitting room and fireplace, a formal dining room, a gourmet kitchen and a deck, plus a generator and elevator, offer all the comforts of an extraordinary waterfront lifestyle. For more, call Fran Erlich at 203-249-5561 or 203-618-3164 or Heather Platt at 203-983-3802.
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At TemperaturePro® we are committed to providing our customers with a comfortable and healthy home environment. Call us today for an Indoor Air Quality home inspection!
TemperaturePro® 914-500-4540 www.temperatureprotristate.com
FOR The Environmental Protection Agency shocked homeowners a few years ago by reporting that indoor air in most homes is on average two to five times more polluted than outdoor air -- and in many cases, is even scores of times worse. Among the major sources of pollution in most homes are these: Volatile organic chemicals (VOCs are off-gassed by household chemicals, textiles, dry cleaning and pressed wood), Dust, Pet dander, Pollen, Mold and Insect particles (dust mites). These pollutants can cause a number of health problems, ranging from triggering asthma attacks, to aggravating allergies and bronchial infections, and causing headaches, dizziness and eye and skin irritations. Fortunately, there are a number of tactics you can adopt to improve your indoor air quality. Here are five that will help you ensure that your home's air is fresher, cleaner and less likely to exacerbate any health problems suffered by you or your family. 1. Attack pollutants at the source. Your best defense against poor indoor air quality is to attack air pollutants at the source: don't let them in, or else work to contain them. Some ways to do that are: » Air out products with VOCs before you bring them indoors. Whenever possible, buy natural products. Keep a tight lid on chemicals, or store them in the garage. » Take off shoes at the door. » Brush pets outdoors; bathe them at least once a week. » Brush pollen off clothing, or change clothes quickly upon entering the home and put the clothing in a laundry bag till you can wash it. » Maintain lower relative humidity (under 50 percent) in the home to control mold. » Vacuum rugs and upholstered furniture frequently to control dust mites; wash linens weekly in hot water. 2. Improve your home's ventilation. Most modern homes are so airtight that very little fresh air seeps in, the way it used to with older homes of looser construction. You can open a window now and then to let in fresh air, but a better solution is to install some sort of ventilation. There are four basic types: » Exhaust -- Exhaust ventilation is usually installed in rooms where moisture collects, such as the kitchen or bathroom. The ventilation system removes polluted air from the home. » Supply -- Fresh air is pulled inside the home, typically through the ducts. » Balanced -- This type of system adds fresh air equal to the amount of stale air removed. » Heat or energy recovery -- These ventilation systems recover energy or heat while adding fresh air, to reduce heating and cooling costs.
3. Control humidity. You may not think of humidity as a pollutant, but it can be. High humidity can cause a number of problems in your home, from making occupants feel warmer than they need to in the summer, which means you'll need to set the thermostat down to feel comfortable, to increasing the likelihood of mold, mildew and fungus in your home. What's more, high humidity can cause dust mites to flourish in carpets and textiles. If your home's humidity is higher than 50-55 percent, you should take steps to reduce it. Exhaust ventilation in damp areas will help. Fix leaks in the plumbing or roof or ceiling as soon as you discover them. 4. Use a good quality air filter. If you've been using a cheap fiberglass filter in your HVAC system, you're probably keeping your system free of larger dirt particles. But don't expect these filters to contribute to better air quality in your home, as they are not effective in trapping very small particles that travel into the system with the return air. Installing a good quality, pleated air filter will do wonders for your indoor air quality. The higher the MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value), the better job the air filter will do. For best results, install an air filter with MERV 8-12. Denser filters will not only remove small particles of dirt, but will also capture pollen, pet dander, mold and viruses. Filters rated higher than MERV 12 will slow down the air flow and cause your system to work harder than it should to condition the air, so should not be installed in most homes. 5. Install an air cleaner. Air cleaners go a step beyond air filtration. Mechanical air filters catch particles as they pass through with the HVAC system's return air supply. Air cleaners, also known as air purifiers, clean in different ways so you will need to decide which type best meets your needs. For instance, if you have a mold issue, or you're concerned about other living organisms such as fungus, viruses or bacteria, you may want to look into installing UVGI, or ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, lights in your HVAC system. If you're concerned about other types of pollutants, such as pet dander or pollen, an electrostatic air filter, which is installed in the HVAC system, may do the trick. Air cleaners may come in portable or whole-house models. Generally, whole-house models -- that is, those that are installed in your HVAC system -- are more effective. So remember... The road to improving your indoor air quality lies not in applying just one of the tactics detailed above, but in crafting an overall, whole-house strategy. If you'd like more information on how to improve the air quality in your home, contact us today. WAGMAG.COM
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GUY BY GEORGETTE GOUVEIA PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN RIZZO
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Hari Sreenivasan WAGMAG.COM
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HARI SREENIVASAN SIGNS OFF FROM THE EVENING NEWS IN A WAY THAT OTHER ANCHORS DON’T. INSTEAD OF SHUFFLING PAPERS, HE TURNS IMMEDIATELY TO A LAPTOP. HIS FEAR, HE SAYS, IS THAT A STORY MIGHT BE BREAKING AS HE’S GOING OFF THE AIR.
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“My piece of paper won’t tell me that,” he says. “My computer will.” Sreenivasan is PBS’ tech guy. Besides his duties as anchor of “PBS NewsHour Weekend” and senior correspondent on its nightly newscast, he is host of “SciTech Now,” a weekly newsmagazine that is described as the “nexus of new ideas.” It gives Sreenivasan an unusual vantage point as a correspondent of the future. “I think people want to know what the future is going to hold,” he says. He pauses for — what else? — a work-related call on his cell. However, Sreenivasan’s is not an iPhone, which he dubs “the Mercedes of cell phones” — much less the new $1,000 iPhone X, with its face-recognition technology — but an Android, which is 67 percent of the worldwide market. (Still, Sreenivasan is an Apple as well as an Android kind of guy. He carries an iPad mini 4, which he calls “an elegant machine.” On the set, he uses a MacBook Air. Not putting all of his technological eggs in one basket appeals to this former philosophy student’s sense of diversification and democracy.) Seated in a lime, gray and glass conference room in PBS flagship Thirteen/WNET’s offices at One Worldwide Plaza in Manhattan — itself a mix of traditional architecture and up-to-date technology (touch-screen elevators) — Sreenivasan speaks with the measured, well-modulated authority you expect of a top anchor. But there is also no denying the passion and excitement he feels for his beat. The rhythm of his articulate delivery quickens as he talks about tech’s future. One aspect of it will be the electrification and automation of cars, which he says will have far-reaching consequences for everything from the oil industry and mass transit to the appeal of
exurbia and the garage-centric home to the driving patterns of teenagers. “The trend is that high school students get their driver’s licenses later, because mom or dad can give them a ride or they can Über,” Sreenivasan says. “I doubt there will be licenses in 15 years.” That’s because teens and everyone else will be sleeping, working or probably texting in their self-driving cars. In this, Sreenivasan sees China as the leader. Requiring 8 percent of cars to be electric, the People’s Republic intends to spend more than $360 billion on renewable energy through 2020, he says, adding, “They are turning out a solar farm the size of a football field every day, and that was two years ago.” Sreenivasan is not unmindful of tech’s dark side. The recent security breach at credit reporting agency Equifax has exposed potentially every adult to identity theft. But such breaches could be avoided, he says, using the blockchain technology that underlies cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. (As of this writing, one bitcoin is worth $3,880.) A blockchain is a ledger that records a transaction between two parties without a middleman like a creditor. “There are hundreds of thousands of computers constantly working to verify every transaction,” he says. “Once verified, they're connected into blocks, meaning hacking any single transaction is near impossible because you'd have to have every transaction after it, while all those computers are watching and trying to catch an instance of fraud.” Tech, then, is a bit like the Lord: It giveth and it taketh away. Sreenivasan points to GPS, which opened up a world of navigation for potential Über drivers but may have adversely affected mapmakers. “Our biggest challenge is going to be how to fill people’s sense of purpose,” he says. “How do you
HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED PEOPLE ON THE STREET? THEY’RE ALL ON THEIR PHONES. IT’S NUTS. NOT ONLY ARE THEY NOT TAKING TIME TO STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES, THEY’RE NOT STOPPING FOR THE TRAFFIC. — Hari Sreenivasan
Hari Sreenivasan at One Worldwide Plaza, home to the offices of PBS flagship Thirteen/WNET.
feel you’ve contributed to society if the job that defined who you are is no longer there?” Already technology is reshaping our sense of work and traditional education. “Even now we no longer work for a company to get that Rolex in 40 years,” he says, adding that we may have to train and retrain for two or more careers. And we may be doing more of that online. A recent PBS story focused on Georgia Tech’s online computer science master’s program, which costs a fraction of what completing a master’s on site would. Another installment considered how former miners in Appalachia are repurposing the land for the agricultural and food industries as they earn associate degrees at local community colleges. Though the Mumbai-born Sreenivasan spent his early years in India, a country with a particular affinity for technology, it was his undergraduate years at the University of Puget Sound — from which he received a degree in mass communications while minoring in politics and philosophy — that turned him on to tech. Email was in its infancy then “and it was a lot easier than sending a letter with a postage stamp.” Soon he was setting up email accounts for classmates. (He’s still the IT guy for his Queens-based family.) Sreenivasan’s tech savvy served him well during stints as a reporter for WNCN-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina, and CNET in San Francisco, which in turn led to anchoring and/or reporting duties at ABC News and CBS News. There is one aspect of tech that worries him. Despite the facilitations made possible by FaceTime and Skype, he says, “the concern I have is the way it dehumanizes us. It’s one more way we’re not communicating face to face. What social skills are we using if we’re all on devices?” As an experiment, Sreenivasan tried for a week not to look at his phone on the street. “Have you ever watched people on the street? They’re all on their phones. It’s nuts. Not only are they not taking time to stop and smell the roses, they’re not stopping for the traffic.” At the end of the day, the tech guy knows tech is just a tool. “There’s an old saying in technology: ‘If you can’t see the product, you are the product.’” Hari Sreenivasan hosts “On-Call: Health + Medicine,” a series exploring state-of-the-art health care solutions, advances in medicine and promising research, beginning Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. In each episode, he interviews leading physicians from NewYork-Presbyterian and other hospitals/medical institutions around the tristate region. The five episodes will cover lifesaving stroke information, adolescents and mental health, heart disease, PTSD and genomic and precision medicine. For more on Sreenivasan, visit pbs.org/newshour/ and scitechnow.org. WAGMAG.COM
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Courtesy Neiman Marcus Westchester.
VIVA VELVET BY DANIELLE RENDA
IN FASHION, A DECADE RETURNS EVERY 20 YEARS AND SO IT IS WITH OUR 1990S MOMENT. From overalls, mules and chokers to neon colors, bob cuts and denim shirts, fashion just loves this decade of good music, minimalist chic — with hints of grunge and glamour — and, of course, influences from the Big Five (Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and Tatjana Patitz.) This season, the spotlight is on velvet — patterned velvet, that is. A fabric of multiple personalities, the plush material may take on a rock ’n’ roll vibe; an artistic, funky, feel; or one of absolute luxuriousness, depending on the print. No matter the color motif, details and embellishments bring the chameleon-like textile up to speed (from the decade of Nirvana and Hanson to the here and now). And even better, velvet does not discriminate. It can be worn as a blouse, an evening gown or used as an accent in the design of a chic purse. Go bold or go minimal, but you’ll never go unnoticed. Above, from left: Velvet Triangle Scarf with Tassel Fringeby Etro Velvet’s a perennial because of its adaptability — to periods, to outfits, to personalities. To incorporate velvet into an everyday look — in a subtle way
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— try experimenting with this paisley print velvet scarf by Etro, featuring a tassel fringe trim. $1,015. Princetown Velvet Floral Mule by Gucci If you’re partial to color, opt for this teal mule by Gucci. The shoe, which has a hipster feel, features a horsebit buckle and embroidery and was created exclusively for Neiman Marcus’ 110th anniversary. $780. (Note: The designer suggests purchasing these shoes in a half-size larger than your shoe size.) Cubist Velvet Top Handle Bag by Prada As we’ve seen with Erwin Pearl’s collaboration with the New York Botanical Garden, artwork and handbags can go hand in hand (literally). Available in purple and medium red, this purse features a Cubist motif that draws from the art of Picasso. The bag, which includes a shoulder strap for convenient wearing, is part of Prada’s Fall/Winter 2017 Collection. $2,960. Ember Velvet Damask Long Coat with Fur Cuffs by cinq a sept Known for its marriage of bold sophistication with contemporary vintage, this damask burnout is a WAG favorite (and a closet staple, in our opinion). The sleeves feature removable, natural silver fox fur cuffs for added warmth and character, while a tailored silhouette and below-the-knee look flatters the figure. $1,295. For more, visit neimanmarcus.com.
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Businesses are especially vulnerable to “ransomware,” a malicious software that can harm or disable their computer systems until a payoff is received. Ransomware works by tricking your employee into opening a fake email, and then opening a bogus link or attachment that infects your entire system and locks you out until a ransom is paid. Backing up data is a key defense against ransomware.
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The best protection against business email fraud is to employ multiple lines of defense. While upgrading software and backing up data is critical, training employees to spot warning signs is the most important step. Empower your employees to: • Be aware of urgent requests • Never reply to, or open links/files within, suspicious or unknown emails • Get two “okays” for transactions • Alert your bank to unusual requests
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1
Zettner, Kim. “Hacker Lexicon: What is Phishing?” Wired, April 7, 2015. 2FBI, June 2016. https://www.ic3.gov/media/2016/160614.aspx
“Bank of America Merrill Lynch” is the marketing name for the global banking and global markets businesses of Bank of America Corporation. Lending, derivatives and other commercial banking activities are performed globally by banking affiliates of Bank of America Corporation, including Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC. Securities, strategic advisory, and other investment banking activities are performed globally by investment banking affiliates of Bank of America Corporation (“Investment Banking Affiliates”), including, in the United States, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp., both of which are registered broker-dealers and Members of SIPC, and, in other jurisdictions, by locally registered entities. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp. are registered as futures commission merchants with the CFTC and are members of the NFA. Investment products offered by Investment Banking Affiliates: Are Not FDIC Insured • May Lose Value • Are Not Bank Guaranteed. ©2017 Bank of America Corporation. ARDTLQDY 09-17-0357
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Courtesy Neiman Marcus Westchester.
