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'The Mount House', 1854 by William Sidney Mount (1807-1868), The Long Island Museum of American Art, History, & Carriages. Bequest of Ward Melville, 1977.

By Corey Geske

“When Gen. George Washington was passing through Stony Brook . . . Mother was at that time a little school girl, and stood and courtesyed [curtsied] to him while he raised his hat to her salutation — at the same time, her companions ran away.” 

— William Sidney Mount, 1859

American genre painter William Sidney Mount and English born watercolorist Alexander George Milne preserved the earliest known visual and recorded perspectives near their homes of what is today known as the Culper Spy Trail, the route followed in April 1790 by America’s first president George Washington on what was ostensibly a ‘victory tour’ of Long Island. Today, circumstantial evidence begs two questions: did Mount know the victory tour was a ‘cover story’ for thanking Long Island spies who helped win the American Revolution; and did Mount know his grandfather Jonas Hawkins was a spy?

When General Washington acknowledged the salutation of Julia Ann Hawkins (1782-1841), Mount’s future mother, on an April day in Stony Brook, he was, in effect and likely without knowing it, thanking the daughter of one of his spies. About eight years old at the time, Julia exhibited courageous respect while her “companions ran away.” She personified the courage of her father, Major Jonas Hawkins (1752-1817). Although not yet achieving military rank, Hawkins risked his life from December 1778 through mid-August 1779 as a courier in Washington’s Culper Spy Ring, which gathered and relayed intelligence from British occupied Long Island to the General’s headquarters during the war. 

In 1854, when William Sidney Mount (1807-1868) painted his ancestral family home, The Mount House, he chose the location where Julia may have seen Washington and the artist recorded the perspective Washington could have had from his carriage when he doffed his hat to Julia as she curtsied. Mount’s view includes a young girl seated on the roadside wall, a seeming leader of two boys who, in a visual counterpoint to his mother’s runaway companions, direct their attention toward her, while a gentleman wearing a Peter Stuyvesant-type coat surveys the scene from afar, as a distant reminder of the Hawkins family that helped found (1655) the Town of Brookhaven.

A few miles to the south in Smithtown, Alexander George Milne (1801-1865), an émigré from England c. 1834-1836, recorded, on at least four occasions, the route west in the direction Washington traveled, careful to focus on the architectural lines of the Widow Blydenburgh’s Tavern where Washington stopped about an hour after passing the Hawkins’ home. Milne’s expansive view of Smithtown, Long Island was completed in watercolors, c. 1857, three years after The Mount House. The Widow Blydenburgh’s Tavern is seen to the far right. In front of it, Milne detailed a sapling tree. Fenced for protection from roving farmstock, it was one of the nearly sixty ship-mast locust trees planted by Judge J. Lawrence Smith and Joseph Howell along Smithtown’s main thoroughfare, from April 17 to 22, 1855 and 1856, coincidentally, the April anniversaries of Washington’s tour, for the two years following Mount’s 1854 painting.

Milne’s inclusion of a sleigh with two horses halted before the Blydenburgh Tavern was a reminder of the four grey horses drawing Washington’s coach painted with his coat of arms and allegorical scenes of the four seasons by Florentine artist Giovanni Battista Cipriani. The President recorded the day in his diary: “Friday 23d. About 8 Oclock we left Roes [Tavern, East Setauket], and baited the Horses at Smiths Town, at a Widow Blidenbergs [Blydenburgh]–a decent House 10 Miles from Setalkat [Setauket]–thence 15 Miles to Huntington where we dined . . .”

Mother’s courage, grandfather’s daring as Culper Spy, breathe life into Mount’s painting 

Mount’s memory of his mother’s story was prefaced, “Good introduction to my sketch –,” which suggests this was an idea for what appears to have been a painting of Washington that was never done. Mount did, however, represent Washington in a finished work that offers a psychological clue to a conjectural Mount family view linking Washington’s 1790 visit to the espionage ring his grandfather Jonas Hawkins supported. 

‘Great-Grand-Father’s Tale of the Revolution – A Portrait of Rev. Zachariah Greene’, 1852, by William Sidney Mount.
Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mount’s 1852 portrait of Great-Grand-Father’s Tale of the Revolution includes a Jean-Antoine Houdon-inspired bust of the General indicated by the extended hand of the 94-year-old friend of Washington, the Rev. Zachariah Greene (1760-1858) of the Setauket Presbyterian Church. 

Mount portrays Greene seated at a table reminiscing to his three great-grandchildren in a pose similar to that of Washington, c. 1789-1796, in The Washington Family (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) by Edward Savage whose work was popularized and even reversed by later artists in an oval format that echoed Mount’s portrait of Greene. The last sitting for the President’s portrait by Savage was April 6, 1790, just before Washington’s tour, with perhaps the very same hat tipped to Julia Hawkins, placed at Washington’s extended hand upon the table where a plan for the new capital city of Washington was studied by the family. Mount translated the General’s hat as Greene’s upturned hat on a nearby chair. 

In his younger days, Greene had helped pull down the statue of King George III in Bowling Green after a reading of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776; then served as a corporal for Massachusetts and Connecticut in the American Revolution, being twice wounded at the battle of White Marsh, near Philadelphia, and at White Plains. He’d later become ‘a soldier of the cross’ and preach at Setauket Presbyterian Church for 52 years, according to Mount’s notes. (WSM 1852 in Frankenstein, 32). Years after Washington’s tour, fragments of his coach were made into walking sticks, possibly like the one held by Rev. Greene. 

‘Washington Family’, c. 1865 after Edward Savage; by Frederic B. Schell; engraved by A.B. Walter. Once hung in Danford’s Inn (buildings from 1870) reception area before renovations. Private Collection.

Mount’s choice of an openbacked bust approximating a mask allows the viewer to see the reflections of the vase beyond it, the whole of which, vaguely reminiscent of anthropomorphic composte portraits by artists of 16th Century Italy, hints not only of the shared reflections of Greene and Washington, but also Mount’s mother. 

