The Friends of the Northport/East Northport Public Library invite the public to an Author’s Talk and Book signing at Northport Public Library, 151 Laurel Ave., Northport on Wednesday, June 22 at 7 p.m. Miller Place author Orel Protopopescu will discuss her book, Dancing Past the Light: TheLife of Tanaquil Le Clercq, wife of Balanchine and Ballerina
Author Orel Protopopescu
Tanaquil “Tanny” Le Clercq, George Balanchine’s muse, ballerina, last wife, and teacher was a unique fusion of comical wit and dramatic allure. She never lost her sense of fun, even after she contracted polio in her 20s, when she could only dance with her hands and voice, while seated in a wheelchair, to demonstrate steps for her students at the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Protopopescu will share extracts from films and photos, some never before published, as well as passages from her intimate biography of Le Clercq. This biography also contains fascinating stories about the world of ballet, dancers, musicians and choreographers.
Choreographer George Balanchine once lived in Fort Salonga before he was married to Le Clercq.
Orel Protopopescu, poet, author, educator and translator, has written prize-winning works for children and adults. A Thousand Peaks, Poems from China (with Siyu Liu) was selected for the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age, 2003 list. Orel won the Oberon poetry prize in 2010 and 2020.
The event is free and open to the public. Copies of the book will be available to purchase (cash or check only). For reservations, please contact the Northport Public Library at 631-261-6930 or online at www.nenpl.org,
In honor of her debut book, Journey Into Awareness: Reclaiming Your Life, licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) Karin M. Keyes will be at a book launch and signingevent on Friday, May 6 at Pathways to Health located at 464 Route 25A in Miller Place from 7 to 9 p.m.
Author Karin M. Keyes
“I’m very excited!” said Keyes, noting that her book is reflections on everyday life from the perspective of love, honesty, and inner power, based on the knowledge of one’s inner divinity. Much of the focus of her work has been on the effects of childhood trauma and the process of restoring a healthy sense of self following such trauma.
The book “comes from a very personal place and need to help others,” Keyes said, adding, “This book is a compilation of realizations that I have come to for myself along the way, especially following a couple of the most traumatic years of my life.”
“More than anything, I have become aware that we are all on this journey together. There is nothing that we go through in isolation. It is only by joining together, learning from each other, holding each other up when we cannot stand on our own or falling into the arms of those we love and trust when we, ourselves, can’t do it on our own that we can truly thrive and be all that we are meant to be. It is my hope that my experiences and those of the people who I have come to love so deeply will offer something of value to you in your own journey,” she added.
Keyes has been in private practice on Long Island for the last 20 years, with a focus on alternative therapies, including EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), clinical hypnotherapy and energy-focused therapies, incorporating spirituality into her work.
Keyes also has a background in addictions therapy, having worked in the substance abuse field for 10 years. She felt so deeply about what she learned that she felt a need to help others by sharing what she had discovered and went on to become an LCSW in order to help others find their own clarity and purpose in life.
Keyes’ blog, Our Spiritual Journey: Finding Our True Selves is located at https://ourspiritualjourneybykarinkeyes.blogspot.com/ and offers readers inspirational self-help theories and inspiration for tapping into one’s true self. She also administers a Facebook community page, Karin M. Keyes, LCSW: Spiritual Journey (@KeyesSpiritualJourney), and can be found on Instagram at @Karin.Keyes.
Books will be available at this event. To register, please call 631-642-2200.
At the suggestion of his daughter, nursing home resident Sam Fox records his life story. “Now where to being with this taping for Eliza? I was a decent man, I suppose.” In that “I suppose,” author/journalist Roni Robbins sets in motion the engaging but unreliable narrator in Hands of Gold, subtitled One Man’s Quest to the Find the Silver Lining in Misfortune (Amsterdam Publishers). Sam refers to some of his dormant experiences as “a ravaging tapeworm” that he wanted to purge. What follows is a textured, first-person narrative reflecting turn-of-the-century European life and North American immigration, as well as struggles with money, family, and health.
Robbins’ novel is based on cassette tapes left by her maternal grandfather. In a decade-spanning journey, Hands of Gold’s sweeping nature never loses its intimacy.