THERE ONCE WAS A TIME WHEN LEAVING THE HOUSE WITH SOCKS (NO SHOES) WAS FROWNED UPON.
THESE BOOTS ‘SOCK’ IT TO YA BY DANIELLE RENDA
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But according to fashion, it’s trending — or rather wearing shoes that strongly resemble socks is trending. It’s a look worn by sisters and top models Gigi and Bella Hadid, who were the faces of Fendi’s Spring/Summer 2017 campaign. In select advertisements, Gigi sported a high-heeled floral sock bootie, while Bella wore a striped bootie adorned with argyle stitching and bow-like embroidery. Friend and fellow model Kendall Jenner has also been spotted in booties, though mostly selections from Yeezy, the company founded by brother-in-law Kanye West. But honestly, we can hardly blame ’em. Sock booties are comfortable (depending on the heel height). They’re versatile. And they’re effortlessly sleek. And, contrary to their name, not all booties are made equal. Some bear a slight sock resemblance, while others are a total hybrid of socks and high heels. Some booties, like Fendi’s, feature stripes and stitchwork as an ode to the traditional sock. Others, like Yeezy’s, feature a slim-fitting silhouette similar to an ankle boot. Select styles can be worn formally and casually, accommodating looks ranging from classic to contemporary to preppy, offbeat, ultra-feminine and sporty. And that makes it a trend worth trying out, at least in WAG’s book.
Above, from left: Polished 105mm Sock Bootie by Fendi For the gals saying, “I’m not sure if it’s for me,” Fendi has a solution. This polished calf leather bootie cleverly features a ribbed black sock, visible from every angle, except the front. It adds personality to a laid-back look or sultriness to a little black dress. $1,000. Striped Knit Sock Bootie by Fendi Of course, we can’t provide a list of sock booties without the look that Fendi’s known for. Here, the sock motif is carried from the ankle stripes to the color block underneath the toe line, from the allover argyle stitching to the floral bow embroidery. Even the heel is striped akin to a sock, while the shoe features a lace-up vamp, similar to a classic sneaker. If you’re a fan of the sock-shoe fusion, we suggest getting your mitts on a Fendi, like this one. $1,050. Katie 85 Suede Sock Bootie by Gianvito Rossi Contemporary and comfortable, these 3.3-inch heels are made for day to night. Available in neutral taupe, the suede and cable-knit sock bootie features a pointed toe for a classic finish. $1,145. Natalie Stretch Sparkle 110mm Bootie by Giuseppe Zanotti They’re subtle, yet with a 4.3-inch heel and an all-over glitter, they speak volumes. And what better way to try out the trend than with a designer known best for his craftsmanship? $860. For more, visit neimanmarcus.com.
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YOU WOULDN’T ARGUE WITH A HARVARD-TRAINED PLASTIC SURGEON ABOUT SKINCARE, NOW, WOULD YOU?
DR. BROWN’S ELIXIR OF YOUTH BY DANIELLE RENDA
Gregory Brown, MD. Courtesy RéVive.
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And the same holds true for his or her choice of anti-aging products. Enter RéVive, the luxury brand created by Gregory Brown, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and the author of “About Face: A Plastic Surgeon’s 4-Step Nonsurgical Program for Younger, Beautiful Skin.” He founded RéVive on the principles of physiology, coupled with years of research about the growth patterns of skin cells. WAG met with Brown at Neiman Marcus Westchester in White Plains, where the Southern charmer — a Kentucky transplant to SoHo — discussed the ins and outs of the line. Like so many good things, its foundation came together serendipitously. “About 30 years ago now, I was in training and I was very interested in the way burns heal,” Brown said. “It was the beginning of (skincare) technology, as human proteins were just being made synthetically for the first time.” Brown closely analyzed cell renewal, which led to him to realize that damage from burns and ag-
ing were both rooted in slower cell turnover. “For wounds to heal faster and for (the effects of) aging skin to be stabilized or reversed, the physiology is very similar, because you have to stimulate cell renewal,” he said. Enter EFG (Epidermal Growth Factor), a synthetic protein that does just that. When the protein was applied to burns, the skin would heal faster. And when used to reduce the signs of aging — like fine lines, dark spots and under-eye puffiness — they would gradually reverse, without the need for invasive surgery. “The older the person was, the more the (cell turnover) increased,” Brown said. Soon after, he patented the idea of growth factors as anti-aging properties and began concocting makeshift skincare products, which he offered his patients. Through the grapevine, others learned of Brown’s elixirs and grew interested, which led to their commercial availability at Neiman Marcus in 1997 for a three-year exclusive. Brown is now celebrating his 20th anniversary with the luxe retailer. Time has helped not only to commercialize Brown’s skincare line but to perfect it. With the use of new technologies, he has been able to identify the active part of a protein and use only this portion in his products for faster results. “I tell people that it’s like a semi-truck, which is the whole protein, while the wheels are the active fragments that make it go,” he said. Different active proteins have also joined the RéVive family, including distinct ones for volume and firming. “The technology has improved and bioengineering has improved,” Brown said. “So we’ve gotten more specific peptides.” And come spring 2018, RéVive plans to introduce new products that combine volumizing and line erasing for the eye. “Most people, by the time they get to be 30, have enough volume loss that you can see a demarcation from the lower lid to the cheek. So it’ll help with that, as well as fine lines,” he said. But in the meantime, Brown — who believes in a natural, nourishing glow — suggests that less is always more. “I think people can do too much and exhaust the skin,” he said.” “The best anti-aging cream anybody can have is a sunscreen…. And just simple moisturizing is anti-aging.” RéVive offers treatments for blemish control, dark circles and puffiness, dark spots, fine lines and wrinkles, firming, radiance, sun protection, uneven skin tone and volume loss for the face and body. RéVive products are available at Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys and Saks Fifth Avenue, as well as in smaller, niche boutiques, including Bluemercury. For more, visit reviveskincare.com or neimanmarcus.com.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901) Aristide Bruant dans son Cabaret (detail), 1893 Lithograph, before letters © Copyright Herakleidon Museum
In the Limelight: Toulouse-Lautrec Portraits from the Herakleidon Museum September 23, 2017–January 7, 2018 Underwritten by
From the collection of Herakleidon Museum, Athens, Greece, www.herakleidon-art.gr
With support from The Connecticut Office of the Arts The Florence Gould Foundation
BRUCE MUSEUM Greenwich, CT | brucemuseum.org
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Courtesy Kristals Cosmetics.
IF A DAZZLING PRECIOUS STONE WERE PLACED IN A GLASS SHOWCASE, IT WOULDN’T TAKE LONG TO DRAW SPECTATORS.
A GEM OF A SKINCARE LINE BY DANIELLE RENDA
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But perhaps, there’s more to a gem’s allure than sheer beauty. Kristals Cosmetics, a national skincare company, claims that semiprecious and precious stones can be used to improve skin condition and complexion — while boosting spiritual, mental and emotional well-being. Having recently opened shop on Greenwich Avenue, Kristals offers an array of products with a key ingredient — superfine granules of a select mineral, gemstone or crystal — which they say works to repair sun damage, reduce the appearance of age spots and fine lines and lift, firm and hydrate parched, lackluster skin cells. And it’s all done without the need for invasive skin surgery. Kristals’ method draws from ancient practices used by civilizations ranging from the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to the Chinese, Japanese and Indians — which believed that crystals were conduits of natural energy that could be tapped to improve general welfare. Kristals offers a dual therapeutic approach — sound skin, sound mind — in the form of a luxe skin treatment infused with natural additives and backed by holistic principles. No matter the skin type or tone, according to Kristals, all of its products are designed to produce softer skin, restore suppleness and enhance luminosity. “There are 11 series within the Kristals Cosmetics
Skincare line,” says Arielle Fried, senior marketing coordinator. “Each precious gemstone or metal is infused into its own unique series. The process of infusing the stones consists of concentrated particles that are incorporated into every product.” Among the stones that are blended together with rich botanicals are rock crystal, ruby, amber, rose quartz, amethyst, pearl, aventurine, sapphire, diamond and aquamarine, along with gold — which are said to have therapeutic properties. They say rock crystal protects the skin from UV damage, while amethyst reintroduces oxygen to the skin to revitalize the complexion. Amber offers a dose of vitamin C to reverse sun damage, while 24-karat gold harnesses oxygen molecules underneath the skin’s surface to reduce discoloration. Ruby restores a youthful glow, while rose quartz helps clear up rashes and blemishes. Pearl, which is rich in vitamins and amino acids, has strong anti-aging properties, while diamond firms the skin for timeless beauty. Aventurine has anti-inflammatory abilities and helps treat eczema, rashes, acne and psoriasis, while aquamarine, a cooling stone, helps calm these conditions, along with hives, rosacea and the harsh effects of shaving. And, we’re told, after a long day in the sun — something that we won’t have to worry about for long in WAG country (gasp) — sapphire soothes burns and helps reduce inflammation. Any way you look at it, it’s a jewel of a skincare line. Kristals Cosmetics is at 229 Greenwich Ave. For more, visit kristals.com.
FALL LINE OF ALPACA PRODUCTS COMING SOON herdedeferme.com We use only the fur pelts gathered from alpacas that have passed from natural causes;WAGMAG.COM an eco-friendly process that doesn’t harm our furry friends.
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FASHIONISTAS ARE WHAT THEY WEAR. BUT DESPITE OUR CHERRY-PICKING A COLLECTION OF PERSONAL FAVORITES, NOT EVERYTHING ALWAYS LOOKS, FEELS OR FITS AS WE’D LIKE.
CURATING STYLE
DOING BETTER WITH SOME HELP FROM MICHELE ROQUE TARAZI BY DANIELLE RENDA
That’s where Michele Roque Tarazi — personal stylist, shopper and fashion maven — comes in to determine what works in a client’s style, and what doesn’t. Tarazi is the owner of You Can Do Better Than That LLC, a Pelham Manor-based business that helps you create a look that represents your personality. Whether the goal is to tap a closet of casual or professional wear or to find the perfect evening gown for that special occasion, Tarazi advises clients as they shop together or she does the shopping for them. “When you work with me, my interest is suiting the client, not selling clothes,” Tarazi says. “I don’t want anyone buying anything that they feel uncomfortable about or in, or they feel like they won’t wear.”
Michele Roque Tarazi in her Pelham Manor home. Photograph by Sebástian Flores.
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Tarazi’s technique, which begins with a closet consult, was fine-tuned from years of working in fashion buying and merchandising at various companies, such as Polo Jeans, Armani Exchange, Lord & Taylor, J. Crew Group Inc. and Bergdorf Goodman. Since Bergdorf Goodman did not have a buying program at the time, Tarazi says, she was instead placed in the personal shopping office, where, for two years, she shadowed Betty Halbreich — one of New York City’s most exclusive personal shoppers, a 40-year veteran of the company and the author of “I’ll Drink to That: A Life in Style, with a Twist.” “Actually, the name of the business is a homage to Betty,” Tarazi says. “Because when there was someone in the dressing room who just didn’t look right, she would say, ‘Oh, honey, you can do better than that.’” Tarazi encourages her clients to shed their old skins, ridding themselves of unflattering pieces and making space for the new. The process begins with clients trying on clothing from their existing closets for Tarazi to assess. “When I am first working with a client, I like to start out in their closet,” she says. “That allows me to see what they’ve been buying and wearing and get to know the client a little bit more, to talk with them about their work and their lifestyle and to find out what they need.” She knows that this can be an intimidating process for many. But with a bit of humor, the gentle, soft-spoken Tarazi breaks down the barrier thrown up by timidity. “Once we get going, it just rolls,” she says. “Everyone feels insecure in front of a mirror or insecure in front of someone else when they’re trying something on, but then, they understand that we’re a team, we work together and I’m here for you.” Next, Tarazi works on building up the client’s new look — and confidence. ‘That’s a bad sweater, but you don’t have a bad shape,” Tarazi will say to a client. She explains, “It’s about the item, it’s not about the person.” She notes two major red flags when it comes to style — excessive comfort and clothes from youth. “The reason it’s so comfortable is because it doesn’t fit you — anywhere,” Tarazi says with a smile. “You can be comfortable in your clothes and you should be. Nothing should be pinching or riding up or gaping, but it shouldn’t feel like pajamas.” And although clothes from years ago may physically fit, their youthfulness can be aging — and can distract from your character. “They may fit, but you’re a different person now than you were then,” Tarazi says. “Allow yourself to be who you are now. Don’t try to be who you were. Own your current personality.” For more, contact Tarazi at 917-804-0093 or visit youcandobetterthanthat.com.
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FRIENDS OF OURS, AGONISING OVER HOW TO TELL THEIR 3-YEAR-OLD SON THAT HIS GRANDFATHER HAD JUST DIED, FINALLY BROKE THE NEWS THAT GRANDPA HAD GONE TO HEAVEN.
TAXI!