Greene bore the same Christian name as Mount’s ancestor Zachariah Hawkins, an early settler of Setauket, thereby offering the artist a parallel perspective of the great-grandchildren around Greene in the personas of ‘Mount’s mother’ relating her memory of Washington to ‘her son’ writing down and sketching her story. 

The mask-like bust of Washington serves as an allegorical reminder of the ‘masks’ that were the cover stories, donned by spies in the field to conceal their intelligence-work. Though likely unknown to Mount, but in keeping with his allusion to the Mount family story, spycraft called ‘masks’ employed by British General Sir Henry Clinton against the Culpers, used a cut paper silhouette to delineate specific words on a piece of correspondence to create a message within an otherwise harmless ‘cover story.’ 

Ironically, in 1856, Mount was asked to paint a mural for the Senate chamber’s eastern staircase in the nation’s Capitol building, picturing the death of Clinton’s spymaster Major John André. Dressed as a civilian behind American lines, André was searched and the documents found wedged in his boot, together with intelligence from the Culper Spy Ring, revealed Benedict Arnold’s plans to betray West Point in 1780. Andre’s capture and fate by hanging as a spy was the daily risk of members of the Culper Spy Ring under British occupation

Two artists’ legacy today

Milne, who provided the earliest known views of Smithtown, rests today with his family in the churchyard of the Hauppauge United Methodist Church (1806), the oldest church building in the township of Smithtown. 

The church and cemetery were recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places (2020); and Milne’s work, once collected by Nelson and Happy Rockefeller, is preserved in private collections. His work is also at the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts in The Horace P. Wright Collection; The Long Island Museum, Stony Brook; and the Smithtown Historical Society.

‘Smithtown, Long Island’, c. 1857 attributed to Alexander George Milne. Courtesy of Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts. The Horace P. Wright Collection. JohnPolakPhotography.com.

Looking west in his painting, not one of the buildings Milne depicts in Smithtown that Washington would have seen, still stands in situ. Washington’s carriage would have travelled around the corner where the Presbyterian church (built in 1827 after the tour) stands today, to head west to Huntington and New York City where the first capital of the new nation was then located.

Farther west on Main Street, the Arthur House (1752), eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, is the only 18th century building in Smithtown, located where it stood when Washington passed it in 1790. It was the home of Mary Woodhull Arthur (1794-1853), daughter of Abraham Woodhull, code name Samuel Culper, Senior, Washington’s chief spy. 

Owned by the Smithtown Central School District, it has been vacant for years, diagonally across from Town Hall. My calls for restoration and a recent request that its name be officially changed to the ‘Mary Woodhull Arthur House,’ to recognize Culper, Senior’s daughter, a true Daughter of the American Revolution, have received no response.

The Blydenburgh Tavern (c. 1688) was demolished in 1907; and to the near left of it in Milne’s view, the two-story Epenetus Smith Tavern was moved twice, the first time thanks to the preservation efforts of Mary Miller, mother of Captain James Ely Miller (1883-1918), the first American aviator killed in combat over France in World War I. In 2017, Captain Miller posthumously received the first Distinguished Flying Cross presented to a WWI recipient. The Miller Home (built before 1873), once located across from the Smith Tavern, was demolished in the 1960s.

In 2017, the North Shore Promotion Alliance and The Ward Melville Heritage Organization were instrumental in getting Spy Trail signs installed, commemorating the importance of the Culper Ring along the route of Washington’s tour. A focal point on that trail, the William Sidney Mount House is a National Historic Landmark. The scene is set for Mount’s painting that never was.

Mount’s idea for a work commemorating Washington’s 1790 tour and the courage of Julia Hawkins would be an excellent reason for North Shore artists to open their sketchbooks and step up to their easels in a salute to the traditional autumnal ‘Spy Days’ sponsored by the Three Village Historical Society, Tri-Spy Tours, The Long Island Museum and The Ward Melville Heritage Organization.

About the author: Independent Historian Corey Geske of Smithtown was researching a book on Alexander George Milne when area historic preservation became a priority following demolition (2016) of the Jonas Hawkins, Jr. home (before 1858) called Sedgemere at Head of the Harbor, Town of Smithtown. In 2016, she proposed recognition of the New York Avenue School as an historic structure and restoration of the Arthur House in situ, proposing their inclusion in a National Register Historic District in downtown Smithtown. She prepared the report resulting in the determination of the Smithtown Bull as Eligible for the National Register (2018); wrote the nomination for the Byzantine Catholic Church (1929) by McGill and Hamlin, and its Rectory, the former Fred Wagner Residence (1912) by Gustav Stickley, that were placed on the National Register (2019); and worked with church Trustees to nominate the Hauppauge United Methodist Church and Cemetery to the National Register (2020).

 

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Stock photo

Recently I was in New Jersey with my former college roommates. 

We had been Zooming and planning to get together for months. The yearbook came out and we laughed over it. We tried a yoga pose to alleviate back pain, discussed the kids and uses of turmeric. 

We moved to the subject of CBD oil, and dispensaries, when “Sheila” handed us each a small, light weight, paper package.

The next day, retelling this to my 22-year-old, she surmised that, as early 80s college grads, the package likely contained something illicit. 

The envelope, however, contained compressed laundry detergent sheets. 

I was cautiously impressed. My roomie-tribe had vowed decades prior to reject plastic packing when possible. 

The envelope label read in part, “eco-friendly, cruelty-free” and “biodegradable anionic and non-anionic surfactants.”

 To this point I had used powder detergent. I buy the cardboard boxes locally and they do nicely in the outdoor fire pit when empty.

Once home, I gave my 20-year-old Kenmore a whirl. The sheets worked well in both cold and hot washes. 

My kid said they are easy to use. The thin 6 by 10-inch, lightweight envelope takes up minuscule space in the cabinet and the perforated sheets will do 60 loads. 

I foresee fewer shopping trips for me, fewer transport ships and trucks and a reduction in carbon emissions. 

The efficiency in cold water is especially important, I think. Globally, cold water is what humans have greatest access to. 