Sam Fox was born in Jacovo, Hungary, in 1905, the ninth child of a poor Jewish family that would eventually grow to thirteen (with his widowed father marrying his wife’s sister to produce the additional offspring). It is a life of farming and prayer for the family.
Robbins provides a vivid depiction of poverty, threatened by violence and unrest, both in the form of anti-Semitism and the threat of war. She creates the cramped, cold conditions of the shtetl, a large family where servings of food were almost rations. As Sam’s mother would tell them, “That’s what you have and that’s what you eat.”
Robbins wisely eschews the easy, idyllic family life for one of constant challenges, exacerbated by Sam’s father’s passing and his elder brother’s return. Always in the background is the hope of America—the land where the streets are paved with gold. At age eighteen, Sam escapes the family (as well as dodge army service), ending up destitute in Prague, only to return home. With his second attempt at liberation, he spends time in Germany before crossing the Atlantic and jumping ship in Montreal. The book is a Brave New World adventure story, a unique take on “Go West, young man.”
In Canada, he falls in love with Hannah Stein. The seamstress-Yiddish theatres’ singer is dynamic, self-assured, and strong with an annulled marriage. From the first date to marriage and beyond, the courtship is beautifully chronicled.
At age twenty-one, Sam snuck over the Canadian border. His first impression is not the idealized United States. “As I stepped off the platform, I noted how closely packed the buildings, how shmutzy the streets were with blackened snow and fetid water …” Four of his brothers and four of his sisters had already made homes in America. But even then, it is not a joyous reunion; his sister, Sophie, greets him with a mixed reception.
He witnesses the conflict between immigrants who have forged uneasy assimilation and those who still cling to their old-world Jewish traditions. Robbins never evokes anything less than an honest picture.
Sam finds work and starts a family. Central to his story is tuberculosis developed at age twenty-six. The repercussions and medical setbacks coupled with the separations from his family plague him for years to come. He is in and out of employment, often spending weeks in the hospital or rest facilities, trying to work his way back to Hannah and his children. As in Europe, his existence was marred by poverty. The book chronicles the organizations that supported people like Sam—both government bureaus and Jewish agencies. The services aided but did not fully alleviate the burdens faced by poor and sick people.
No book on this subject can avoid the effects of the Holocaust. Much of Sam’s family is lost in Europe. Sam’s oldest son served in the post-World War II army, and his experience going through the Displaced Persons camps is poignant and powerful.
Sam ponders generational gaps and muses on the contrast of his childhood with his children. “My children, like most, didn’t comprehend how good they had it. When I grew up, I didn’t always have shoes to wear […] Only on Friday nights did we have to wear shoes. They didn’t necessarily fit properly, but luckily, we only had to wear them for a few hours […] Children learn more when they have their own families to support …”
Robbins captures Sam’s voice, with its European cadence and liberal use of Yiddish. (The words are easily understood in context or using the book’s glossary.) Sam questions many of his choices but accepts their eventual outcomes.
“If there’s something I’ve learned, it’s that some days start out badly and don’t get any better. Other days are quite momentous and you have to hold tight to those. Be thankful for every day you experienced love and blessings because you never know when your faith will be tested again.”
Hands of Gold explores and celebrates the gratitude of one man’s soul. Pick up a copy online Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. For more information on the author, visit www.ronirobbins.com.
Jonny Hamilton of Greenlawn has a gift for visual arts and creative work. After becoming a father and reading one too many poorly-written children’s books, he decided to try writing his own. Hamilton’s second book, The Snowbaby, follows a just born snow-pal as he explores the world for the first time. The simple story and sweet characters are enhanced by Hamilton’s captivating and textured illustrations. The book was a hit with his own children, and will surely capture the eyes and imaginations of little ones during this especially snowy winter.
Do you write for a living, or is this a new undertaking for you?
For the past 15 years, I’ve worked as the creative lead for an advertising network, but I’m an animator at heart. I went to school for digital media production and found myself drawn to the graphic design side of things. I started working professionally in Portland right out of school in a few boutique production and animation studios with some truly inspiring talent. On a personal trip to NYC, I decided on a whim to send my reel around. I ended up getting a job offer and moved east two weeks later.
Writing is a relatively new undertaking — I drew comics for my friends in grade school and wrote absurd short stories in high school (very much inspired by Monty Python sketches and Steve Martin’s short stories), but I never really thought of myself as a writer. I suppose I sort of backed into it more as an illustrator looking for a story.