OR WHY A CAB BEATS ÜBER ANY DAY BY JEREMY WAYNE
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“Did he take a taxi?” the child asked. A perfectly reasonable question. It would be a bit undignified, after all, to go to Heaven on the subway, even if Heaven had a station. And, as for the bus, well, in New York City, it would take at least another lifetime to get there. No, taxis are the only way to go, in death as in life. Trouble is, hailing a taxi is a lot more complicated than it used to be. Lyft, Curb, Gett, Über. Do these names mean anything to you? This is what they mean to me, in order: “Eek,” “No available service in your area,” “What a hassle” and “Only if I’m desperate.” I know I’m in the minority, but technology and taxis to me are simply not bedfellows. I like a phone-free, un-technological, clean hail. (A doorman’s two-fingered whistle never goes amiss, either.) And, once in the cab, I’ve no need of a disembodied voice telling me to buckle up for safety, a screen that spits out commercials or the option to pay using a credit card. Well, the truth is I don’t mind the last one so much — Who, after all, hasn’t found himself in a cab without a dime? — except the technology isn’t perfect. How many times have you swiped your card in a cab to no avail, cars behind starting to honk, beads of sweat forming on your brow? (This is the point at which I usually drop my card, then accidentally tread on it as I try to retrieve it.) No, technology be damned: I’d much rather hand over a $10 bill — or, more likely, a $20 — and be done with it. There’s something romantic, too, about old-fashioned taxis, something that technology sucks the life out of. Travelling for a living, I’ve often thought that a city’s cultivation can be measured by the comfort of its cabs. London scores high on this scale of evolution, on account of its roomy black cabs and drivers who famously must pass The Knowledge, a three-year induction at the
The Great Sphinx of Giza. All courtesy dreamstime.com. 87 WAGMAG.COM OCTOBER 2017
A New York yellow cab.
end of which they know every backstreet, lane and alley of the British capital. (Über drivers by contrast, while lovely people I don’t doubt, must rely on GPS. Chances are you end up in a ditch.) In Tokyo, taxi drivers wear white gloves; passenger seats are covered in white cambric; and antimacassars — the little cover at the back of the seat to protect from dirt or hair oil — are changed daily, sometimes even between fares. Even in New York, there’s something immeasurably satisfying, sitting smugly in the back of a yellow cab (having managed to snag one in the first place), as once in a blue, blue moon you whisk 30 blocks up a near-deserted Sixth Avenue, feeling for all the world a living, breathing, speeding icon, a kind of symbol of New York itself. You don’t get that feeling in a Curb or a Lyft, I’ll bet. (And remember: Audrey Hepburn alighted from a yellow cab in front of Tiffany & Co. in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” not an Über.) Technology aside, taxi journeys require clear communication. Good verbal skills, both on your part and the driver’s, are key when you are paying someone to take you somewhere, as I have discovered to my cost on three continents. In Cairo, a friend and I hailed a cab at 4 a.m. We were off to see the sun rise over the Sphinx. Later that morning, we planned to ride cross-country over to the Great Pyramid at Sakkara, arriving early, before the sun was too high in the sky. We had a map, a solar topee and a packed lunch. Nearly two hours after stepping into the cab, the sun was already up, the mercury was rising, the horrendous Cairo morning rush hour had begun and our sandwiches had gone soggy. We seemed to be going round in circles. “Are we nearly at the Sphinx?” we asked the driver. “Yes, yes, sphinky, sphinky,” he replied, pulling
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A London black cab.
up five minutes later at the dilapidated ‘Sphinx Cinema’ in a grimy, outer suburb of the city. The best taxi drivers have their ear to the ground. In Tangier, many years ago now, a taxi driver by the name of Muhamed Tahir, discovering I was a writer, asked my wife and me if we would like to visit the novelist Paul Bowles, with whom, he assured us, he was on friendly terms, and who enjoyed receiving strangers, especially English-speaking ones. If I was skeptical, I needn’t have been. A time was arranged and the next day, at 4 p.m., Tahir delivered us to the great man’s door, just in time for tea. Few drivers I have come across, though, are as resourceful. In Shanghai, I asked to be driven to the Four Seasons hotel and was promptly taken
to the Cemetery of Revolutionary Martyrs. Some years ago, in Hong Kong, I stood on a street corner, suitcase in hand and, when a taxi stopped, I asked the driver to take me to Kai Tak airport. He delivered me to the fish market instead. A friend recently found himself in Buenos Aires and asked to be taken to the synagogue. The driver feigned ignorance of the word sinagoga, so my friend drew a Jewish star on a piece of paper. “Caramba,” said the taxi driver, and whisked him off to the planetarium. While technology might have helped get him to his destination more easily — Google translate, Google maps, Google whatever next — there’d have been no anecdote. Technology can help or hinder you, but a good story is forever.
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WANDERS
A classic Vermont landscape. Courtesy Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing.
VERMONT’S ‘SECOND SPRING’ BY BARBARA BARTON SLOANE
“AUTUMN IS A SECOND SPRING WHEN EVERY LEAF IS A FLOWER.” —Albert Camus
STOWE PERFECTLY CAPTURES THE ROMANTIC ENCHANTMENT EXTOLLED IN SUCH WORKS AS THE 1944 STANDARD “MOONLIGHT IN VERMONT.” A CLASSIC NEW ENGLAND VILLAGE AT THE BASE OF MOUNT MANSFIELD, VERMONT’S HIGHEST PEAK, STOWE OFFERS UNPARALLELED CHOICES FOR NATURE LOVERS AND SPORTS ENTHUSIASTS — FROM GOLF AND WILDERNESS HIKING IN SUMMER TO SNOWSHOE TREKS AND DOWNHILL SKIING IN WINTER. IN AUTUMN, IT’S THE PERFECT PLACE TO EXPERIENCE VERMONT’S INCOMPARABLE FOLIAGE AND INDULGE IN THAT POPULAR PERENNIAL PASTIME, LEAF PEEPING. INDEED, ONE COULD SAY THAT THE HILLS (AND FORESTS AND FIELDS) ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUNDS OF AUTUMN. The term “leaf peeping” was coined here, a phrase somewhat awkward yet charming, as if catching nature in flagrante delicto. Actually, this
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is not far off as in Latin the word “flagrante” means “blazing.” I mean, what are these stately Vermont mountains and splendid Vermont forests in autumn if not blazing with color? If, however, you visit when peeping has just about peaked, have hope for you can then check into the Stoweflake Mountain Resort & Spa. This property is the recipient of myriad awards, such as Tripadvisor’s “Certificate of Excellence,” Conde Nast Traveler’s designation as one of the “Top 20 Resorts in the Northeast” and Fodor’s award as one of the “Top 10 Best Hotel Resorts/Spas.” The Baraw family, owners of Stoweflake, have welcomed guests for more than 45 years. It is a special place that feels like a home away from home or a relaxed, private club. After a five-hour drive from New York City, I was cosseted in a room that was elegant, understated and comfy, with spectacular views of the mountains beyond. There are pools both indoors and out (open year-round). Of course, I had to experience the latter, perfectly warmed and surrounded by a radiant-heated patio. Despite chilly fall weather — or perhaps because of it — I loved lazing in steaming water, a prelude to my dream massage at the spa. Let me tell you about this spectacular spa, one of New England’s most celebrated and with awards from Spa magazine, Spafinder and Elle. Outside it is surrounded by a Meditative Garden with a seven-circuit labyrinth and inside is a dreamlike spa sanctuary with no less than 120 treatments dedicated to soothe, calm and rejuvenate. Every detail I encountered from the moment I entered was carefully designed to enhance my experience. I had a Vermont Maple Sugar Body Polish topped off with a Body Butter Moisturizing Massage. Suffice it to say I didn’t want the treatment to end, but with all that maple sugar and body butter enticing me, I realized I was more than ready for dinner at Winfield’s, Stoweflake’s restaurant honored with an AAA Four Diamond rating. The next day, sufficiently pampered, I wanted to experience something a bit raucous and rowdy — a dog sled adventure. This was provided by October Siberians Sled Dog Adventures, not merely a ride with dogs pulling a sled but a truly interactive experience. The sled is designed for two drivers with the musher maintaining full control while the second driver responds and adjusts for the sled to perform properly. Lucky me as I simply sat back and enjoyed the ride cuddled in a sled bag with blanket. We careened around the property at breakneck speed, and I was finally delivered back to the resort in one heart-pounding, happy piece after this once-in-alifetime and never-to-be-forgotten experience. For more, visit stoweflake.com and octobersiberians.com.
WANDERS
THE MINUTE I ENTERED MY BEAUTIFUL ROOM AT MIRBEAU INN & SPA IN PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS, IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. KIND OF HOW I FELT WHEN I FIRST SAW PARIS.
A TOUCH OF FRANCE IN NEW ENGLAND BY DEBBI K. KICKHAM
Our suite, including the ceiling, was painted in a luscious purple and featured toile accents, an inviting fireplace and distinctive furnishings. I took a deep breath and said to myself, “Now I can relax. I am right at home.” While my husband, Bill, and I were happily ensconced at Mirbeau in Plymouth, there’s another location in Skaneateles, New York, just minutes from Syracuse. No matter which one you travel to, it’s going to be a great experience. And stay tuned: This fall, Mirbeau is opening a 17,000-square-foot day spa in Albany. In Plymouth, Mirbeau is just eight miles from Cape Cod, making it a happy hideaway for the summer or for leaf peeping in the fall. It is situated in The Pinehills, an intimate, award-winning residential community of finely crafted single-family homes, condominium townhouses and luxury leased apartments. As part of your trip, you can travel to Plymouth Rock and Plimoth Plantation. Local attractions also include whale watching, fishing tours, beaches, golf and a reproduction of the Mayflower, on which the Pilgrims set sail. History buffs, make sure to plan ahead: The year 2019 is the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival and the town is planning an extravaganza.
Mirbeau Inn & Spa in Plymouth, Massachusetts, offers a touch of Monet’s Giverny. Courtesy Mirbeau Inn & Spa.
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Mirbeau’s goal is to transport its guests to an inn that is reminiscent of a French country estate, like Impressionist Claude Monet’s at Giverny, surrounded by landscaped gardens, a tranquil waterfall and koi fishponds. Inside, you’ll find an Aubusson tapestry of a floral country scene, a 1780s French painted buffet and Art Nouveau-inspired wroughtiron columns. This year Travel+Leisure magazine awarded the resort one of its World’s Best awards. But let’s get to the spa, shall we? Here, spa lovers can enjoy rejuvenating and life-balancing services in an environment of elegance and comfort. There are 14 treatment rooms and a full range of services that use Babor products, an award-winning luxury line made in Germany that is Mirbeau’s exclusive skincare partner Why not indulge in the classic Monet’s Favorite Fragrance Massage? This aromatherapy treatment is described as tending “to your physical, mental, and emotional well-being with your choice of natural essential oils and the benefits of a classic Swedish massage.” Or you might try a Crushed Cabernet Scrub — which they describe as “a blend of grapeseeds, honey and brown sugar (that) invigorates and refines to stimulate microcirculation and the drainage of excess toxins.” Or savor the Honey and Wine Wrap, a nourishing and delectable wrap to address chronically dry skin and dehydration. Me? I had a plain ol’ massage but it was offered in such an elegant ambience of refinement and comfort that I turned to jelly the moment the masseur touched me. The spa also features eucalyptus-infused steam rooms, a blowout bar, nail salon and gift shop. Don’t miss the gift shop. I needed a super-special birthday present for my niece, who lives in Trumbull, and I bought her the most adorable scented soaps — all shaped like colorful French macarons that look good enough to eat. The gift shop alone is worth the price of a visit. Also available are Day Spa packages that incorporate your favorite treatments, as well as delicious dining. All Day Spa Packages include a two-course lunch, taxes and gratuities. Did I say lunch? Yes I did and no matter what meal you share, here it’s bound to be a French delight. Breakfast in the Bistro, for example, can include chocolate crepes, a ham-and-Gruyere quiche or French ham omelets accompanied by fresh croissants. Then there’s the Aqua Terrace featuring artisanal cheeses, a signature salmon salad and a French spa burger made with tofu, beans and charred vegetables. And let’s not forget the Giverny wood-fired pizza with blue cheese and fresh fi gs — a classic. Mirbeau is the next best thing to being at Giverny — and there’s no passport required. For more, visit Plymouth.mirbeau.com and for more on Debbi, visit GorgeousGlobetrotter. com and MarketingAuthor.com.
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WONDERFUL DINING
The dining room at La Crémaillère.
A SECOND (FRENCH COUNTRY) HOME AT LA CRÉMAILLÈRE STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEESIA FORNI
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THE WORD “CRÉMAILLÈRE” IS A FRENCH TERM FOR THE HOOK THAT HOLDS A POT ABOVE THE FIRE IN A HEARTH. IN THE PAST, THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW HOMES WOULD BE CAPPED OFF BY THE HANGING OF THE CRÉMAILLÈRE, AN EVENT THAT WOULD BRING TOGETHER NEIGHBORS, FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO CELEBRATE THE EVENT. Today, housewarming parties in France are similarly dubbed “crémaillères.” The name seems fitting then for La Crémaillère Restaurant in Bedford, an eatery that has been something of an institution in these parts for more than 40 years. Seated along the side of curvy Bedford-Banksville Road near the Connecticut border, surrounded by gorgeous estates home to both A-listers and the elite, the French country restaurant takes up residence in a 1750 white clapboard
farmhouse called the Window Brush House. The eatery was recently named one of the most romantic restaurants in America by online restaurant reservation site OpenTable — and with good reason. When visiting the restaurant on a recent Saturday evening, shades of pink could be found on everything from the tablecloths to the fresh, blush-colored floral arrangements that are situated throughout the cozy interior. After a short wait on our drink menu, we ordered — a glass of Riesling for me and a mocktail for my (pregnant) friend. Though it was apparent her request was an unusual one for our server, the drink she was served (pink, of course) proved to be the perfect combination of sweet and tangy. We started with a flaky, somewhat chewy half-loaf of bread, which was shortly followed by creamy potato leek potage and Scottish smoked salmon hors d'oeuvres. Thin slices of salmon
From top, Vol-au-vent, sliced filets of beef and raspberries in white chocolate sauce.