E.B. White once wrote, “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” 

I suffer the same affliction. When shopping, my first thought, after “How many carbs?” is, “How big a carbon footprint?” Thus, I began deeper research. I was curious about the manufacturing process of the emerging hydrate-at-home cleaners if I am to use them. 

As a Long Islander I am not always convinced that dirt is worse than harsh chemicals. Dirt and I are not so different.

Nutrients for humans come from food directly or indirectly through plants grown in soil. If a cleaner breaks down dirt, it breaks me down on some level as well, no? 

What I found is, although all forms of laundry detergent manufacturers have, in response to consumers, removed most phosphates, other substances known to pollute the environment remain. 

With regard to packaging, most people I know are putting plastic into the recycle bin. 

A quick survey of friends in Brookhaven who use liquid detergent, revealed that half had purchased plastic laundry jugs stamped with an HDPE ‘2’ symbol. 

The other half either found no recycle number stamped on the plastic at all, which I found alarming, or, the symbol was high. Not in a good way. 

In either case, these cannot be recycled in Brookhaven. I found one of my own shampoo bottles cannot be recycled. 

Although I have found vegan laundry sheets, cleaning action and chemical ingredients seem equal.  

The choice then for me, is either heavy thermal energy use at the front-end drying process for sheets or on the back end with disposal and transport of plastic jugs. 

After discussion with the family, we are abandoning boxes of powder for laundry sheets. I will throw the envelope in the chiminea when it is empty.  

On a personal level, my goal will be to do fewer loads of laundry and wash my hair less often. You’ll likely find me in dirty jeans and a bandanna covering my hair — flashback to senior year.

Joan Nickeson is an active member of the PJS/Terryville community and community liaison to the PJS/T Chamber of Commerce.

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Photo from Wikipedia

By Barbara Anne Kirshner

The boys of summer are back!  And with them the voice of the New York Yankees’ John Sterling, and the partner he’s referred to as his compadre for some 16 years now, Suzyn Waldman. For this Yankees fan, the start of the 2021 season, April 1st, featuring this pairing on Yankees radio, WFAN, can’t happen soon enough.

I grew up watching the Yankees with my mom, an avid Yankees fan. She knew all the players by name. During the late 1990’s into latter 2000, whenever Mariano Rivera came to the mound, Mom would say, “It’s all over now, the Sandman has arrived. It’s good night Irene.”  And to Mom’s delight, more times than not, Rivera would close the other team out. 

John Sterling. Photo from Wikipedia

In 2007, my mom suffered a major stroke with smaller ones to follow. She was in and out of hospitals and physical therapy centers. I was with her every day driving from my home in Miller Place sometimes to Port Washington, then to Glen Cove, then to Amityville and for a while, she was home in Plainedge.

During those long trips each day, I listened to WFAN and the Yankees game. It was at that time when John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman became my special friends, always there to make the drive I had to take more comfortable. Mom passed away September 2009 and the last time the Yankees won the World Series was November 4, 2009. I always felt that she sent the Yankees blessings from Heaven and that’s why they won that year.

Though my daily drives ended in 2009, my connection to WFAN and those Yankee broadcasters remained intact. I enjoy the clever repartee between Sterling and Waldman that, combined with their ability to detail every pitch, every hit, every base run, allows the listener to see the action clearly in the mind’s eye. 

Even at the times when I watch the game, I always turn down the volume on the television and turn up the volume on Sterling’s and Waldman’s play by play. Sorry, Michael Kay, but for me, no one compares to them. Sterling’s signature remarks add to the fun of the game. The amusing catchphrases Sterling has for each player combined with his final bellow for a Yankee victory of “BALLGAME OVER! THEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN, THEEEEEEEE YANKEES WIN” and his calls for home runs of “It is high, it is far, it is gone!” adds an extra excitement to the game that I just can’t miss.

Suzyn Waldman. Photo from Wikipedia

In August 2020, due to health reasons, Sterling had to step away from his broadcast duties for several games and, though Waldman was her usual wonderful self, there was something BIG missing. The only other time Sterling stepped away from broadcasting the Yankees games was in 2019 for four games. Before that he called 5060 consecutive Yankees games.

This year, Sterling has made it known that he is in fine health even at 82 years of age so hopefully we can look forward to an entire season with the twosome doing their thing for the Yankees. Happily, the season begins on time not like last year at the height of COVID when the baseball season didn’t start until July 23 and ended after 60 games on September 27.

During spring training 2021, Sterling had the opportunity to call the March 15 and 22 baseball games with his former partner, Michael Kay, on the YES Network. It was good to see and hear my favorite sportscaster, but I look forward to his pairing with Waldman.

Sterling’s compadre, Waldman, is multi-talented. She was a musical theatre actress who segued into sportscasting, not an easy transition for a woman to make. Her opposition is well-documented. But she has maintained her dignity and flourished in sportscasting despite everything. At the Yankees home opener on July 31, 2020, Waldman sang the Star Spangled Banner, receiving high praise for her rendition.

The boys of summer return April 1st and with them the voices of John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, still stellar after all these years together. So off to the broadcast booth we go for those familiar voices of Yankees baseball.

Miller Place resident Barbara Anne Kirshner is a freelance journalist, playwright and author of “Madison Weatherbee —The Different Dachshund.”

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Casatiello Photo by Melissa Arnold

By Melissa Arnold

Aside from a five-year stint in Suffolk County, Long Island, I’ve spent all my life in the shadow of Philadelphia, on the Jersey side. South Jersey is full of delightful perks — sprawling farmland that earned us the Garden State nickname; the Shore; Wawa convenience stores; and a melding of diverse cultures.

My Italian-American family has been here for several generations now, long enough to have lost our immigrant relatives and their knowledge of the language. Two things do remain: our family recipes, and the mashed-up, incomprehensible names we have for Italian foods. (Perhaps the most well-known is “gabagool,” our word for capicola made famous in The Sopranos.) 