Did you read a lot when you were younger? What books inspired you?
I didn’t read a lot as a kid. I was and still am a slow reader, so it’s hard to make time.I do have very fond memories of the books of my childhood that are probably standard for my generation. Eric Carle, Maurice Sendak, and Arnold Lobel really resonated with me both visually and from a storytelling standpoint. And now that I have kids, I’ve become a big fan of Mo Willems, Adam Rubin & Daniel Salmieri, and Dav Pilkey.
What inspired you to start writing?
I’ve always been interested in creating children’s media in general. I grew up with Sesame Street, the Muppets, Mister Rogers, etc. I had a deep love for all that stuff, and was a fan well past the age when most kids outgrew it. As an adult I did some freelance work making animated educational shorts for preschoolers and enjoyed it so much I started making some on my own.
When I became a parent, I was exposed to this whole world of children’s books. The thing is, for every great book you get your kids, you somehow also end up with three terrible books. So after a few years, I thought, ‘I should give writing a kids’ book a try.’
My twin sons were 5 and our youngest was around 1, so we had a new baby around. The twins loved anything that had to do with babies, so I thought that was fertile ground to start with. I wrote my first book, What Babies Do at Night, and then The Snowbaby, and gave them to the twins as Christmas gifts.
My kids loved the books, partly because they recognized themselves as the characters, but mostly because I nailed their favorite subject. It was the reaction from other family members that got me to publish. Everyone seemed genuinely impressed if not surprised that it was actually a decent little book.
What is the ‘The Snowbaby’ about?
The Snowbaby is the story of a curious and good-natured newborn exploring an entirely new world. He is fascinated by everyone he meets including a fox, rabbit and cardinal, and eventually finds just what he needs: his family.
How long did it take to write?
My first book took almost three months, and I really struggled to get through it. I think I was trying too hard to get everything in, as if it were the only book I would ever write. With The Snowbaby I allowed it to be much simpler. I started with the illustrations, and the story just emerged.
Tell us more about the illustrations.
Each of my books has a different illustrative style, but I’ve received the most positive feedback about the artwork in The Snowbaby. I’m a huge fan of the background artwork in the Peanuts animated holiday specials, so that’s where I started with The Snowbaby. I used watercolor washes throughout to create an atmosphere of winter and then added bright splashes of color here and there with the cardinal, fox, etc.
Did you publish in the traditional way, or did you self-publish? What company did you choose and why?
I spent about a year sending out query letters for The Snowbaby, and my latest book The Annual Elf. As expected, I received many “Thank you, but …” responses. I finally decided to google “Self-Publishing Children’s Books” and I found a great video that showed how to do it “in 10 minutes” on Amazon through Kindle Direct Publishing.
Well, it took quite a bit longer than 10 minutes, but it wasn’t too difficult. There are pros and cons of publishing through this service. There are limited options for sizing, so I had to rework the layout. The color in the printing varies from batch to batch, and paperback is the only option for a book as short as The Snowbaby. The biggest benefit is you don’t have to order a bunch of copies. You just make it available, and they print them as needed per individual order.
Is there a particular message or lesson you hope to share through this book?
I hope they experience a feeling of love and kindness that everyone deserves.
What is the target age for this book?
From ages 2 to 7 seems to be the sweet spot. One of my sons brought it into his kindergarten class and the class sent me a poster where every student drew their favorite scenes. It was an incredibly touching gift (Thanks, Mrs. Gutheil)!
Jonny Hamilton’s books are available for purchase at www.amazon.com/author/jonnyhamilton. View an animated version of The Snowbaby by searching for “Jonny Hamilton The Snowbaby” on YouTube, and keep up with Hamilton on Instagram @jonny_hamilton_author.
Left, the author with her birth mother, Mireille Comtois, in 2011.
Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel
I’ll Wait for You, subtitled An Adoption Memoir (Red Penguin Books), is Eileen Mary Coyne Resta’s honest and open account of her search for and discovery of her birth mother. Born Marie Monique Comtois, the author presents an account that is both a quest for information and an exploration of the power of family—and families. While many works on the topic focus on “nature vs. nurture,” Resta spotlights her tale’s human aspects and interpersonal events.