(which, I can’t help but notice, perfectly match the restaurant’s motif) were topped with capers, thinly chopped onions and chives and served with a small plate of blini. The salty seafood was balanced nicely by the blini, which proved to be one of my favorite dishes during our meal, and I couldn’t stop myself from asking our server for an extra plate of the light, doughy side. For our entrées, my guest opted for the vol-auvent, which featured a flaky puff pastry covered with lobster sauce and topped with a smattering of seafood options, such as baby scallops, baby shrimp, crawfi sh and crawfi sh fumé. After hearing others sing its praises, I chose the sliced fi let of beef, which was served with a tower of gratin potatoes and tender haricots verts. I ordered the beef cooked medium-rare, and it was cooked so perfectly that I felt compelled to share this with my friend. Though our waiter suggested the much-talked-about soufflé maison for dessert, we declined. Unfortunately, liquor and raw eggs are likely the fi rst two entries on any pregnant woman’s can’t-indulge list. Instead, we chose iced raspberries, which we covered in a warm white chocolate sauce. The fusion of flavors and temperatures was a delightful way to end our experience at La Crémaillère. The restaurant enforces a “smart and polished” dress code. Jackets are suggested for men and there is a strict ban on shorts or sandals. I wore a favorite summer dress and flats and admit to feeling more than slightly underdressed. Every patron I saw in the crowded dining area was dressed to the nines, with many women donning sparkling, beaded dresses and men wearing suits and ties. Still, the restaurant somehow managed to feel completely comfortable and it was not hard to gather that for many, La Crémaillère is more than just a place to dine on a Saturday night. It’s something of a second home. “We’ve been coming here for decades,” a glamorous female diner told me during my visit. “They’re like family to us.” You’ll be “hooked.” For more, visit cremaillere.com. WAGMAG.COM
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A DISCUSSION OF WINEMAKING TYPICALLY CONJURES ROMANTIC IMAGES OF PASSIONATE WORKERS HARVESTING GRAPES AND THEN PAINSTAKINGLY SORTING OUT ONLY THE BEST OF THE BUNCHES.
HARVESTING GRAPES BY MACHINE? THANK MARIJUANA BY JOHN NOAKES
A grape harvest machine in Germany. Courtesy dreamstime.com. 96
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While the process of winemaking in most cases no longer entails an army of stomping bare feet — as in the vintage “I Love Lucy” episode — variations on these techniques are still in use throughout the world. In many cases, however, wine producers are focusing on new ways to enhance, simplify and create higher-quality wine from vintage to vintage. Recently, I spoke to Michael Davies, the winemaker at A to Z Wineworks, and Rex Hill, both in Newberg, Oregon, about alien grape harvesters and the marijuana industry’s threat to vintners. Got your attention? As the expanding marijuana market in the U.S. creates intense competition for labor due to the considerably higher wages the marijuana industry pays, vineyards’ labor supplies are dwindling. Automation is emerging as the key solution to this problem. Many vintners are deploying mechanical harvesters. A to Z is harvesting 35 to 40 percent of its crop with mechanical harvesters that roll over the grape vines like 12-foot aliens right out of a science
fiction movie. They tickle the grapes free while they make their way up to a collection bin where the grapes are sorted over carefully spaced rollers that let them fall through, separating the leaves and stems above. In cases where the vines grow on slopes, Davies says the mechanical harvesters are assisted on grades up to 35 degrees with enormous wheels working in concert with hydraulics and a gyroscope to keep the harvesters level while twisting and turning. “The machines are great for night harvesting and cold weather, as they are more efficient and faster than humans at picking and sorting only the best grapes,” he says. This translates to savings for the vineyard, because when the vineyards compensate workers by the weight of the grapes picked, they sometimes get stuck paying for inferior grapes. Handpicking grapes can cost between $600 and $800 an acre, whereas mechanical harvesting averages about $250 an acre. It’s easy, therefore, to see how investing between $250,000 and $350,000 per machine would be a prudent business decision. The idea that mechanized grape harvesting and winemaking should be a practice relegated to lower-end bulk wines has been slowly fading away as higher-end producers are switching over to more technology-based production on the plane of A to Z and Rex Hill vineyards. While it may be true that some ultra, high-end vineyards throughout Napa Valley and surrounding regions that sell bottles north of $100 will never feel the economic pressure to adopt this automated approach, they will remain the exception. While many industry insiders still insist that mechanization will never close in on the exclusive high-end winemakers, the dwindling workforce and the competitive threats from marijuana may someday force their hand. When profits are on the line, no solution is off the sorting table. So as consumers, why should we care about mechanical grape picking and processing? How is this affecting the end product sitting on your dinner table? Is technology worth the upfront capital expenditure to the vineyards? Davies thinks so: “We are saving money, time and manpower while producing an excellent product that is the equal if not better than its handpicked partner. This means more money and better prices to the consumer.” It's hard to argue with Davies’ results as his wines are perennial all-stars on Wine Spectator lists and receive countless awards, acknowledgments and respectable ratings from across the wine industry. If you care about drinking a higher-quality, more consistent bottle of wine, then you should be following the collaboration of wine and technology, as it is the future.
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WINE & DINE
LITTLEKNOWN WINES SCORE BIG STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY DOUG PAULDING
Stefan Tscheppe, general manager of Esterházy Wines in Austria, with Constance Chamberlain, founder of Wine & Co. LLC.
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THERE ARE FEW THINGS I ENJOY MORE THAN THE OPPORTUNITY TO TASTE WINES MADE FROM UNUSUAL AND UNCOMMON GRAPES. At a major portfolio tasting in Manhattan recently, many of the tasters were exploring the room and tasting the big and well-known Cabernets, Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. I do this sometimes to see what a particular vintage, producer or region is delivering, but I was on a mission to taste wines I rarely see. I sought out Grüner Veltliner, Gewürtztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinotage, Touriga Nacional and Carmenère, among others. Most of the relatively unknown or under-purchased wines over-deliver. That is, to be competitive in the marketplace, to sell the wine, pricing has to be attractive relative to the big grapes or big names. I had the same reaction to another recent experience, an intimate luncheon with Stefan Tscheppe, general manager of Austria’s Esterházy Wines. The Esterházy name goes back to the 1400s in Hungary and is now based in Austria. There have been barons, counts, princes and princesses bearing the royal family name and growing the family influence and holdings. They have been making wine, and many other consumer goods, for 250 years and in 2006 (finally), they custom-built a beautiful, Cubist winery in sight of their gorgeous,
massive Baroque castle. All of the most modern winemaking techniques are employed here with all of the tanks and hoses arranged so gravity, rather than pumps, gently moves the juice from one tank to another. Their 220 acres of planted vines are located between the large Lake Neusiedl to the south and east and a modest mountain range, Leithagebirge, to the north and west, in the eastern edge of Austria abutting Hungary. The moderating effect of the open water softens any cold weather in the early and late season and reflects the sun, which promotes ripeness. The mountains help to block northern winds and cold. Esterházy makes wine from some of the noble varietals — Pinot Noir, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. But what got my attention is that it grows and vinifies grapes from Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt, Furmint and Gelber Muskateller. Tscheppe told me they focus on Blaufränkisch and Chardonnay. We started off with a Pinot Blanc from 2014. He mentioned this vintage was a particularly tough one in Austria, but this wine was lovely, with soft but present citrus notes and a pleasant freshness that lingers on the palate. It felt like liquid sunshine with a backbone. This was a wonderful welcome. Then we moved on to Esterházy’s Blaufränkisch. This grape, also known as lemburger, is grown fairly extensively throughout eastern and central Europe and can be compared to Pinot Noir. Like Pinot Noir, well-produced Blaufränkisch will show evolving flavors and multiple layers, and time swirling the wine in the glass will be rewarded with new and pleasant surprises. The 2013 red is 100 percent Blaufränkisch, showing rich, red cherry with soft hints of fine pepper and licorice, indicating the use of used oak barrels for aging. “Austria is largely a beer drinking country,” Tscheppe said. “Austria is a small wine region, making mostly white wines. Our Blaufränkisch takes a long time to ripen to get to proper alcohol and flavor concentration levels. But when it finally does — Mmmm.” Our next wine was the 2010 red. It was a cooler vintage, showing darker cherry flavors with a pronounced spiciness. These wines could be drunk within three to five years of harvest but will easily last 20 years. We then moved to a 2013 single vineyard Blaufränkisch, showing bright red cherry tempered with textured coffee notes and spice. And our final wine was the Tesoro 2012 with dark cherry and a refined and restrained oak influence with big aromatics dancing out of the glass. All of these wines sell in the United States for around $30 for the blends of different vineyards and around $50 for the single vineyard wines. But each of them would compare favorably to some well-known producers or grape varietals at double the cost. Look for some Esterházy wine for your next event. Your friends will be impressed and excited to try something new and truly royal. Write me at doug@dougpaulding.com.
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WHETTING THE APPETITE
Photograph by Sebastián Flores.
SPICING SIDES UP FOR FALL BY JACQUELINE RUBY Recently, I visited my friend Meg, who served me this wonderful dish as a side to roasted lamb chops. I think everyone will enjoy it. Full of warm flavors, it’s the perfect addition to any fall meal.
For more, contact the Saucy Realtor at jacquelineruby@hotmail.com. Tableware courtesy Casafina. 100
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SPICED ROASTED CARROTS AND CHICKPEAS INGREDIENTS: • 18 thin, freshly peeled carrots • 2 l5-ounce cans chickpeas • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 1 teaspoon ground cumin • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon • Zest of 1 orange • ½ teaspoon paprika • ½ teaspoon sea salt • ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper DRESSING: • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice • ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 1 scallion sliced thinly • 3 tablespoons fresh, chopped parsley • ½ cup crumbled goat cheese (optional)
DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oven 425 degrees. 2. Rinse and drain chickpeas. Pat dry. 3. Chop ends off carrots. 4. Pour chickpeas into a rimmed baking pan and top with carrots. Drizzle on olive oil and toss. 5. In a small bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and sprinkle over carrots and chickpeas evenly. 6. Roast in oven about 40 minutes or until carrots are fork tender. 7. Wisk all the dressing ingredients together and pour over cooled carrots and chickpeas. Toss evenly. 8. Top with crumbled goat cheese, as desired.
E R OA R I N
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2 0’
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MUSCOOT
Voted!
TAVERN
One of New York States Top 15
Best Hole In The Wall “ Restaurants That Will Blow Your Taste Buds Away
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STEAK
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Stop in and experience the charm of this historic eatery, a neighborhood favorite since the Roaring ‘20s! Enjoy our cozy tavern where it’s always lively and cheerful or relax on our patio overlooking our horseshoe and bocce ball courts. Live music on Saturdays and some Fridays On Sundays, enjoy outdoor live music from 4 to 8:30 Happy Hour Daily from 4-6 and again from 9-11 on Thurs, Fri and Saturday nights.
105 Somerstown Turnpike, Katonah, NY (Corner of Rt. 100 and Rt. 35) www.muscoottavern.com 914 • 232 • 2800
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
PUPPY LOVE HAS GONE HIGH TECH.
IBM’S WATSON
A GUIDE DOG’S BEST FRIEND
Yorktown Heights-based Guiding Eyes for the Blind — which breeds, raises, trains and places guide dogs with people who are blind or visually impaired — is using Watson on IBM Cloud to select those pups best suited for the job. The statistics are sobering: Someone in the U.S. goes blind every seven minutes — a fact compounded by the baby boomer generation facing age-related vision loss. It costs Guiding Eyes about $50,000 to train a dog over two years at its Yorktown Heights and Patterson facilities. But only half the dogs raised and trained — Labrador Retrievers and German Shepherds mainly —
IBM employee Lorraine Trapani with Labrador puppy T.J., whom she is raising for Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Ridgefield. Courtesy Guiding Eyes for the Blind. 102
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graduate as guide dogs or become elite breeders. (Among the puppies bred at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, 37 percent eventually become guide dogs or breeders and another 13 percent are provided to other organizations for less demanding service dog work.) That’s where Watson comes in. He, it, is part of a new breed of cognitive computers, processing information the way we do, through learning, interactions, the senses and experience. Using Watson Natural Language Classifier, Personality Insights and other services, Guiding Eyes analyzed data on the cloud regarding genetic, health and behavior information on 1,200 dogs, from birth through training. Watson was 100 percent accurate in determining which dogs would succeed, based not only on the pooch but on socialization and the skills of the puppy raiser. Watson is also something of a matchmaker. “Since Guiding Eyes was founded in 1954, we’ve graduated over 7,000 guide dog teams,” CEO Thomas Panek says in a statement. “By partnering with IBM and applying Watson’s analysis to our process of breeding and training dogs, we can be even more successful in matching guide dogs with people who have vision loss. This means more individuals can achieve greater independence by being paired with an exceptional dog… core to our mission at Guiding Eyes.” “This opens countless opportunities for Guiding Eyes, aided by Watson, to unravel the complexities of nature versus nurture,” adds Jane Russenberger, director of Genetics and Breeding at Guiding Eyes. “We are now planning an in-depth project to understand which environmental factors have the most influence in helping pups develop to their fullest potential. Embracing this innovation, we plan to apply Watson insights to improve the breeding, raising and training of dogs.” Guiding Eyes and IBM are working with researchers at North Carolina State University to tackle the challenge of dog stress, one of the most difficult traits to measure and among the biggest predictors of a dog’s ability to graduate from the Guiding Eyes program. Researchers are developing wearable devices equipped with sensors to measure the behaviors and heart rates of puppies, creating a Watson “Internet of Things for Puppies” that can enable more effective breeding, raising and training. Says Don Boulia, general manager of IBM Cloud Developer Services, “Watson services on IBM Cloud are enabling Guiding Eyes to prepare puppies in new and more effective ways. It’s also a great example of what humans, machines — and now dogs — can do together to use data to improve the world.” For more, visit guidingeyes.org and ibm.com.