Each year on Palm Sunday weekend, my grandfather, whom I called Poppy, would visit with football-sized parcels wrapped in aluminum foil under each arm. Inside were stromboli-like breads stuffed with Italian meats and cheeses and rolled up like a jelly roll. Poppy called it gozzadiel. His wife, Eleanor, made them annually for everyone they knew.

It’s been more than a decade since Poppy passed away and the gozzadiel deliveries halted. I could never get the recipe out of Eleanor because she never had one — like most Italian women, she baked with her senses, not measurements. “Just make a pizza dough and put the salami, ham and cheese on it,” she told me good-naturedly. That was all I got, and then eventually she passed, too.  

A few weeks ago, as Palm Sunday approached, my late-night thoughts wandered to the upcoming Easter traditions and to the gozzadiel we mention wistfully each spring. I began to Google intensely from my bed, grasping at straws: “Italian meat bread.” “Rolled Easter bread.” “Gozzadiel in English.” I got lots of recipes, but none of them were right. Google doesn’t speak our broken Italian.

Finally, I landed on a Neapolitan rolled bread called casatiello. Using my rudimentary Italian skills from high school, I spoke the word aloud into the dark. “Ca-sa-ti-ello … Ga-za-diel.” Close enough! But a proper casatiello features chunks of meat, and whole hard-boiled eggs affixed to the top with crosses of dough. Eleanor’s bread had layers of meat, not chunks. And there were no eggs atop ours. But it was a start. And this year, so help me, I was going to make it.

Mind you, I am not one of those crazy people that made a sourdough starter in the heat of last year’s lockdown. I love to cook, but I’m no social media influencer. I know how to follow directions and call my mother. Mostly, I just improvise.

So I did what Eleanor told me — I went to ShopRite and bought a refrigerated pizza dough, nervously plopped it into a bowl with olive oil, covered it up and said a prayer. A few hours later, my husband and I stared at the puffy, risen mound as if it were an infant. “Let’s do this,” he said.

Using a pepperoni bread recipe as a guide, we rolled out the dough in a rectangle as thin as we could, then covered it with my mom’s recommendations of Di Lusso Genoa salami, BelGioioso provolone, and imported ham. More cheese. More prayers. A careful, tight rolling and an eggwash, and finally, the trip to the oven. I read that the inside should reach 160 degrees, which took some trial and error — it needed 30 minutes at 400 degrees, and another 10 minutes covered with foil at 350 degrees (I was nervous).

The result was a perfectly golden behemoth. The next day, we gathered around my parents’ table as my father made the first cut to reveal a beautiful spiral and, miraculously, the exact flavor of our beloved gozzadiel. My dad raised his eyebrows and declared, “This could raise them from the grave. You nailed it!”

I was unprepared for the visceral flood of nostalgia that washed in with those first bites and transported me to another time. This was a true food memory, the kind that happens at tables like mine all over the world to bind families, friends, and communities. And it was glorious.

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Nan Guzzetta. Photo by John Griffin

By Michael Tessler

It was devastating to hear of the passing of one of our community’s greatest treasures. For those of us lucky enough to have known Nancy Altman “Nan” Guzzetta, we all knew just how special she was. It’s important that everyone who didn’t know Nan knows just how she impacted their lives too.

Nancy Altman “Nan” Guzzetta. Photo by John Griffin

Most in our community knew Nan as the owner of Antique Costume & Prop Rental on Main Street in Port Jefferson. For decades, she helped quietly bring to life every festival, celebration, and fun historical event in the area. When Nan was called to service, she didn’t just show up; she would move heaven and earth. Truthfully, on more than one occasion I saw her hoist a mannequin twice her size over her head … just to ensure a Civil War general would have the proper brass buckle. To say she took her work seriously would be an injustice; she didn’t just love history … she lived it. 

To Nan, her costumes weren’t just pieces of fabric … they were living pieces of history and art, many of which were originals or perfectly replicated to exact historical specifications. She explained to me that it wasn’t so much the details that mattered. It was about the respect that came with it. To her, it was personal that we honored legacies properly. 

Nan was feisty, funny, witty, and smart. She was both ahead of her time and yet seemed to belong to a bygone era. She was sophisticated, cultured, and worldly. For a woman of such small stature, she stood taller than most and never relented when she knew she was right. She was a woman of great principle and yet always shared a tenderness with those who knew her.

Here’s the truth though. Nan changed lives with her gift of time travel.

For the small child lacking in self-confidence whom she transformed into a Dickensian character of old and unleashed upon the streets of Port Jefferson, they will always know the joys and confidence that community service can bring. For the young woman who heard the forgotten story of a Setauket suffragette during a Three Village Historical Society (TVHS) Spirits Tour, she’ll spend the rest of her life knowing she too can transform policy and shape the future. For the Ward Melville High School freshman celebrating Culper Spy Day who sees a little of themself in Setauket’s Revolutionary War heroes, their lives will forever be transformed by Nan Guzzetta, a woman who made it her business to bring history to life and ensure no story go untold.

Nan left an incredible impact on so many, but to me, she was an unlikely friend and unforgettable mentor and confidant. Despite an age difference of some 60 years, our lives were wonderfully intertwined. We first met when she costumed me at just 10 years old as a Dickensian pickpocket for the Village of Port Jefferson’s annual Charles Dickens Festival. By chance, her son and his family had bought my childhood home which brought both of us great joy. 

Nan costumed Times Beacon Record News Media’s (TBR) first major film project, The Culper Spy Adventure, and helped introduce me to the wonders of film. We became great friends and our chats around history and politics would sometimes last for hours and hours. Occasional tea with her and her wonderful husband became some of my favorite memories. 

I’d always look forward to volunteering at the TVHS Spirits Tours, not just because they’re fun but because I knew it gave Nan such a thrill to see her costumes come to life when worn by such a passionate group of actors. Nan quite literally saved TBR’s Revolutionary War feature film One Life to Give on more than one occasion, procuring us silk stockings and enough tricorn hats to outfit a Continental Army. She was always there when her community needed her and she was always there for me. 