Author Eileen Mary Coyne Resta
Resta was born in Montreal on June 6, 1949. She was adopted three months later and brought home to Brooklyn on September 9. The family eventually moved to Long Island, settling in Greenlawn. She grew up in a happy family, along with an adopted brother, Brian. She was surrounded by love and acceptance. However, the siblings were told not to share their origins, as there was often a stigma associated with adoption.
The book traces her childhood through marriage and, eventually, her own children. Her narrative is a well-crafted and informative portrait of life in the 1950s and 60s: bike rides and dancing school, secretarial college, and the Manhattan commute on the 7:07. She describes meeting her husband, Claude, their subsequent courtship, and the life they built together. Resta has lived with an appreciation of every moment, relishing gifts both large and small. At age thirty-seven, she returned to school and embarked on a career as an elementary school teacher and then a reading specialist.
The matter of her birth family followed her—as it does all children in the same situation. So much comes from a sense of being different: “I think most adoptees miss looking at a family member and seeing a little of themselves looking back.” She is not bitter but ruminative. She found that reflection with the birth of her daughter: “When my daughter was born, it was a new experience.”
But still, questions always lingered:
As I reflect on my life as an adopted child, and its part in my growing up, I remember wondering who my birth parents might have been but then quickly putting it out of my mind. Why dwell on what you cannot know and especially on something that could upset your parents? Adoptees often fantasize about who their birth parents are. I read that most adoptees think they are descended from either royalty or criminals.
It was not until 2010 that she sought her birth mother. By then, both her parents and her brother had passed away. The book thoroughly details her search. Starting with the orphanage where she stayed briefly, she explains each step in the odyssey to being reunited with her birth mother, Mireille Comtois, who had looked for her several times over the years. The fear of rejection is one that haunted Resta. “I think my adoptees may feel as if they didn’t count, knowing the occasion of their birth was not one for celebration.”
‘I’ll Wait for You’
The day of their first meeting was April 14, 2011; Resta was sixty-one, and her birth mother was eighty-one, living in a nursing home, suffering from mild dementia. However, their bond was immediate and beautiful in Resta’s moving description. They were able to share a short but rich relationship. In addition, Resta gained three brothers and their families, developing a lasting connection.
Family is the overriding theme in I’ll Wait for You. Throughout her life, Resta has put family center. Whether it is the one in which she grew up, her husband’s family, or her newfound Canadian clan, the power of belonging is one that she clearly celebrates with a full heart, finding new pieces of herself. She shares both her idyllic moments as well as her struggles. She does not shy away from doubts. But ultimately, her positivity permeates the entire story. She has lived in gratitude, from the family that chose her to finding the woman who gave her life.
In one of the final chapters, “Reflections,” Resta opens up about many of the more introspective thoughts that arose from her adoption, contrasting her personality with that of her adoptive mother, touching on their “ups and downs.” This led to speculation on the similarities between her and Mireille. Having met Mireille towards the end of her life, many questions remained unanswered. “Reflections” is followed by “Peace,” an appropriate coda and a tribute to a certain amount of acceptance and emotional closure. While she ponders some of the lost opportunities, she embraces her achievement: “The peace I was able to bring to her and the peace she gave to me.”
The book’s dedication best sums up Resta’s goal: “This memoir is dedicated to my two mothers. The one who gave me life and the one who raised me. One from afar and one close and constant. I’m forever grateful to both.”
I’ll Wait For You: An Adoption Memoir is available online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
Kristin Hannah's 'The Four Winds' was the most requested eBook and
audiobook among Suffolk County library patrons in 2021.
Libraries continue to provide a vital service to their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Readers around the world discovered or rediscovered a love of reading thanks to library digital lending of eBooks and audiobooks, which allowed them to safely seek and enjoy books from home.
Live-brary, consisting of 56 libraries in Suffolk County, recently announced it surpassed two million digital checkouts in 2021. The Public Libraries of Suffolk County have been providing readers 24/7 access to eBooks and audiobooks for several years through OverDrive and its award-winning Libby reading app. Reader interest has grown every year.