Welcome to tomorrow. You’ll love it here. When you’re healthy, everything is possible. As part of Yale New Haven Health, Greenwich Hospital is at the forefront of everything possible in health care. And it’s easily accessible to you. Greenwich Hospital is your gateway to all the expertise and advanced technology of a leading health system that includes five hospitals, along with thousands of community physicians and skilled specialists. That makes health care easier and more promising. greenwichhospital.org
IT WAS BACK IN THE SUMMER OF 2014 WHEN WAG PAID A VISIT TO BOB PARGAMENT, A CERTIFIED HYPNOTIST AND FOUNDER OF THE WESTCHESTER HYPNOSIS CENTER.
WHRE ARE THEY NOW?
He acknowledged that in his field, he would often meet skeptics who would mockingly ask, “Can you make me cluck like a chicken?” But that’s not how Pargament views hypnosis: “I don’t believe in playing tricks on people. I want them to be able to get something good out of it.” When we popped back in on a recent afternoon, that was still the case — and while we found Pargament in the same Harrison office, the growth of his business in the last few years is reflected in its expanded name, the Westchester Hypnosis & Relaxation Center. Yes, he said, people not only turn to him for his hypnosis-fueled help in smoking cessation, weight loss and phobias such as crossing bridges — he’s “already seen” people who are having trouble with the new Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge — but simply to relax and deal with the ever-increasing daily stress and anxieties. “If ever there was a need for naturally processing that, quelling the anxieties, it’s now.” Technology, he said, plays into his business in two broad ways — the world’s increased reliance on technology has definitely affected the anxiety level of many people but technology has also given him tools to help those who seek him out. Technology, he said, has changed the way we all live. “It’s this need to be connected all the time,” he said. “It’s not natural.” You don’t need selfies or videos to record every moment of your life, he added. “The human brain is able to record quite a bit actually.”
TECH ISSUES STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY MARY SHUSTACK
Bob Pargament in his Harrison office.
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But, he acknowledged, it’s nearly impossible to escape “the bombardment of technology.” “We had this very simple, six-channel universe,” he said of the time just a few decades ago. “Now you have all of these platforms and everybody is competing to fill the space… All of a sudden, something exploded in the technology, the culture… People cannot keep up.” Anxiety remains one of the main topics his practice addresses. “Hypnosis is a natural antidote to anxiety,” he said, adding too many today turn to medication. Aiding clients through meditation and relaxation are a part of the picture, too, and there are many tools that those in his field can access. In fact, Pargament recently spoke on technology and its integration into the world of hypnosis during the National Guild of Hypnotists’ annual convention in Marlborough, Massachusetts. He focused on “how the technology of pulsing light and sound works,” exploring the way light and sound machines employ pulsing lights or sounds such as binaural beats to help create a relaxed state. “It quiets the subconscious mind. It quiets the chatterbox in the mind,” Pargament said. While the machines may be ever evolving, the process is age-old, he said. He cited the use of shamanic drums or flickering lights in ancient societies to help calm people or treat sleeplessness. In fact, he said, light and sound machines, “were actually the devices that got me into hypnosis” back in the late 1980s. “I was amazed at how different I felt,” he said. Devices have only continued to advance, Pargament said, mentioning the Muse machine, a meditation headset that works with brain waves. “It’s amazing what’s available to us now… technologies that are designed to improve us.” But, he noted, “Hypnosis takes it to another level… I’m giving specific messages that shift people’s actions… messages to help you get to your particular goal.” Whether it’s to be able to get through a dinner without checking your cellphone or giving up a lifetime addiction to cigarettes, each person’s goal can be addressed through hypnosis. “It’s a life changer,” Pargament said. “They discover what it’s like to be their true selves without all that noise.” Pargament remains devoted to his second act — which he found after a career in TV production — and that dedication has been recognized. He has been awarded the National Guild of Hypnotists’ Order of Braid, which recognizes achievement, dedication and service to the field and is named after James Braid, a 19th-century pioneer in hypnosis. For Pargament, hypnosis — from its long history through its contemporary practice — is an invaluable tool. “People need to get back to basics, and hypnosis is a beautiful process for that.” For more, visit westchesterhypnosis.com.
Covenant Life Christian Ministries 2017 Women’s Ministry Conference “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 2 NKJV
Standing on
His Word
For Fitness, Finance & Favor Saturday, October 21, 2017 10:00 am – 4:00 pm Tarrytown Community Opportunity Center
105 Wildey Street, Tarrytown, NY 10591
Health & Wellness Session, Exercise & Fitness Session Financial Planning & Stewardship, Beauty & Skin Care Consultations, Vendors and More…… Donation $35.00 (include conference & luncheon) Pastor John S. Savage – Chief Servant & Pastor Evangelist Norma J. Savage – First & Leading Lady 914-494-8991/www.covenantlifeny.org
WELL
WEIGHT LOSS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY BY SHERRY BRUCK
Sherry Bruck. Photograph by Matthew Lewis.
WE OFTEN HEAR ABOUT COLDS SPREADING AMONG FAMILY AND FRIENDS, BUT IN ONE CASE, A DIET PROGRAM, AIDED BY TECHNOLOGY, SPREAD BETWEEN TWO GROUPS AS THE RESULTS BECAME EVIDENT, AND THEY COLLECTIVELY LOST SOME 250 POUNDS AND COUNTING. Westchester-based Pat Hall of the Can’t Lose Diet, seems to have found a key for many who struggle with this problem. The combination of Resonant Frequency Technology and a weekly check-in with one-on-one time has proven successful for hundreds over the past three years and, more recently, for two large circles of friends, who not only lost stubborn pounds, but have kept them off. It started with Angela Miranda, a New Rochelle mother, who lost 19 pounds in January of 2016. “As we get older, it’s more about what you put in your body than what you do with your body. I feel so good, physically and mentally. I’m sleeping better and have more energy,” Miranda says. Next came Angela’s brother-in-law Craig Kramer, then her husband Rich’s boss, Joel Guagliardo, then Rich himself, and then Maria, Angela’s mother. It then spread to Joel’s parents Nick and Nancy Guagliardo and his sister Nancy and several other friends. The Can’t Lose Diet uses technology to determine not just weight, but body mass index (BMI), body fat, visceral fat (the fat around organs associated with cholesterol, diabetes, Alzheimer's and other conditions), body water and metabolic age. Participants receive a printout each week showing 106
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how those numbers have changed for the better. “I looked forward to Monday scan-ins as I found the statistics so interesting,” Nancy Guagliardo says. “A regular scale doesn’t tell the whole story.” Several years ago, Hall needed to lose weight to address her sleep apnea. She had tried diet after diet without success until she found the program, which helped her lose 80 pounds and keep it off. Afterwards, she was determined to bring the system to others who were struggling and founded Can’t Lose Diet. The program works by finding your body’s exact fat-burning zone. At the initial weigh-in, the individual places his hand on a resonant frequency cradle connected to a computer, which scans the body for 2,200 biomarkers. The result is a report indicating what would bring the body into better balance. This information is used to customize a program that is unique to the individual. This process is what enables participants, regardless of age, gender, body type, lifestyle or activity level, to lose significant amounts of body fat while eating fewer calories but never feeling hungry. Dieters eat all-natural foods over 40 days, along with taking customized formulations, on a limited calorie diet. No artificial ingredients, no processed foods, no fats/oils or sugars, only healthy wholesome proteins, veggies and fruits. Each week, participants meet with Hall for a weigh-in and coaching session and keep a log of what they eat and the activities they participated in. One of Hall’s most recent success stories is Sydni Holtz, a college student from Valhalla, who has lost nearly 21 pounds in 43 days, including 15.8 pounds of toxic fat. She is part of the second circle of friends. “This program has enabled me to get back into shape, learn to eat healthier and feel great,” Holtz says. “It’s a pretty amazing diet,” Rich Meyerhoff adds. “I was a wrestler and football player in high school, so I was used to losing weight quickly. Even back then, I would be able to go from 242 to 215, no problem. But you get into a yo-yo diet routine over the years. This diet is a complete reset. Anyone who knows anything about food realizes that this is a healthy plan.” It’s a good idea to check with your doctor before beginning a weight-loss diet. For more, visit cantlosediet.com or call Pat Hall at 844-226-8567. ABOUT THE AUTHOR In 1992, Sherry Bruck co-founded Harquin Creative Group, a brand strategy and marketing communications firm based in White Plains. For more than 25 years, she has helped health care organizations, government agencies, nonprofits and businesses propel their brand with breakthrough campaigns. Sherry was also one of Pat Hall’s clients and lost 20 pounds in 40 days on the Can’t Lose Diet in 2015.
FIFTY SHADES OF PINK
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WEAR
Carla Carlson
THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY IS ONE OF THE PLACES WHERE ART AND SCIENCE COME TOGETHER TO CREATE A WONDERFUL SYNERGY. AND WHILE THERE ARE MANY ADVANCEMENTS THAT SEEM TO MOVE QUICKLY IN THE INDUSTRY, THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS DOES IN FACT TAKE MANY YEARS.
STRAIGHT TALK ABOUT HAIR STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN TOOHEY
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Consider the Brazilian Blowout, a treatment formulated to relax curls. My colleague at Warren Tricomi, Daniel Kline, is an expert in this technique, so I spent some time picking his brain. A nice guy, he was happy to oblige. Dan explained that the old technology was limited in its application because it worked well for frizzy hair, whereas the Brazilian Blowout is customized for all hair types. This newer method makes hair more manageable and easy to style, essentially smoothing the hair to reflect more light and add more natural shine. Smooth, shiny and easy to manage — sounds great. And, best of all, it can be done on the same day as a color service and can actually improve the results. It does, however, require an experienced hand that is certified in the technique, and, so here, Dan is the man to see. Indeed, no matter what the digital world and robotics have in store, I am happy to say you will always need an experienced stylist to cut your hair. Carla Carlson, my model for this column, has been a client for many years. Carla is an author and
a poet and has recently published “Love & Oranges’,” a chapbook of poetry. She has always been on point with her look and open to change. On this visit, I was surprised to hear her daughter Caroline is getting married, especially since there was a recent wedding for Brittney, her eldest. Of course, Carla’s hair had to be outstanding. She does have a short style and, as hair is trending shorter, I wanted to refine her cut a bit. This was the right opportunity to use my three-dimensional haircutting technique to create shape and add finesse — giving her a special something to set her apart. An artist can have great talent, but it is the practice and development of an individual technique that makes all the difference. I did add highlights to Carla’s hair, using my preferred method of balayage, which allows me to place the light exactly where I want it. The stylist-client relationship works best when there is an exchange of ideas. I enjoy the conversation with my clients — listening carefully to their desires. This, in turn, influences my creativity and my technique, to make it all happen. As we embrace all that is new in fashion and style, one thing always remains constant: If you treat your hair with love, it will never leave you. Visit Brian at Warren Tricomi Salon, 1 E. Putnam Ave., Greenwich. To book an appointment with him, call 212-262-8899.
PROUDLY ANNOUNCING
HARRISON Now Open 500 Mamaroneck Avenue Orthopaedic Neurosurgery Specialists
GREENWICH
S TA M F O R D
O N S M D.CO M
HARRISON
800.999.9ONS
WELL
I DON’T THINK I’LL EVER FORGET MY FIRST BOXING EXPERIENCE.
BOUNCING BACK AT BOXING914 STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY DANIELLE RENDA
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Actually, for days following the beginner’s class at Boxing914 in White Plains, it was all I could think of, especially after each step — particularly those involving stairs — and every shoulder movement. Admittedly, this was partially my own doing. In the spirit of summertime, I parted ways with the gym in exchange for traveling, relaxing and, of course, indulging in delectable food. And I knew that my three-month flight from fitness was coming to a reluctant close. Boxing914 was the reality check that I needed. Much to my relief, the ambience of the gym calmed most of my pre-workout nerves. The décor, which follows a patriotic color motif, includes hand-painted murals that integrate motivational quotes. As a lover of literature, I was particularly captivated by the wall alongside the boxing ring, which quotes Shakespeare’s romantic comedy
“Twelfth Night”: “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” I felt even more comfortable after seeing the guests, who represented all demographics — men and women, older adults and children, of all body types and skill levels. Though if I had any reservations left about the workout, they certainly disappeared when I met Peter Belmar, the owner of Belmars, the home of Boxing914. Belmar’s résumé is more than impressive. Originally from England, he is an ex-amateur boxer, a winner of the Ringside World Championships and an international boxing instructor — as well as a practitioner of kickboxing and Muay Thai — with more than 33 years of experience. I was confident that I was in good (strong) hands. With a smile from ear to ear, Belmar gave me a tour of the gym, his enthusiasm lighting every step of the way. His love for the sport is contagious, and I was gratefully receptive as he guided me through the class as my partner. Coach Toni Mafes, a boxing instructor with more than 15 years experience, led that class with a firm approach. To increase our blood flow, we began with intervals of jumping rope (one minute), followed by 30-seconds of burpees (squat thrusts), push-ups and sit-ups. Then we put on our gloves and transitioned to boxing. Mafes demonstrated the stance, which required placing the weight on the balls of the feet for swift movement. Then she explained how to perform a jab, a punch and a hook, after which we practiced the moves (on pads) with a partner. I struggled through some of the intervals, prematurely exhausted from my extended break from exercise. But Belmar’s words of encouragement and patience carried me along. We ended the class with a floor exercise, which required sit-ups that were followed by four punches, which were done once in the seated position. When the class ended, I welcomed the rest, but I was filled with accomplishment from finishing the full hour. I questioned my stamina throughout, concerned over whether I was ready to handle an intense workout so soon. But thanks to Belmar (and Belmars), I successfully pulled through — and I’m ready to rekindle my exercise regime. In addition to boxing, Belmars offers classes in kickboxing, Muay Thai, zumba, circuit training, yoga and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, as well as personal training and a weight-loss program. Beginning Oct. 17, Belmars will also offer Rock Steady Boxing, a program for people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Belmars is at 5 Prospect Ave. in White Plains. For more, visit belmars.com
WELL
MANNING UP ON HORMONES
ered their low end of the optimal testosterone range because of the current trends. “We live in an estrogen-saturated environment. Chemicals in our food, water, coffee, plastics, cosmetics, lotions, all different products, contain what are called ‘endocrine disruptors,’ where they mimic hormones in our body, essentially increasing the amount of the bad types of estrogen. This is as prominent in teenagers as it is adults. Boys 6 to 12 years old show to have a 29 percent reduction in testosterone with exposure to phthalates and xenoestrogens. 29!”