A few years ago, Nan picked up the phone, and on the other side of the line was a Hollywood producer in need of some costumes for a new series. Despite the fact I wasn’t yet a mature and/or responsible adult (as Nan often liked to remind me when I failed to bring back properly cleaned frockcoats) she insisted that the producer speak with me and consider hiring me to work on the show. He did. 

Some dozen or so television shows later here I am on my third year in Los Angeles running my own production company and because of Nan, I’ve now had the chance to work in Hollywood and achieve my dream of being a storyteller. Without her, I’m genuinely not sure where I’d be. I’ll forever be indebted to her for jumpstarting my journey and for all the kindness, understanding, and generosity she showed me. 

My last conversation with Nan was just about a month or so ago. We didn’t talk much about the past, but about our optimism and hope for the future. For her, history was a blueprint and a guide to help us do better. She had so much hope, especially in today’s young people.

Nan will forever stand among the greats in this community, no less than a Melville, Mather, Woodhull, or Strong. In everything she did, she thought about her neighbors, and the joy she could bring them, and the magic of history she could share. Her passion for the past was only surpassed by her love of family. To her, her children and grandchildren were and are the greatest gift she could leave behind to the place she calls home. 

Nan, you can rest easy knowing that the community you inspired will pick up that mantle and continue your work. Now it is time for us to honor your legacy and to ensure that future generations know of the extraordinary life you lived and the standard of service you set for us all.

Until we meet again, Nan. Thank you for making history. 

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When Lucky Dog premiered in 2013, viewers quickly fell in love with host Brandon McMillan, who rescued 'unadoptable' dogs from animal shelters across the United States.

By Barbara Anne Kirshner

Several years ago, on a Saturday, as I flipped through the channels on the television, I came upon a reality show titled Lucky Dog. As an animal lover, I was curious to find out “Why were these dogs so lucky?” I got my answer in affable host and trainer, Brandon McMillan, who seemed committed to securing forever homes for unwanted shelter dogs.

Each week, Mc Millan took his audience on a journey that featured an “unadoptable” canine. Through his seven common commands of sit, stay, down, come, off, heel and no, the discarded dog transformed into a loving, well-behaved pet. McMillan then matched the dog to perspective owners and even conducted lifestyle training to further meld animal to adopter. In one instance, McMillan taught a dog to surf so he could join his new buddy on the waves.

When Lucky Dog premiered in 2013, viewers quickly fell in love with host Brandon McMillan, who rescued ‘unadoptable’ dogs from animal shelters across the United States.

The scenario of the show was always the same. It began with McMillan at his Lucky Dog Ranch training a rescue when the distress call from a local animal shelter alerted him of an overlooked dog headed for euthanasia. McMillan dashed to the shelter at the eleventh hour, headed down that sterile hallway of gated scared dogs until he faced the one needing instant saving. He would open the gate, go inside the kennel, sit next to the cowering creature, speaking gently all the while. Once the canine settled, McMillan would say, “Let’s get out of here.” And off they happily went together. 

The first stop was at the vet for a complete physical that confirmed the dog was healthy for training, then off to McMillan’s Lucky Dog Ranch where a red training collar was snapped on followed by introductions to other lucky dog rescues. McMillan then matched the dog to the best adopter and did a home inspection. In one episode, he arranged for sod to make the backyard dog friendly.

Then came the magical day when the rescue would meet the forever family. In the final scene, McMillan always delighted the adopters by showing up unannounced with new charge in tow. As a sign that the dog had completed training, McMillan would replace the red collar with a green graduation collar then kiss the dog and turn it over to the happy new owners. Cue the violin strings and take out your tissues! I always dissolved in happy tears for the lucky dog and the lucky family.

The mantra, ”From hopeless to home, that’s our mission, one dog at a time” was the final sound cue over the credits.

At the start of January 2021, I and millions of other Lucky Dog followers were suddenly struck with the disappointment of no show! At first, I thought it had been pre-empted for a week, but on the following Saturday still no Lucky Dog. That’s when I googled the show and discovered Brandon McMillan had stepped away from his Emmy award winning series. 

In an Instagram post dated October 2020, McMillan announced that his 182nd episode was his last. The reason given for this sudden departure was clashes with CBS over the direction the show was headed.

He explained:

“As the years went on big money started pouring into the show which meant more cooks in the kitchen making decisions. This is where Hollywood can take a great idea and turn it into a money driven business.”

McMillan concluded:

“When the fun gets taken out of a tv show then it’s no longer fun to show up. This was a serious show that saved the lives of hundreds of dogs. Mission accomplished. But this is not the end … it’s just the beginning.”

For McMillan fans like me, he left us with a glimmer of hope that he would continue saving dogs and maybe start a new animal series.

Last Saturday, I happened onto CBS at 10 a.m. and to my surprise I heard the Lucky Dog theme and saw the Lucky Dog Ranch logo. My euphoria however was quickly squashed when the images of a husband and wife team, Eric Wiese and Rashi Khanna Wiese, replaced McMillan as the hosts. 

The scenario remained the same with a few minor changes. At the start of this episode, instead of McMillan training a rescue dog, Wiese was training his own dog. Isn’t the rescue message missing in that? Tasks were split with Wiese training while his wife matched dog to owner. Another difference was instead of McMillan’s trademark red training collar followed by the green graduation collar; Wiese started with a silver tag traded for a gold tag. 

Every other aspect of the old show remained intact making this a weird déjà vu experience. There was the anxious call from the shelter alerting imminent euthanasia for an unwanted dog. They even had a Lucky Dog Ranch, but there were no dogs in training. Wiese incorporated McMillan’s same seven training commands plus the lifestyle lesson. Then the ultimate “good-bye” with dog handed to family. The final mantra was even the same. One can only hope McMillan is collecting royalties for the use of all his ideas.