The top five eBook titles borrowed through Live-brary’s digital collection in 2021 were:
1. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
3. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
4. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
5. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
The top five audiobook titles borrowed through Live-brary’s digital collection in 2021 were:
1. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
3. A Promised Land by Barack Obama
4. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
5. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
The top five Young Adult eBooks Suffolk County borrowed in 2021 were:
1. Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards
2. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
3. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyers
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah
J. Maas
5. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The top children’s eBooks that Suffolk County patrons borrowed in 2021 were:
1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End
byJeff Kinney
2. Dog Man Mothering Heights by Dav
Pilkey
3. Guts by Raina Telgemeier
4. Cat Kid Comic Club by Dav Pilkey
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
by J.K. Rowling
Residents in Suffolk County just need a valid library card to access digital books from Live-brary’s OverDrive-powered digital collection.
Readers can use any major device, including Apple®, Android™, Chromebook™ and Kindle® (U.S. only). Visit livebrary.overdrive.com or download the Libby app to get started and borrow eBooks and audiobooks anytime, anywhere.◆
This article first appeared in Prime Times – a special supplement by TBR News Media.
“Ballet is an ephemeral art, embedded in the mortal human body.”
Author Orel Protopopescu
Principal ballerina Tanaquil Le Clercq (1929-2000) was the fourth and final wife of choreographer and founder of the New York City Ballet, George Balanchine. Tanaquil—known as “Tanny”—was a muse to Balanchine as well as the genre-crossing Jerome Robbins. Both legendary artists created immortal works for Le Clercq. At twenty-seven, she contracted polio, ending her career as a dancer but not her connection to the art of dance.
Illustrated by 100 photos, Dancing Past the Light (University Press of Florida) is a fascinating account of Le Clercq—her vocation, her challenges, and the underlying strength and humanity that allowed her to triumph in the face of a devastating illness. Author Orel Protopopescu provides almost a dual biography of Le Clercq and Balanchine, two lives that remained inseparable even after their divorce.
Le Clercq descended from affluent, educated people: “On both sides, Tammy’s immediate ancestors were adventurous, artistic, worldly, and liberal-minded for their times.” However, her parent’s fiscal situation was tenuous. Her St. Louis debutante mother, Edith, was the driving force behind her early dancing, enrolling her at New York City’s King-Coit School. As a scholarship student in theatre and art, she performed for the first time at five years old. By age seven, she was studying at Mikhail Mordkin’s ballet school. She entered Balanchine’s School of American Ballet at age eleven, awarded one of the school’s first full scholarships.
Her acceptance to the school coincided with the final dissolution of her parent’s marriage, strained by her father’s excessive drinking. The couple separated in 1946. Her father would remarry; her mother would remain single and a constant if sometimes unwanted presence in Le Clercq’s life. “The umbilical cord had stretched a bit further over the years but was never severed.”
The author provides detailed accounts of the demanding training, the rehearsals, and especially the performances. She conveys Le Clercq as an artist-in-motion, and the descriptions are exceptional. Additionally, Protopopescu traces her rise in the company, balancing the personal and professional particulars with dozens of interviews with friends and colleagues.
At the center is her connection with Balanchine whom she saw as “an old fogey” until she began receiving more personal instruction. Balanchine was a demanding director, influencing every area of his dancers’ lives, particularly the female dancers.
Balanchine preferred “thin, tall female dancers with long necks and limbs.” Le Clercq epitomized this. While there were hints of Balanchine’s interest, by the time she was twenty, he was no longer hiding it. There were strong possibilities that he sabotaged or at least manipulated elements of her personal and romantic life.
The Le Clercq-Balanchine courtship and marriage are explored with great insight, including the complications rooted in the age difference and Balanchine’s need to seek a younger muse. Balanchine proposed Christmas 1952. She was twenty-three to his forty-eight. Without hesitation, she excepted, and they were married on New Year’s Eve. But, true to form, the work came first. They premiered the ballet Concertino the night before.
Le Clercq worked well and often with the mercurial and demanding Jerome Robbins. As with Balanchine, the complicated professional-personal relationship is surveyed with respect and candor and the complex triangle that existed between the three.
Protopopescu provides a visceral report of the European tour of 1956, during which Le Clercq contracted polio. At that time, her marriage to Balanchine was waning, and she had no desire to go. Following her contraction of the disease, Le Clercq faced a long recovery and the harsh reality of knowing that she would never dance again. “I’m not a dancer anymore. Who am I?” This was the question she faced after over two decades of dancing.