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY GIOVANNI ROSELLI
“HORMONES CAN EITHER MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE CRAP OR LIKE A ROCK STAR, READY TO TAKE ON YOUR MISSION. THE KEY IS GETTING YOUR HORMONES WORKING FOR YOU, NOT AGAINST YOU.” —Sara Gottfried, MD
Ali Gilbert
THE TOPIC OF TESTOSTERONE AND MEN’S VITALITY HAS BEEN A HOT TOPIC AS OF LATE. I RECENTLY SAT DOWN WITH ALI GILBERT, FOUNDER OF METABOLIC GOLF AND DIRECTOR OF PERFORMANCE AT GREENWICH DX SPORTS LABS. SHE SPECIALIZES IN MEN’S PHYSIOLOGY AND HORMONE OPTIMIZATION. How did you come to specialize in optimizing men’s health? “I work with mainly golfers, and men tend to seek out golf fitness more so than women. Through my training and nutrition coaching, I realized there is a big deficit in the understanding of male hormonal health and biochemistry. Women’s hormone replacement therapy is so socially accepted, yet for men it is more ‘taboo’…and the current epidemic of low testosterone in men has even medical professionals perplexed. So I decided to learn everything I could behind it and be an advocate for my guys. It is a fascinating topic that I am grateful to lecture on to other fitness professionals. I am also a partner in a business that sells rather progressive diagnostic tests, so having an MD as a business partner (Dr. Steven Murphy) helps tremendously. Why do you think men are experiencing lower testosterone than in years past? “Men 20 to 30 years ago didn’t have the issues that they do now. Think about your grandfathers. They didn’t have the same exposure to toxins in the environment. Lab companies have even low-
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What are some ways in which men can make sure they are optimal? 1. “First and foremost, if you haven’t gotten your testosterone levels measured yet, do it now. Even if you are in your 20s, you need to develop baselines to see trends as you age. Men’s testosterone levels start dropping around the age of 30 now. 2. “Supplement with vitamin D. Vitamin D is actually a hormone that has testosterone receptors in the muscles. It is synthesized from cholesterol, which is how hormones are manufactured. Supplementing with about 5,000 IU a day should help. 3. “Zinc — Deficiencies in zinc are highly correlated with lower testosterone. So much so that if deficient, it could bump you up 100 to 200 ng/dl (nanograms per deciliter). Zinc works as a natural weak aromatase inhibitor, which is the enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen. This is why foods like oysters, which are high in zinc, are considered aphrodisiacs. 4. “Lift weights, specifically heavy weights. The ‘grinding’ sets, the ones that you have to fight through like a heavy deadlift or squat, in a low rep range of three to five can generate a large release of testosterone. Though the acute increase will not necessarily maintain higher levels, it will increase the signalling among the receptors to increase muscle growth, which is imperative for a healthy hormonal environment. Other hormones that are released during strength training are cortisol, the stress hormone, IGF-1 and growth hormone. Altogether they make a very potent fat burning group. The problem with just doing cardio is that cardio only elevates cortisol, which does nothing to maintain muscle mass. In fact it can breakdown muscle tissue if it elevates consistently for too long, which it tends to be in our current 24/7/365 lifestyles.” For more info on Ali, visit metabolicgolf.com. Reach Giovanni on Twitter @GiovanniRoselli and at his website, GiovanniRoselli.com.
Nice to Meat You!
Connecticut 203.353.8000
marciaselden.com
New York 212.921.4100
(Editor’s note: Lisa Kumaradjaja, a Briarcliff Manor resident, is the author of the new “Intuition on Demand: A Step-by-Step Guide to Powerful Intuition You Can Trust.” Here she offers an introduction to this intriguing, oft-misunderstood instinctive ability or notion.)
WELL
UNDERSTANDING THAT ‘GUT FEELING’ BY LISA KUMARADJAJA
WHAT IS INTUITION? A simple definition of intuition is knowing without knowing how you know it. Intuition is not guessing. It is not deduction. It is not “figuring it out,” nor is it thinking. The source of intuitive knowledge is thought to come from one of two places — the subconscious, where it is produced by internal information you’ve gathered, processed and perhaps forgotten about and are not conscious of; and information that comes from outside of you, such as from your higher self or divine consciousness. Of course, it doesn’t really matter where the information is coming from, as long as it is accurate and useful. By definition, you don’t really know where intuitive information comes from, but if you can harness its power and increase its effectiveness to help make better decisions and create a better life — then why not do that? INTUITION PROCESSING IN YOUR BRAIN It has been said that humans only use 10 percent of their brainpower. People then go on to make the assumption that the other 90 percent is up for grabs, but actually that’s not the case. Our entire brain is being used all the time. For example, your brain might be active in keeping your balance so that you don’t fall over when you walk or it might be performing an unconscious, instantaneous processing of information so as to avoid a dangerous situation that you don’t have time to analyze consciously.
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All these things and more are going on in our brains. It’s just that we are not conscious of it. We can only consciously process a small amount of what’s going on in our brains at one time because the rest of our brain is busy with keeping our body running and processing information that we don’t need to attend to in that moment as our attention is focused elsewhere. It’s likely that if we were conscious of what was going on in the rest of our brain, we’d be overwhelmed. The rest of what is going on in your brain goes unnoticed and takes up a large amount of your brain and nervous system power. There is a large amount of meaningful information that your brain and body is picking up that is ignored consciously. Much of this information is subconscious, but you can access some of it and make it conscious. HOW TO BE MORE INTUITIVE Neuroscience has found that intuition and the characteristics of how we experience intuition through intuitive clues are associated with the right side of the brain. The large amount of information that you are not consciously aware of is what constitutes the substance of your intuitive messages. True intuitive messages have certain consistent and repeatable characteristics that parallel and correspond to the way certain parts of the human brain and nervous system work. This may explain how it is possible to receive information without an explanation of knowing how you know it. In order to work with your intuition, it is important to know what its characteristics are. The characteristics of intuitive clues parallel the characteristics of the right side of the brain in that clues are generally images, they are nonverbal, symbolic and convey big picture information. The right side of your brain works best with symbols, images, physical and emotional feelings, exactly the things that intuitive messages are made of. It is the job of the left side of the brain to become aware of these intuitive messages and make sense of them by realizing their understandable meanings. Information is passed back and forth through a bundle of nerves, called the corpus callosum, which is located between the two brain halves. Essentially, the right brain receives the intuitive information and then the left brain interprets it. Interestingly, in women the corpus callosum is thicker than in men. This may explain why women tend to be more intuitive than men. I believe that you can access this intuitive information by using a process of asking questions. Your right brain will answer, because it always does, with intuitive feelings, symbols, pop-up thoughts or words giving you information. When you ask enough questions, you will get sufficient intuitive pieces to formulate meaning you can recognize. Using a good intuition technique easily triggers your right brain to give you enough information that it becomes understandable. The next time you have a gut feeling, ask your intuition a question about it and see what pops up as an intuitive answer.
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SITI Company: Hanjo World Premiere! October 6, 8pm Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Cicely Parnas, cello October 8, 3pm
An Evening with Branford Marsalis Special guest trumpeter Jon Faddis October 13, 8pm Westchester Philharmonic 35th Anniversary Opener / Jinjoo Cho, violin October 15, 3pm Purchase Repertory Theatre: The Crucible October 20 - 28, see website for times Pictured: Catherine Kirk Abraham.In.Motion © Tim Barden
Coming up in November 3 Black Violin A Tribute to Dizzy Gillespie 4 5 NT Live: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead 11 Moscow State Symphony Orchestra 18 Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 19 NT Live: Who’s Afraid of Virigina Woolf
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Abraham.In.Motion Dearest Home A special presentation in the Black Box theatre October 20 & 21, 8pm
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Thank You
LUCILLE WERLINICH,
F
Chair of Purchase College Foundation
914.251.6200 www.artscenter.org
ZISSON FOUNDATION
WHEN & WHERE
Through Oct. 14 In Laura Eason’s “Sex with Strangers,” about the unexpected twists and turns of modern relationships, ambitions turn dark and self-reinvention is just a click away. 3 p.m. Sundays, 7 p.m. Tuesdays and 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court; 203-227-4177, westportplayhouse. org/sex-with-strangers
Through Oct. 18 The exhibit “Memory of Place: Thomas Doyle & Frank Poor” explores the meaning of a place, its influence on our memories and our imagination and the unsettling effect of displacement. Flinn Gallery, Greenwich Library, 101 W. Putnam Ave. Second Floor; 203-622-7947, flinngallery.com
Through Nov. 25 Historic Hudson Valley presents “The Great Jack-O’Lantern Blaze,” a walk-through experience adorned with more than 7,000 illuminated, hand-carved lantern sculptures. The annual event features large-scale installations, including a Headless Horseman and a new 30-foot-tall replica of the Statue of Liberty, complete with sound effects, synchronized lighting and original music. Times vary, Van Cortlandt Manor, 525 S. Riverside Ave., Croton-on-Hudson; 914-631-8200, hudsonvalley.org
Through Dec. 22
Oct. 6
The Neuberger Museum of Art considers Romare Bearden’s often-overlooked period of abstracted watercolors, mixed-media collages and the stain paintings that led to the collages he is most known for in “Romare Bearden: Abstraction.” Noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase; 914-251-6100, neuberger.org
“When do you sleep?” “What do you eat?” “Can you talk to each other?” These are some of the questions you might ask during “Cocktails & Conversation with architect Alex Schweder and artist Ward Shelley,” while they are living in/on their 23-foot-high structure – sharing a bed, desk, kitchen and more. 6:30 p.m., Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, 258 Main St., Ridgefield; 203-438-4519x125, aldrichart.org.
Oct. 3 Smart Arts presents LADO: National Folk-Dance Ensemble of Croatia, which offers a new program of Croatian folk songs, including contemporary musical and dance works based on traditional motifs. 8 p.m., The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road, 914-251-6200; croexpo.com
Oct. 5 “GoForPink!” brings the local community together for a special day of shopping, dining and educational forums in Greenwich to raise awareness and critical funds for eradicating breast cancer and supporting the mission of the Breast Cancer Alliance – the funding of innovative research and education as well as affordable screening for underserved women. The fun starts at 9 a.m. with the flag-raising at Greenwich Town Hall. 203861-0014, BCAgoforpink.org
Oct. 5 Heart’s bassist Steve Fossen and drummer Michael Derosier are back together with Heart By Heart, a new band featuring vocalist Somar Macek, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Lizzy Daymont, and Seattle guitarist Randy Hansen. 8 p.m., The Palace, 61 Atlantic St., Stamford; 203-325-4466, palacestamford.org
Oct. 5 New York School for the Deaf celebrates its 200th anniversary with a Black and White Gala. The event, which will be attended by Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin, will also honor school alumna Tina Jo Breindel a tireless advocate for literacy rights for deaf children, and Andrew Roffe a longtime adviser and pro bono counsel. Black-and-white attire is encouraged. 6:45 p.m., Tappan Hill Mansion, 200 Gunpowder Lane, Tarrytown: 914-481-8209, nysd.net/the-black-and-whitegala.html
Oct. 6 through 8 New Rochelle ArtsFest, a celebration of the arts in New Rochelle and Pelham. The three-day festival will feature exhibitions, open studios, live music, films, performances and more at different venues throughout both towns. 5 p.m., locations vary, 914-654-8356; newrochellearts.org
Oct. 7 ArtsWestchester offers a sneak peek of its upcoming “Give Us The Vote” exhibit (Oct. 10-Jan. 27). A preview reception follows a lecture by historian Louise Bernikow, “The Suffragists of Westchester County.” Inspired by the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New York state, this contemporary art exhibition examines the state of voting rights in America today. 3 to 6 p.m., 31 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains; 914-428-4220, artsw.org/giveusthevote
October 10 The New York State Building Officials Conference Westchester Chapter hosts its fourth annual Golf Outing, with proceeds benefitting Cerebral Palsy of Westchester. Corporate sponsors and individual players will enjoy a day of golf, followed by dinner, a silent auction, a raffle and a presentation of the tournament winners. 8:30 a.m., Westchester Hills Golf Club, 401 Ridgeway, White Plains; 914-937-3800, cpwestchester.org
Oct. 12 and 15 Citizen Jane Film Festival on the arts, urban regeneration and community preservation features, a presentation of the documentary “Citizen Jane” on Oct. 12, with a reception and guided walking tours. Oct. 15’s program includes “Survival of a Small City,” about urban redevelopment in Norwalk, a program of short films and a reprise showing of “Citizen Jane.” 2 p.m., Bijou Theatre, 275 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport; 203-296-9605; bridgeportcitizenjane.eventbrite.com.
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Artwork by Johanna Goodman is featured in the “Give Us the Vote” exhibition at ArtsWestchester, which previews Oct. 7 in White Plains. Courtesy ArtsWestchester.
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“The Great Jack-O’-Lantern Blaze” continues at Historic Hudson Valley’s Van Cortlandt Manor through Nov. 25. Photograph by Jennifer Mitchell.