But will the Lucky Dog fans accept these two new hosts? They seem pleasant, but McMillan’s passion for saving animals is missing. Everything is calculated with no original stamp from this couple and how long have they have been in the dog training business? Their Lucky Dog Ranch was empty. CBS took pains to copy the award winning formula, but in my opinion, this version will fail without McMillan at the helm to swoop in wearing his heart on his sleeve saving dogs and loyal viewers alike.

Miller Place resident Barbara Anne Kirshner is a freelance journalist, playwright and author of “Madison Weatherbee —The Different Dachshund.”

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Photo from Barbara Anne Kirshner

By Barbara Anne Kirshner

LIPSTICK — the outward expression of our inward feelings. If we are happy, we choose cheery colors, if we are down we might gravitate toward the more subdued. Lip color also strategically complements our outfits. For the power suit, we go for bold tones; for comfy weekends, we seek naturals. We celebrate the seasons with rich russet and brown shades for autumn, reds for merry winter holidays, pastels for blossoming springtime and bright playful oranges for carefree summer. 

Lipstick has been our crowning accessory for centuries starting with Sumerian men and women who created it from natural substances like fruits, henna, clay rust and insects. Mesopotamian women ground precious jewels to add color and shimmer to lips. Egyptians like Cleopatra created striking shades of purple and black from carmine dye derived from grounded cochineal insects. 

Through the centuries, lip color has been a barometer for our culture and personal expression. 

In the 19th century, only actors and actresses wore it for stage, though not in public. Sarah Bernhardt, the famous actress, was one of the first to wear lip color in public. 

By 1920, lip products gained a place in everyday lives of women. James Bruce Mason Jr. created the first swivel tube in 1923 which is still used today. When women gained the right to vote, lipstick was their symbol  of feminism.

Lip color gained popularity in the 1930’s heading into the 1940’s when, during World War II, red lips were considered a boost to the morale. Besame’s American Beauty was one of the most popular shades of red.

The 1950’s saw women copying their favorite Hollywood stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn who were glamorously adorned in bold reds. 60% of all teenage girls at the time wore lipstick. Even Queen Elizabeth II got into the craze by creating her own shade to match her coronation robe which was customized by Clarin’s and named after her Scottish country home, The Balmoral.

The 60’s and 70’s saw a variety of lip shades inspired from pop culture. Corals were prominent with Maybelline’s Orange Danger topping the market. Flavored lip products such as Bonnie Bell’s ‘Lip Smackers’ gained popularity especially with the teen market.

Shimmers and glosses were the ‘in’ thing for the 80’s. Bold reds were back as an expression of power dressing. Hot pinks became the rage for the dance crowds and Goth lips for the alternative sub-culture.

In the 90’s environmental consciousness demanded chemical free, more natural formulas for lip products. The big craze of the 90’s was outlining with dark lip pencils and filling in with lighter lipstick. Mac and Urban Decay were born.

Shine and lip glosses were back in the 2000’s. Now, there are endless varieties of lip colors and formulas to match any whim. We can go from that natural look with nudes to outrageous choices like green, yellow and blue.

Lip products evolved into a global multi-billion dollar industry which had been expected to reach 13.11 billion dollars in 2020. This healthy market was on its way to breaking records when COVID hit and we found ourselves shielded behind masks that covered those colorful lips. At first, we continued to paint, but quickly realized not only didn’t anyone see our efforts, but we stained our masks in the process. We were reduced to a simple swipe of clear gloss to moisturize, but no need for anything else.

The lip product market as well as the entire beauty industry drastically fell in 2020 as a result of the pandemic making last year historically one of the worst. McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, predicts makeup sales will continue being soft for the foreseeable future since for a time at least, when consumers return to the workplace, masks will be a required part of the uniform which will further slow lipstick’s recovery.

Anxious for COVID to evaporate as suddenly as it moved in ravaging life as we knew it, we thirst for normalcy. We want to rip off those masks that sequester us from the world so we may once more display our signature look enhanced by every color of the rainbow and then some. We long to return to our creativity applying shines, glosses, sheers, shimmers, creams, frosts, satins, metallics, mattes and pencils. We long for that vibrant or dramatic look that only our old friend lipstick can provide.

BUT until that fateful day we are resigned to — NO LIPSTICK REQUIRED!!

References:

— Gerstell, Emily, Marchessou, Sophie, Schmidt, Jennifer, Spagnuolo, Emma. “How Covid-19 is changing the world of beauty.” McKinsey & Company. May 2020.

— Sengupta, Avipsha. “A Complete History of Lipstick.” Stylecraze.com. October 9, 2020.

— “100 Years of Lipstick: Looking Through Trends Over the Decades.” Beauty Connoisseur.com. October 3, 2019.

Miller Place resident Barbara Anne Kirshner is a freelance journalist, playwright and author of “Madison Weatherbee —The Different Dachshund.”

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Town of Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci was cleared of any wrongdoing in a recent investigation of sexual harassment rumors. File photo by Lina Weingarten

Huntington Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (R) released a statement Feb. 26 on his decision not to seek reelection in 2021.

“After much deliberation and consideration with my family, friends and advisers, I have decided not to seek reelection as Huntington Town Supervisor this November. To be clear, this was my decision and my decision alone made in the best interest of my family, the town, and the Republican Party.  While this decision is a difficult one, it is made easier by the fact that in less than one term I have delivered on all of my campaign promises and will continue to accomplish the many goals I set out to achieve before this final year is complete.  Few administrations have faced as many challenges, and few have achieved what we have.  I am proud that I will leave the Town of Huntington in a far better place than when I took office, and for that reason I am incredibly optimistic about the future of the Town and its hamlets that I love so much.

“The effort to take the Town in a new direction began roughly four years ago and was inspired by my deep roots in Huntington, which was borne from a small butcher shop operated by my grandfather on New York Avenue in the old Huntington Station.  On the campaign trail, I often recounted the importance of this butcher shop to my family’s history in Huntington and it served as my impetus for revitalizing the Huntington Station area.  My campaign attracted a broad coalition inspired by my community connections, broad platform and commitment to move the Town in a new and better direction.