A brutal, vivid picture of a polio victim follows, showing both the physical and psychological pains and the life limitations. But it also shows Le Clercq transforming by fearlessly facing the problems. As her friend Pat McBride explained: “Her wit and strength never left her nor did she indulge in self-pity. It was always a treat to be in her vivacious company.”
Eventually, she coached and taught at Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem using hand gestures—“a sort of balletic sign language”—to convey the choreography while seated in her wheelchair. The author touches upon the issue of race in the dance world and the lack of diversity and underrepresentation of African-Americans in Balanchine’s company. While not an activist, Le Clercq’s work with the DTH spoke volumes.
Dancing Past the Light will be of particular interest to ballet fans; it is an extraordinary celebration of a life in dance, with its highs and lows, challenges and rewards. It is an honest study of the people with whom one makes art. It is also a beautiful, authentic portrait of an exceptionally strong individual who faced a cataclysmic shift and rose above it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
A resident of Miller Place, Orel Protopopescu is an award-winning author, poet, and translator. Dancing Past the Light: The Life of Tanaquil Le Clercq is her first biography. Pick up a copy of the book at Amazon.com, or BarnesandNoble.com. For more information on the author, visit www.orelprotopopescu.com.
Book trailers are the latest rage being used to grab the attention of potential readers who rely on social media for their news. Just like movie previews, an eye-catching trailer can jump start a book’s title recognition, broaden its audience, and pump-up sales.
“We live in a visual culture where people connect through imagery,” said author, Jerry Mikorenda. “With the pandemic limiting social interaction, I needed something that could viscerally connect readers to my novel on an emotive level.”
That book, The Whaler’s Daughter (Regal House Publishing), a historical seafaring novel, complicated the visual storytelling.
“To convey the story in a meaningful way, I needed experienced outdoor videographers,” added Mikorenda. “I thought nearby Five Towns College has a Visual Arts program with students looking for real life experience in producing the kind of scenes my trailer needed. It seemed like a good match.”
The result is an evocative, two-minute video shot on Long Island; acted, and produced by Long Island students.
“For me, the most rewarding part was seeing how these young artists embraced the material and the extra effort they put into bringing the story to life,” added the author. “I hope it gave them a glimpse into the business side of the Arts.”
You can watch the book trailer for The Whaler’s Daughter by clicking on the YouTube link below.
The Whaler’s Daughter takes place in 1910 on a whaling station in New South Wales, Australia, where twelve-year-old Savannah Dawson lives with her widowed father. The story is about unexpressed grief, and how friendship can turn revenge into repentance, anger to empathy, and hurt into hopefulness.
Author’s Bio: Jerry’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Herald, The Gotham Center History Blog, and the 2010 Encyclopedia of New York City. His biography America’s First Freedom Rider: Elizabeth Jennings, Chester A. Arthur, and the Early Fight for Civil Rights was published in 2020. His short stories have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle,BULL, Cowboy Jamboree, and Gravel Magazine as well as other journals. His historical novel, The Whaler’s Daughter was published this fall.
Read a TBR News Media review of the book by Jeffrey Sanzel here.
4th grade students from the Three Village School District take a tour of Setauket. Photo from TVHS
The Three Village Historical Society has published an excellent series of short works highlighting the North Shore region. Founders Day: Discovering Setauket, Brookhaven’s Original Settlement is “a walking tour guide for families who love exploring and bringing history to life.” It joins several other excellent offerings from the Society. The slender volumes are colorful and well-researched, with dozens of illustrations and photos. The goal is “to create meaningful experiences for families interested in exploring community.” Previous publications include George Washington’s LI Spy Ring, Down the Ways – The Wooden Ship Era, and Setauket and Brookhaven History (the latter two recently reviewed in TBR News Media).
Founders Day is written by the Society’s Founders Day Committee: Katherine Downs-Reuter, Barbara M. Russell, Donna Smith, Lindsey Steward-Goldberg, and Beverly C. Tyler. The impetus (Founders Day, created in 2006) was to “enhance [the] Three Village Central School District’s fourth grade students’ understanding of local history […] using the Vance Locke murals displayed in the Setauket Elementary School auditorium.”