Fairfield University Bookstore presents Kate DiCamillo, award-winning author of “Because of Winn-Dixie,” “The Tiger Rising” and “The Tale of Despereaux,” discussing her newest book, “La La La: A Story of Hope.” It follows a little girl in search of a friend and features illustrations by Jaime Kim. 7 p.m., Roger Ludlowe Middle School Auditorium, 689 Unquowa Road, Fairfield; 203-255-7756, Fairfield.edu/DiCamillo.
THE RIDGEFIELD PLAYHOUSE for movies and the performing arts
october
Non-profit 501 (c) (3)
5 Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre In Concert 7 Cash is King
An Extraordinary Recreation of Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Three Special Guest Rock This Town
8 Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy Tour Emerson, Lake & Palmer Lives on!
12 Uncle Kracker
Special Guest Former Matchbox Twenty Guitarist Marc Von Em
13 Tracy Morgan 14 Paul Revere’s Raiders
Special Guest The Way-Back Machine
15 Three Dog Night
Special Guest Doug Wahlberg Band
16 Tape Face
As seen on America’s Got Talent!
17 Sergio Mendes 19 Boney James
Special Guest Project Grand Slam
20 Mary Wilson of The Supremes 21 The Fab Four The Ultimate Beatles Tribute 22 American Dance Spectacular A thrilling tour of 20th Century American Dance with Broadways Hottest Dancers & Singers!
23 An Evening with Bruce Hornsby
Fall Into The Arts! october
25 Dennis Quaid and The Sharks Special Guest Eliot Lewis of Hall and Oates & Live at Daryl’s House
26 Renaissance
A Symphonic Journey ft. the Renaissance Chamber Orchestra’s Debut Performance!
27 Martin Sexton Trio 28 Christian McBride “Remembering Ray Brown”
with Benny Green and Lewis Nash Special Guest Steve Clarke Trio
29 Yngwie Malmsteen World on Fire Tour
30 An Intimate Evening with Amos Lee
Special Guest Mutlu
november
1 Martha Davis & The Motels & Bow Wow Wow ft. Annabella 2 Kenny G: The Miracles of Holiday & Hits Tour 2017
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Capitol Steps: Orange is the New Barack
4 Vanessa Williams in Concert 5 Tuesdays with Morrie: The Play
7 Citizen Cope – An Intimate/ Solo Acoustic Listening Performance
203.438.5795 • RIDGEFIELDPLAYHOUSE.ORG
Oct. 12 Produced by Westport-based JIB Productions, “SHORT CUTS“ screens award-winning short films selected from the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, known for its discovery of emerging international directors. Coffee and cookies will be served at 7 p.m., followed by the films and discussion. 7:30 p.m., Norwalk Garden Cinemas, 26 Isaac St.; 203-293-8729, jibproductions.org/ shortcuts
Oct.13 and 14 Westchester Open Studios presents the work of eight fine artists in the town of Mamaroneck. Arranged as an “Art Walk,” this event displays the work of the participating artists, including paintings, sculptures and photography, in four designer homes that are a short distance from one another. 10 a.m., locations vary, westchesteropenstudios.com
The SPCA of Westchester’s Top Hat and Cocktails Gala is set for Oct. 27 in White Plains.
Oct.15 and 16 The Chamber Players of the Greenwich Symphony perform “Something In the Winds,” music by Ligeti, Glinka, Klughardt, Ibert and Smit. 7:30 p.m., Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive Greenwich; 203-637-4725, greenwichsymphony.org/october-15-16-2017
Oct. 13 through 29
Oct.17
White Plains Performing Arts Center presents “Ghost,” a musical adaptation of the Oscar Award-winning film. 8 p.m. Fridays and 2 p.m. Saturdays, 11 City Place, 3rd Floor. 914-328-1600, wppac.com
Denise Wiles Adams, ornamental plant and garden historian, will offer a lecture on “American Arts & Crafts Gardens, 1890-1920: Simplicity, Harmony And Utility,” discussing the decorative gardens popular in America during the Cos Cob art colony era. 6:30 p.m., Greenwich Historical Society, 39 Strickland Road, Cos Cob; 203-869-6899, greenwichhistory.org/adult. php#landscape
Oct. 14 Norwalk’s Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum’s Gilded Age Gala will include cocktails, a black-tie dinner, live and silent auctions, a preview of “The Gilded Age Redux” by the Rowayton Arts Center, and a special presentation by comedian Brian Grossi, a veteran of the New York comedy club scene. 7 p.m., 295 West Ave., 203-838-9799, lockwoodmathewsmansion.com/ event/gilded-age-gala/
Oct. 14 The Stamford Symphony kicks off its new season with an all-Russian program by Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. At The Prelude Gala, benefitting the orchestra and its education programs, the symphony will honor Barbara Smith-Soroca’s 39 years of service as CEO and president. Gala at 5:15 p.m., 203-325-1407, ext.10 for tickets. Performance at 8 The Palace, 61 Atlantic St., Stamford; 203-3254466, stamfordsymphony.org
Oct. 20 Sidra Bell Dance NY presents a Community Movement Module, an inclusive workshop conducted by Bell and the company’s dancers. The free workshop, which takes place at the Purchase College PC4 Center for Community and Culture, is suitable for all levels and focuses on conditioning, movement and dialogue. 6 p.m., 16 Warburton Ave., 212-567-0411; sidrabelldanceny.org
Oct. 21 The White Plains Library holds its annual Fall Gala, featuring author Sloane Crosley (“The Clasp”). Festivities take place at The Hub, the library’s newly renovated first floor, 7 p.m., 100 Martine Ave., 914-422-1495, foundation.whiteplainslibrary.org
Breast Cancer Alliance’s “GoForPink!” kicks off Oct. 5 in Greenwich.
Oct. 26 The Breast Cancer Alliance’s 22nd annual Luncheon & Fashion Show features silent and live auctions, luncheon with guest speaker Amy Rohrback, news anchor for ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and two runway shows — the Oscar de la Renta collection preview and the Survivor Celebration Fashion Show. 11 a.m., Hyatt Regency Greenwich, 1800 W. Putnam Ave., Old Greenwich; 203-861-0014, breastcanceralliance.org At “Designers Celebrate the Arts,” join designers, artists, business leaders, innovators, media makers to support the Cultural Alliance and Fairfield County’s rich creative community. Enjoy cocktails and appetizers, mix and mingle and be inspired. 6 p.m., The Antique & Artisan Gallery, 69 Jefferson St., Stamford; 203-2562329, 203-327-6022, cafcdesignerscelebratethearts. eventbrite.com
Oct.26 through Nov. 4 Blue Door Art Center presents “100 Words of Wisdom,” a photography exhibition that stems from an intergenerational community-based art project by Evan Bishop and Katori Walker. Bishop asked 100 seniors to share one word of wisdom with younger audiences. That word was then painted on the participant’s body and photographed. This project is supported by an ArtsWestchester Arts Alive grant. 3 to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 1 to 5 p.m., Saturdays, 13 Riverdale Ave., Yonkers; 914-375-5100; bluedoorartcenter.org
Oct. 15
Oct. 21 and 22
Oct 27
Abilis, the nonprofit that provides services and support for more than 700 individuals with special needs and their families throughout Fairfield and Westchester counties, presents its annual Walk/Run for Abilis. The event includes a 5K run, a one-mile accessible walk, family-friendly activities, food, a kid’s activity tent with arts and crafts, face-painting, a bouncy castle, a “Bubble Bus” and a fire truck that children and parents can explore. The fun begins at 9 a.m., Greenwich Point Park (Tod’s Point) in Old Greenwich, abilis.us/walk.
Taconic Opera presents the world premiere of “In Bocca al Lupo” (“Break a Leg”), a fully-staged, comedic opera composed by founder Dan Montez. The Rossini-inspired opera will take audiences behind-the-scenes of an opera company – holding auditions, the backstage chaos during a show and figuring out what to do when the show begins to fall apart. 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Yorktown Stage, 1974 Commerce St., Yorktown Heights; taconicopera.org
The SPCA of Westchester’s Top Hat and Cocktails Gala. Bring your beloved canine companion to celebrate the accomplishments of the SPCA and to raise funds for the nearly 2,000 rescue animals cared for and adopted each year. This special event includes music, food and drink, an auction, a canine ice cream bar and professional pet portraits. 7 p.m., The Ritz-Carton New York, Westchester, 3 Renaissance Square, White Plains; 914-941-2896, SPCA914.org
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Presented by ArtsWestchester and the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County. For more, visit artswestchester.org and culturalalliancefc.org.
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An Intimate Evening With Rickie Lee Jones Fri, Oct 20
Charlie Albright Sun, Oct 22
An Evening With Liz Callaway Sat, Jan 27
Ivy League Of Comedy Presents Cory Kahaney Sat, Oct 28
Pilobolus Maximus Sat, Feb 3
C.J. Chenier And The Red Hot Louisiana Band Sat, Feb 10
MUSIC | DANCE | FAMILY | BROADWAY | COMEDY | FILM Celebrating 45 years of bringing the very best of live performing arts to Westchester
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PET OF THE MONTH
Photograph by Sebastián Flores.
LIONESS
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It was Bette Davis who said that if she had to choose, it was better for a woman to be brainy rather than beautiful. If she were only beautiful, well, there was nowhere to go. But if she were brainy, she could always convince others that she was beautiful, too. Of course, beauty and brains is an unbeatable combo. And that’s what you get with Lioness, a 1-year-old Bull Terrier mix. She was rescued from Animal Care Centers NYC where sadly she only had a few days left to fi nd a home or a shelter to take her in, so the SPCA road to the rescue. Lioness is friendly and energetic, enjoying the company of other canines. She’d be great for an
active family and home with a big yard in which she could run and play for hours. Recently, Lioness aced her C.L.A.S.S. (Canine Life and Social Skills) test, which measures a dog’s ability to walk on a loose leash, meet and greet and more. Talk about one smart cookie. To meet Lioness, visit the SPCA of Westchester at 590 N. State Road in Briarcliff Manor. Founded in 1883, the SPCA is a no-kill shelter and is not affiliated with the ASPCA. The SPCA is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. To learn more, call 914-941-2896 or visit spca914.org.
TOP PRIVATE SCHOOL OPEN-HOUSE DATES NOT TO MISS
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57 West Rocks Road | Norwalk, CT 06851 | 203.229.0465 x535 126 W. 17th St. | New York City, NY 10011 | 646.638.2705 x634 901 Route 10 East | Whippany, NJ 07981 | 973.500.6480 www.winstonprep.edu | facebook.com/winstonprepschool
The Winston Preparatory School does not discriminate against applicants and students on the basis of race, color, or national or ethnic origin.
School of the Holy Child An all-girls, Catholic, independent school for grades 5 through 12
Learn how Holy Child students find joy in learning, attain academic excellence and are prepared to attend the nation’s most selective universities, including Columbia University, Georgetown University , Harvard, MIT, and more. www.holychildrye.org | (914) 967-5622 WAGMAG.COM
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TOP PRIVATE SCHOOL OPEN-HOUSE DATES NOT TO MISS
Open House Dates: Saturday, November 4, 2017 Saturday, January 20, 2018
French-American School of New York Growing Global Citizens
Accepting non-French speakers: • In Nursery, Pre-K and Kindergarten: Bilingual immersion • In High School: IB Diploma Programme taught in English Bilingual Co-ed School • Nursery (3 years old) through Grade 12 Campuses in Scarsdale, Larchmont, Mamaroneck
www.fasny.org • (914) 250-0401
EARLY CHILDHOOD OPEN HOUSE Sunday, November 5th 10:00am -12:00 noon Lunch will be served at the conclusion.
RSVP by November 2 nd Denise Rafailov at 203.329.2186 ext 1310 or drafailov@bcds.org
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TOP PRIVATE SCHOOL OPEN-HOUSE DATES NOT TO MISS
LEARNING BEYOND WALLS Broadcast the news. Study abroad. Program computers. Make your own blueprint. Real World Experience = Real World Success FALL OPEN HOUSES
Upper School—October 19 at 6 p.m. K–12—November 4 at 9 a.m. Barat Center—November 10 at 9:30 a.m.
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7/12/17 3:04 PM
Exciting Changes Happening at Soundview Prep!
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Helping Soundview Prep students with organizational skills, writing, note taking, homework, and test preparation. • Music Production and Recording Courses • Senior Internship Program • STEAM Makerspace • Science Research Program • Expanded AP Course Offerings • Campus Renovation and Construction • Shuttle Service from Metro-North Stations
Soundview Preparatory School
370 Underhill Avenue, Yorktown Heights, NY • 914.962.2780 • soundviewprep.org
Independent, co-ed day school for grades 6–12 • Picturesque campus 4-to-1 student-faculty ratio • Excellent college placement • Rolling admissions
J O I N U S F O R A N O P E N H O U S E! – S U N DAY, O C TO B E R 15: 1 - 3 PM WAGMAG.COM
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TOP PRIVATE SCHOOL OPEN-HOUSE DATES NOT TO MISS Register for Open House! Oct. 15 and Nov. 5 kingschoolct.org/openhouse
Discover the academic difference. Pursue your passions, engaged by a challenging, student-centered, PreK-Grade 12 academic program and supported by a kind community. Be understood as a learner and a person.
A co-ed college preparatory school educating students from 30 towns.
Exceptional Faculty
. Academic Excellence . Personalized Approach . Community
Be known Be challenged Be you
Rippowam Cisqua School
In our new Innovation Center, students explore their ideas, manipulate real world materials, and test new technology through our hands-on approach.
“Rippowam provides my daughter with countless opportunities to be creative — to make things she never thought she could, and to see her talents and interests realized in exceptional and meaningful ways.” – Parent ’22 Rippowam Cisqua School is a coeducational, independent country day school for students in PreKindergarten through Grade Nine.