“In office, I immediately set to work on fulfilling my campaign promises.  In our first month, I fulfilled my promise to make town government more transparent and accountable to its residents by enacting term limits, strengthening our ethics laws and increasing opportunities for constituent feedback.  These measures increased confidence in town government and the democratic process.

“I also pledged to preserve and enhance the wonderful quality of life that makes Huntington a special place to live, work and raise a family.  Every day, we worked to protect the suburban charm of our neighborhoods and historic downtowns, while creating new economic opportunity for this generation and the next.  To provide our children with an even better town than the one we inherited, we committed to smart development, curbed the overdevelopment of Huntington Village, invested in open space and farmland preservation, revitalized our waterfront, and continued the reinvestment in and revitalization of Huntington Station.

“Among so many other accomplishments, I spearheaded the creation of the Town of Huntington Bureau of Administrative Adjudication, the first town court of its kind on Long Island, to efficiently adjudicate violations of the Huntington Town Code; held the line on property taxes with three Tax Cap-compliant budgets; protected the Town’s AAA-bond rating; and made unprecedented investments in our Town parks and facilities.

“While so much was accomplished to date, my time as Supervisor may be defined by two unprecedented challenges, one inherited, and one that no one could have anticipated.

“The decade-long litigation with LIPA over the assessment on the Northport Power Plant posed an existential threat to all homeowners, commercial property owners, and the Northport-East Northport School District.  With settlement negotiations stagnant, a looming court judgment threatened ruin for our beautiful Town.  Under my leadership, the Town negotiated an unprecedented settlement few thought possible.  We eliminated the threat of total financial devastation, including up to $825 million in future tax refund payments to LIPA, which hung over the heads of our residents for over a decade, secured millions of dollars in additional funding for our schools and Town, and protected our residents against unsustainable tax increases.

“The once-in-a-lifetime pandemic came without warning and required quick decision-making and visionary leadership to protect our residents, businesses, front line workers and Town employees.  Our Town developed a comprehensive plan to safely reopen facilities and deliver important services to our residents.  We continued to provide daily meals for our senior citizens.  We adopted countless measures to assist struggling local businesses, including the creation of a small business task force that continues to make recommendations for additional measures.  Our country suffered terribly from this pandemic, and our Town was not spared that pain.  I send my thoughts and prayers to all the victims of this insidious virus as well as their surviving family members.  We will never forget and the first Monday in March has now been designated as “COVID-19 Victims and Survivors Memorial Day” in the Town of Huntington.

“As this phase of my public service career comes to a conclusion, I must thank our outstanding Town workers for everything that they have done to help make the new direction vision a reality.  Public service remains a noble pursuit and our employees fully understand that.

“Our Town remarkedly includes so many people of different backgrounds and we draw our strength from this diversity.  The Town Supervisor must ensure that the voices of all such people are heard and respected.  I am proud to have served as a time when Huntington has come together with a united voice, even as our national discourse tends to divide us.  To this end, over the course of my term, I have encouraged the celebration of our diversity while promoting a vision of a unified Town centered upon our shared values and common humanity as evidenced by initiatives preserving Huntington’s Black history and honoring the lives of Dr. Agnes Hiller, Samuel Ballton, Peter Crippen, and Paul Johnson.

“During my time as Town Supervisor, I have often thought of Jackie Robinson’s famous quote that “a life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”  This quote motivated me during challenging times and inspired me to do more to help our residents.  Whether one is in the public or private sector, we should remember Mr. Robinson’s wise words and do our best to make our corner of the world a better place.  I am committed to doing just that in the next phase of my life because those values are my inheritance.

“I want to thank everyone for the friendship and support they have given me during my time as Town Supervisor.  It has been an honor and a privilege to serve our Town and its residents and, rest assured, that I will continue approaching each day through the end of my term with the same vigor and passion for public service that I had on the day I was first elected.”

Lupinacci will serve the remainder of his existing term in office.

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Photo from Pixabay

By Leah Chiappino

The COVID-19 rollout in New York state has brought hope to residents, after nearly a year of shuttered businesses, isolation and general fear for their own health and safety. For many, hope turned to frustration as they attempted to navigate the New York State signup website, phone hotline or even a simple Google search to find other options.

Leah Chiappino

Even as a 20-year-old digital native, attempting to navigate the world of vaccine signups was difficult to put it mildly, and infuriating to put it bluntly. Through my part-time work at a law firm, I began trying to book appointments for elderly clients at the end of January. I was able to secure a few appointments by luck, as I happened to look on the state-run site at exactly the right time to see open appointments. Of course, the website crashed, but I notified clients, friends and family to call the hotline. 

From there, securing an appointment seemed to become more difficult, even as more locations opened up. Getting an appointment seems to be a combination of pure luck, persistence and patience.

Distributing a vaccine to combat a pandemic is an extraordinary feat. It is unrealistic to expect the process not to have any roadblocks. However, the system seems to lack basic necessities to account for the inconveniences encountered by those trying to make vaccine appointments. 

The average New Yorker does not have 12 hours to sit at a computer in a virtual wait line, only for the computer to crash when they finally get an opening.

My 89-year-old grandfather cannot figure out how to merge a call to give the operator consent for me to make an appointment. Someone in their 90s cannot figure out what to do when the website crashes. There’s also no real database that shows every single possible vaccination site, pharmacy or other center that allows people to get an appointment — at least in Suffolk County. 

Seniors, essential workers and vulnerable populations deserve better.

Through my failures and successes in trying to get the vaccine appointments, I have acquired a few tips and tricks, as well as answers to commonly asked questions.

1. Community is a great resource for finding out the latest information, unavailability, hearing tips from other people who made an appointment successfully and guiding others through the process. The Long Island COVID-19 Vaccination Information Facebook group posts multiple times a day and offers direct links to state-run distribution sites, as well as consistent posts and guidance as to when appointments open.

2. Pharmacies will only vaccinate, pursuant to New York State executive order, those 65 and older and exclude essential workers and those with comorbidities. Appointments can be made online at Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS and Stop & Shop. In my own experience, appointments tend to open up on these sites after midnight.