The cover of ‘Founders Day’
As in previous guides, there is a well-balanced combination of archival documents, paintings dating back to the eighteenth century, and historical and current photographs. The book gives clear and concise instructions, with the tour beginning in front of the Setauket School, Main Street, Setauket, and concluding at the Emma S. Clark Library. Throughout, there are detailed explanations of building markers (coats of arms, inscriptions, plaques), archaeological points of interest, and architectural details. The writers even point out errors: “The date on the plaque on Patriot’s Rock, August 23, is wrong by two days. Information on historical markers can sometimes be wrong. It is always a good idea to check with a more original source.” This detail presents a valuable and telling lesson in the pursuit of history and historical accuracy.
Brief family genealogies are provided in appropriate circumstances. Some sites get a thorough background. The Setauket Grist Mill rightfully warrants an entire page, given its importance to the community. A detailed account of Tyler Bros. General Store receives two detailed pages that include quotes from Lucy Hart, born in February 1899. Here, there is a discussion about the lives and fates of African Americans in the Setauket area. The text is clear, concise, and descriptive, ideal for the walking tour and a stimulus for further and deeper investigations of the various locales.
4th grade students from the Three Village School District take a tour of Setauket. Photo from TVHS
Travel and transportation, farming, fishing, and folklore are all included. In addition, the final page contains a list of vocabulary words and terms used within the book. This inclusion further emphasizes that Founders Day, along with the many works of the Three Village Historical Society, are ideal for classroom use and an opportunity for families to explore the area in which they live.
An important note. All the recent publications carry a version of this message: “We wish to acknowledge that we are sitting on the land of the Setalcott indigenous people in Setauket and we pay respect to the Setalcott people whose land is where we live, work and explore.” This note embraces an important and growing awareness, recognizing the impact of the area’s indigenous people.
Once again, the Three Village Historical Society has produced a novel and valuable tool for community discovery.
Copies of Founders Day: Discovering Setauket, Brookhaven’s Original Settlement are available at the Three Village Historical Society Gift Shop, 93 North Country Road, Setauket and online at www.tvhs.org.
Erica Cirino with her book, ‘Thicker Than Water.’ Photo from Erica Cirino
Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel
“Plastic shapes human identity and speeds up the rate at which we move across the world and through our days, connecting people and allowing us to express who we are to each other. And yet plastic also helps us destroy. Plastic has saved our lives while taking others’ away. Plastic is a miracle. Plastic is a scourge.”
Author Erica Cirino
Erica Cirino’s Thicker Than Water (Island Press) is a frank and pointed examination of one of the most toxic elements of our “throwaway” culture. “Almost every single person alive today uses plastic on a daily basis, most of which is designed for minutes or seconds of use before it no longer serves a designated purpose.” Cirino, a gifted author whose writings have been featured in Scientific American and The Atlantic, has penned a smart, passionate exploration of one of the most troubling and challenging issues. Subtitled “The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis,” the book examines a problem of overwhelming global impact.
The book’s first part focuses on Cirino’s 3,000-mile journey on the S/Y Christianshavn to the Pacific Ocean’s Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Located in the turbulent North Pacific Gyre, this is “the most notoriously plastic polluted stretch of ocean in the world.” And while “the patch” has been described as a “static, floating pile of plastic” (i.e., a “plastic island”), the reality is much graver. “These waters are more akin to a soup to which humanity has added an unknown number of plastic items and pieces. The plastic is commonly suspended right below the surface, pushed just of out sight, constantly and unpredictably stirred by the rolling sea.” Her thesis is clear: While plastic defines our culture, it should not be allowed to determine our future.
The book features vivid descriptions. Whether depicting a meal or the rescue of a sea turtle from “ghost fishing,” nothing escapes her insight, expressed in often lyrical prose:
“Out at sea, time is not measured in hours or minutes, but by the intensity of the burning sun, the oscillating fade-sparkle-fade of thousands of stars and specks of glowing algae, the size and shape of the moon, the furor or calm of the sea […] The sea can show us what it is in life we need, and what we can live without.”
But the writing never masks the underlying and driving force of the dire situation.
Throughout, Cirino investigates the shift from the historical use of plants and animals to fossil fuels. She traces the involved reliance on the latter and the products created from it. She shares a comprehensive understanding. “Plastic is so permanent because of its structure on the molecular level.” She clarifies both microplastic and the even smaller particles—nanoplastic—and their invasion of the food chain.