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Contact us at admissions@rcsny.org or (914) 244-1296 to schedule a visit.
Come visit us!
Open House October 21, 2017
www.rcsny.org
TOP PRIVATE SCHOOL OPEN-HOUSE DATES NOT TO MISS
OUR LADY OF FATIMA-WILTON 225 Danbury Road, Wilton CT • 203.762.8100 • www.olfcatholic.org
Faith Knowledge Respect Join us on Sunday, October 15 TH 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. for a
SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE PRE K3 – GRADE 8 We offer 7:30 a.m. drop off and after school until 6 p.m. WAGMAG.COM
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HARDHATS AND COCKTAILS “Industrial chic” was the fitting theme of the cocktail party held recently at the Bedford Playhouse in Bedford, under renovation to become a state-of-theart, multipurpose cultural and community center. Donors enjoyed fare from Bedford Gourmet, which created a clever décor that included blueprint table coverings, hard-hat snack bowls and a wheelbarrow cooler. Playhouse President John Farr took to the “stage” — a construction lift — to express his appreciation and share plans for the rest of the project, set for completion next spring. Photographs by Sebástian Flores. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
Jody Hirsch and Stan Ponte Kim Speegle, Grace Falco and Dan Friedman Robert Marullo, Greg Sulzer and Steve Taylor David Worby and John Farr Theresa Puchkoff and Renee Torre Shaul Dover and Courtney McGinnis Dicky and Amanda Riegel, Ed and Nancy Dunst and Chris Burdock Laura Blau and Michael Citro Maureen McManus and Carla Hawryluk Howard and David Solomon Olivia Farr John Burkhardt and Thomas Markovski Dan Ginnel John Farr and Sarah Long
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BACKPACKS OF LOVE
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Recently, a back-to-school backpack drive, initiated by New York Community Bank’s (NYCB) Yonkers branch manager Tim Theotokatos, collected and distributed hundreds of backpacks to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Family Services of Westchester in Yonkers. 1. Angelique and Andrew Johnson-Holt and Valerie Brown 2. Ze’Sean D., Skylar C., Andrew J. and Valerie Brown
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SPECIAL DELIVERY The Food Bank for Westchester’s newest tool in fighting hunger and food insecurity is a mobile food pantry that brings the food directly to the people who need it the most. The new refrigerated truck, recently unveiled at a food distribution event at El Centro Hispano in White Plains, allows for the distribution of fresh fruit and vegetables, which are presented like a farmers’ market. The new truck was purchased through a grant from the PepsiCo Foundation, which also provides operating expenses for five years. PepsiCo volunteers joined the Food Bank for Westchester at the unveiling to help to distribute food to individuals in need.
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3. Charlene Denizard, Isabel Elsa Villar and Leslie Gordon 4. Pepsico volunteers help distribute food
RAISING THE CUP GSA became one of the youngest teams in history to raise the Perry Cup as it squeaked by team Audi in the finals of the East Coast Open Sept. 10 at Greenwich Polo Club. Matias Magrini was awarded Most Valuable Player for his exceptional defensive play, along with general achievements coaching and mentoring the young team. Machitos Tere, owned and ridden by Mariano Aguerre in the fifth chukker, received Best Playing Pony honors. Photographs by Marcelo Bianchi and Peter Michaelis.
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5. Matias Magrini 6. Henry Porter, Santino Magrini, Toro Ruiz and Matias Magrini 7. Brad Walker and Matias Magrini 8. Best Playing Pony Machitos Tere 9. Fransisco Mera and Henry Porter
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ON THE RUN
Food Bank for Westchester partnered with Pace University for it’s first-ever “Miles for Meals” 5K Fun Run at Pace’s Pleasantville campus. The event raised more than $25,000 (the equivalent to 100,000 meals) for Food Bank for Westchester to continue to help feed those struggling with hunger in the community.
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1. Pace University students 2. Leslie Gordon and Kacey Morabito 3. 5K runners B
OLD TIMES, NEW FACES
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It seemed like old times at the US Open Sept. 10 as 2010 and ’13 men’s champ Rafael Nadal repeated. But a day earlier, Sloane Stephens was a fresh face on the women’s side, defeating Madison Keys for the singles title. Photographs by USTA/Darren Carroll and Pete Staples. 4. Rafael Nadal 5. Sloane Stephens 6. Madison Keys
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PERSIAN THANKSGIVING Untermyer Gardens in Yonkers was the site of a gala to celebrate Mehregan, the ancient Persian festival of thanksgiving for the harvest. Attended by the Israeli and Moroccan ambassadors, Saudi Arabian Embassy delegates and Iranian-American notables, the event featured a performance by Sattar, a Persian singer based in Los Angeles. The evening also included the reading of a Persian poem, the burning of esphand, a top of herb seed burned over charcoal to protect children from evil, and an illumination provided by a giant bonfire. Photographs by Ralph Gabriner and Jessica Norman. 7. Bonfire at the Temple of the Sky 8. Roya Assil, Isabel Nazarian, Doris Elnekaveh, Mitra Damaghi and Mehrnaz Hakakian 9. Jon Corzine, Vicki Sakhai and Ann Carmel 10. Sattar performing in the Temple of the Sky 11. Jenny duPont and Pierre duPont V 12. Eric Schneiderman, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Nazee Moinian, Talie Danon and Danny Danon 13. John Vaske and Farnaz Voussoughian 14. Mike Spano 15. Dancing in the Temple of the Sky 16. Jon Corzine
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‘FUN’-RAISER Pediatric Cancer Foundation (PCF) celebrated Childhood Cancer Awareness month by hosting a "Family Funday" for patients, caregivers, families and the surrounding Westchester community at the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo in Purchase. Families enjoyed giant lawn games, music, a blow-up slide, raffles, a scavenger hunt throughout the gardens and food and beverages provided by PepsiCo, raising more than $5,000 for PCF. 1. Erica Baevsky 2. Peter Wilcox, Bonnie Shyer, Rob Astorino and David Buchwald 3. Stefanie Bartell-Zednik and Jordana Holovach 4. Lauren Friedman and Jamie Levinson 5. Keith, Remy, Marsha and Edward Walker 6. Erica, Jeff and Andi Baevsky 7. Marcia Walker and Bonnie Shyer
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FOODIES SHARING THE LOVE
Hundreds of local residents and nearby visitors attended Cross County Shopping Center’s “Foodie Fridays” Food Truck & Music Fest in Yonkers recently. During the event, Cross County Shopping Center and representatives from participating food trucks presented Food Bank for Westchester with a $4,000 donation to support the organization’s efforts to end hunger in Westchester County.
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8. Leslie Gordon, Carl Calabro and Liz Pollack
JUMPING FOR JOY Equestrian fans gathered under picture-perfect skies as the 2017 American Gold Cup came to a thrilling conclusion at Old Salem Farm in North Salem. Some 40 top athletes competed in the $216,000 Longines FEI World Cup Jumping New York event, which saw Devin Ryan take first place aboard 8-year-old gelding Eddie Blue; Mclain Ward in second, riding HH Callas; and Jack Towell finishing third with Lucifer V. The event was the culmination of the week of world-class show jumping at the premier East Coast facility. Each year the Gold Cup draws throngs of enthusiastic supporters with family-friendly activities, shopping, entertainment and celebrity sightings as well. Photographs by Robin Costello and The Book LLC.
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Marcie Nolletti Dawn Longworth and Tom Murphy Winner Devin Ryan aboard Eddie Blue Nicol Dominiuk Robin Costello, Leanne Longworth, Lisa Cash and Patti Moson 14. Ann Speckmen and Anthony Joyce 15. Katie Robinson and Stephanie Germain 16. Matt and Allison Maleri and Madison, Michele, Alan and Chris Bietsch
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KENYA, TANZANIA, ETHIOPIA & RWANDA TOURS Exceptional Camps & Lodges | Authentic Experiences | Private tours for groups and families with children
LIONS, LEOPARDS, ELEPHANTS, GIRAFFES, RHINOS, WILDEBEESTS, CHEETAHS AND MORE See the Great Migration, Mountain Gorillas, the Maasai, & Tribes of the Omo Valley
“OUR ADVENTURE IN EAST AFRICA WAS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE, FROM THE EXTRAVAGANCE OF WILDLIFE IN AMBOSELI AND REMOTE VILLAGES IN SAMBURU, TO BREAKFAST OVERLOOKING NGORONGORO AND SCENERY ALONG THE PLAINS OF THE SERENGETI. THIS WAS A TRIP NOT EASILY FORGOTTEN.” — Evan Anthony, Cambridge MA
All packages include photography lessons | John Rizzo is a former Newsweek photographer, has worked on 6 continents & winner of two Arts Alive Grants, 2013 &2016
John Rizzo Photography | 405 Tarrytown Rd. Suite 1302, White Plains, NY 10607 | (646) 221-6186 worldwide mobile | www.johnrizzophoto.com
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IN PAULIE’S MEMORY
Recently, the PaulieStrong Foundation hosted its second annual “Drive for a Cure” golf outing and fundraising dinner at the Scarsdale Golf Club in Hartsdale. More than 100 golfers participated in the daylong event and evening gala where more than $100,000 was raised. All proceeds were donated to the Department of Pediatrics at Memorial Sloan Kettering in memory of Paul Ulysses Jimenez Jr., a 10-year-old child from Scarsdale who died of a rare cancer in 2016. The foundation raises awareness and much-needed funds for childhood cancer research. 1. Joanna Kreatsoulas Jimenez, Paul, Edie and Juliette Jimenez 2. Joanna Kreatsoulas Jimenez and Paul Jimenez
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TREASURE TROVE
Collectors and vendors of New Milford and nearby towns presented their second annual “Treasure Trunk Antique Show” at the Litchfield Crossings in New Milford. Families and friends enjoyed a day of shopping and good food, while avid collectors and novices alike indulged their passion for timeless antiques and showcased some of most eclectic treasures in the area. The show highlighted the rich history of Connecticut and the role it has played in the region as a hub for business and commerce. All vendor space proceeds went to benefit the New Milford Historical Society. Photographs by Leonardo Magrini. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
Claudia Haas Gordon, Tiggy and Terri McCarthy Joe Jones Ted Hines, Kristen Gizzi and Justin Krul Loretta Kretchko Aurelia and Joe Snow Carrie and Erin Porter Darrell Baldwin John Lydon Pat Hembrook and Judy Messer Susan Snow
HAPPENINGS AT THE BURNS
A panel discussion followed a screening of “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” Al Gore’s fi lm on climate change, at the Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC) in Pleasantville. On another recent occasion, actress Anna Kendrick visited for a Q&A about her new book, “Scrappy Little Nobody.” She was interviewed by Janet Maslin, JBFC board president, and a screening of her favorite fi lm, “His Girl Friday,” followed the conversation. 14. 15.
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Janet Maslin and Anna Kendrick Brian Ackerman, Paul Gallay, Manna Jo Greene, Michael Shank, Karenna Gore and Nancy Vann
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LISA CASH
ANNE JORDAN DUFFY
BARBARA HANLON
MARCIA PFLUG
PATRICE SULLIVAN
November 28 • 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM The Water’s Edge at Giovanni’s Darien, CT
More Than Pink Luncheon
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Program: Christina Baker Kline author of “The Orphan Train: A Novel” in conversation with Kristi Olds, WFSB Honoree: Camelia Lawrence, MD St. Vincent’s Medical Center
KomenLuncheon.org #MoreThanPink
WE WONDER:
WIT
ARE WE TOO AT TACHED TO TECHNOLOGY? *
Rob Bernstein
owner of Mount Kisco Sports, North Salem resident
singer-songwriter, Briarcliff Manor resident
makeup artist at Via Michelle, Chappaqua resident
co-owner, Whim Clothing Store, Manhattan resident
Greg Hoffman
Jeannine Jacobs
“I think people are way too attached to technology. Everybody looks down; nobody looks around anymore. People don't look out; they don’t look at other people. They just look at their phones. That is what they do.”
“Yes, I just think about the times before class started when everyone was on their phones. Oftentimes a teacher would walk in and say sarcastically, ‘Wow, we used to actually have to make friends.’ We say we are lonely or don’t have enough friends, but the answer can be right in front of us if we put our phones down.”
“Definitely, the everyday machinery we use is all techbased. Everything is so black and white. There is no gray area like there used to be.”
“Yes, because my 60-yearold parents stare at their phones when we go out to dinner, and I have to tell them to get off like they are children. It’s really annoying.”
“Yes, as a society we are very addicted. It’s too much. I have a hard time pulling my 11-year-old daughter away from it at home, because she has her MacBook, her phone and her iPad. If I take her away from one, she is on to the next. I feel like we have to leave the house.”
Allegra Carter
Daniel Malone
Jamie Ekstrom
Alice Salvatore
Brittany Scott
stay-at-home mom, Armonk Resident
Selamawit Tesfaye
manager at Mount Kisco Sports, Tarrytown resident
master hairstylist at Indulgence Salon, Katonah resident
Pace University graduate student, Queens resident
owner, Lalibela Ethiopian Cuisine, Irvington resident
“I think people now, especially young people, rely too much on technology. When there is something that can be figured out without technology, they still go right to their phones. I think it is too much of a ‘backup plan’.”
“Yes. My pet peeve is when a family of four goes out to dinner and not one of them is speaking to one another. They are all on their devices, the whole time.”
“I have noticed within myself and a lot of society that using our phones for everything is integral to our lives. Whether it's our putting events in our iCalendar or checking Facebook when you wake up or communicating with friends and family, everything is done through our phones. Yes, we are attached to it because that is all we do and it is all we see everyone else doing, too.”
“I have a 4-year-old who always wants to be on the phone or watch a show, or play a (video) game. I grew up playing outside, but he’d rather play on my phone or watch TV. We are too connected to technology.”
*Asked throughout central and northern Westchester County at various businesses. 136
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