3. Another helpful tool is the TurboVax website — an A1 site that automatically posts appointments on social media when appointments are available. Most of the appointments are New York City vaccine sites, which usually require patients to live or work there in order to receive the vaccine, and have stipulations as to what category of eligibility they can vaccinate (essential workers, seniors or those with comorbidities). However, Long Islanders can make appointments at state-run vaccination sites, which also appear on TurboVax.

4. Those with comorbidities need to bring a doctor’s letter, medical documentation showing their comorbidity or a signed certification to their appointment. Those with comorbidities can be vaccinated at state-run mass vaccination sites, as well as through local department of health sites. Local departments of health can determine how the supply is distributed to area sites.

5. It is essential to be persistent. Sometimes, you call the hotline and the operator will not look more than 50 miles from your home zip code, or will say that appointments are unavailable when they are showing on the website. There is some lag between the site and the hotline, so always be sure to double check. In general, however, hotline workers are kind, informed and helpful. Any frustrating guidance, they tell you, comes from the state and general lack of supply. They are doing their best, so be kind. It usually helps.

Leah Chiappino is a 20-year-old contributing writer with TBR News Media. Currently a junior at Hofstra University, she is a political science and journalism double major. She is a resident of Smithtown. 

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Stock photo

By Richard Tapp

Many TBR News Media readers have been frustrated at the slow, uneven COVID-19 vaccine rollout. With seemingly every friend in England saying, “I’ve just been vaccinated, how about you?” and with no personal appointment in sight, I asked Richard “Dickie” Tapp, of Burgess Hill, West Sussex, why he thought the U.K. vaccination scheme has been so successful.

As of mid-February, it is estimated that 21% of the total U.K. population has received the first dose, but with less than 1% fully vaccinated. In the U.S., the relative figures are 10% and 3%. I would add that the U.K. has a wider vaccination-acceptance culture, dating back to the smallpox and polio eras. Still, there could be rollout lessons for President Joe Biden (D) and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). The main difference is that U.S. citizens are having to fight overwhelmed state and big pharmacy websites for a paucity of appointments whereas, in the U.K., appointments are made by invitation for dedicated age groups. And the categories are not extended until each one is almost completed. — John Broven, TBR News Media copy editor

The rationale for the “working down through the age-groups” approach is to relieve pressure on the National Health Service [the publicly funded health care systems], which is on its knees. The “Kent” COVID mutation has driven the current surge in cases, proving to be far more contagious. Consequently, there have been far more hospital admissions than in the first wave in spring 2020. Intensive Care Unit doctors and nurses are exhausted, so it has been imperative to reduce the pressure on them. The older you are, the more likely you are to need hospitalization and possibly intensive care, hence the strategy to get the over-70s vaccinated as quickly as possible.

The main reason for the success of the U.K. vaccination campaign is that has been entrusted to the NHS, rather than one of the private sector companies with close associations to the governing Conservative Party which have made a mess of track and trace. The NHS is well versed in vaccination programs — for example, the annual winter-flu vaccination rollout — and so it’s right it should be entrusted with the task. Thanks heavens they got this one right. After a slow start, the NHS has been “on the money” although it is only fair to point out:

1. The army has been helping with the supply logistics, especially delivery.

2. The paperwork and supervision at vaccination centers are being largely handled by volunteers, such as the Lions and Rotary clubs. Also volunteers with some suitable experience — such as the Red Cross, St John Ambulance, retired nurses, etc.— have been trained in administering the vaccine. So, the burden hasn’t fallen totally on the NHS, which wouldn’t have been able to run the exercise just using its own resources.

The campaign works by the “patient” being contacted by their doctor’s office and offered an appointment, in the same way they would for a flu jab. However, in addition they are also contacted by their local NHS trust with a “we have reached your age group” letter offering an online link and a free telephone number by which to make an appointment. So, it’s a two-pronged approach. The strategy has been to work down though the age bands, first the over-80s, then in five-year bands ending with the 50-to-55 age group. To save general practitioner surgery telephone lines being overwhelmed, the instruction was to wait to be contacted and this has worked well. Dedicated vaccination centers have been set up at local community halls and venues — not just at hospitals and health centers.

The aim was to vaccinate all the 70-and-above group by Feb. 15. I had my doubts initially but the exercise has gone so well that on Feb. 8, Health Secretary Matt Hancock (Conservative) said that anyone over 70 who had not been contacted about an appointment should now get in touch with their GP surgery and/or phone the NHS free telephone number. That’s a reversal of the previous advice to wait to be contacted. Indeed, in some areas the rollout has gone so well that the 65-to-69-year-olds are now being vaccinated. I heard on local radio that the large seaside town of Eastbourne in Sussex is already calling forward this age group.

According to the Department of Health and Social Care, a quarter of adults have already received one dose, including around nine in 10 over-70s. My view is that the five-year age-banding strategy has been a good one. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew in one go” is a good adage.

I think I must add a couple of caveats:

1. The overall age-group percentage figure will be lower as there is still some resistance to the vaccine, especially in Black and
Asian communities.

2. The U.K. figures look good as they are those who have had the first jab. Very few have had the second jab. The U.K. vaccination committee took a gamble in moving the second jab to 12 weeks rather than the three weeks recommended by Pfizer and AstraZeneca. The gamble has paid off as the first jab is being shown to provide 50%-to-60% protection — enough to prevent serious illness — and the strategy has been endorsed by the World Health Organization. Of course, the rollout to the under-65s will slow as the 12-week anniversary of those who’ve had their first jab comes into play.

While I am proud of the vaccination rollout and the way volunteers have come forward, the downside is that is that it has given Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Conservative) his “get out of jail card.” People seem to have forgotten the disgraceful mortality figures and passing 100,000 deaths just four weeks ago. It’s a number which shames the country with so many of these due to the mistakes Johnson’s government made, yet the daily deaths — only recently under 1,000 per day — are now barely mentioned.

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