The facts are harrowing. “About 40 percent of the plastic used today is actually not even really used by people—instead, as packaging, it covers or holds the foods and goods we purchase and is simply torn off and thrown away so we can access what’s inside.” The flimsy, disposable plastic is tossed, sometimes after a few moments’ use. “In 2015, experts estimated the amount of plastic in the oceans would outweigh fish by the year 2050 […] By 2020, humans had created enough petrochemical-based plastic to outweigh the mass of all marine and land animals combined, by a factor of two.”
And while the material presented is alarming, Cirino is never alarmist, never resorting to sensationalism. Instead, facing such devastating research, she maintains a fair and fairly objective view.
‘Thicker Thank Water’
When on shipboard or in the laboratory, she presents the science to inform and engage the reader. There is a wealth of data from the manufacture of plastics to the associated chemical pollution, from oceans to fresh waters. For example, she depicts the research done on human-ingested plastic with a mannequin that emulates human breathing. Postdoc Alvise Vianello, from Denmark’s Aalborg University, states: “From what we can tell, it’s possible people are breathing in around eleven pieces of microplastic per hour when indoors.”
The third part of the book tackles the frequently ignored environmental racism. Industrial plants are commonly erected in minority communities. Cirino focuses on Welcome, Louisiana, and its environs. The area of Louisiana is home to about one hundred and fifty industrial plants, dubbed Cancer Alley. There is a great deal of corruption surrounding these factories and complexes, with the companies permanently damaging the communities with chemical pollution. Furthermore, often the factories are built on top of presumed burial grounds of enslaved African Americans. This section highlights both environmental and sociological devastation.
Cirino connects the dots from plastic production to climate change. She has a sense of the irony that the pandemic briefly lowered our carbon footprint. Additionally, as renewable energies rise, fossil fuel corporations—notably big oil and gas—counter the lack of demand by turning ancient carbon stocks into plastic.
The final section of the book, “Cleaning It Up,” centers on solutions. Technical invention (trash wheels, booms, grates, etc.) and grassroots work (simply picking up garbage) are important. But, ultimately, the solution is a combination of public awareness through education, science, and systemic change of using less, or ideally, no plastic. “You wouldn’t just mop up water off your floor if your bathtub were overflowing,” says Malene Møhl of Plastic Change. “You’d turn off the tap.”
Taxes, bans, and other legislation, combined with the search for biodegradable resources (even using bacteria, fungi, and algae), face pushback from large industries, the complexity of plastic recycling, and our own desire for convenience.
It would be impossible to read this powerful book and not look at the world differently, both in the larger picture and day-to-day life. Contents of Thicker Than Water can be overwhelming—even paralyzing. But, in the end, Erica Cirino’s ideas stimulate thought, raise awareness, and, most importantly, are a call to action.
Thicker Than Water is available at IslandPress.org, Amazon.com, or BarnesandNoble.com. For more information on the author, visit www.ericacirino.com.
Tanaquil “Tanny” Le Clercq, George Balanchine’s muse, ballerina, last wife, and teacher was a unique fusion of comical wit and dramatic allure. She never lost her sense of fun, even after she contracted polio in her 20s, when she could only dance with her hands and voice, while seated in a wheelchair, to demonstrate steps for her students at the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Protopopescu will share extracts from films and photos, some never before published, as well as passages from her intimate biography of Le Clercq. This biography also contains fascinating stories about the world of ballet, dancers, musicians and choreographers.
Keyes has been in private practice on Long Island for the last 20 years, with a focus on alternative therapies, including EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), clinical hypnotherapy and energy-focused therapies, incorporating spirituality into her work.
Robbins wisely eschews the easy, idyllic family life for one of constant challenges, exacerbated by Sam’s father’s passing and his elder brother’s return. Always in the background is the hope of America—the land where the streets are paved with gold. At age eighteen, Sam escapes the family (as well as dodge army service), ending up destitute in Prague, only to return home. With his second attempt at liberation, he spends time in Germany before crossing the Atlantic and jumping ship in Montreal. The book is a Brave New World adventure story, a unique take on “Go West, young man.”
That book, The Whaler’s Daughter (Regal House Publishing), a historical seafaring novel, complicated the visual storytelling.
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