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Monthly Archives: April 2016

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Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn is among the lawmakers hoping to use the #MeToo moment not only to change culture, but to change laws. File photo

One North Shore lawmaker is cleaning up the language of Suffolk County’s dry cleaners.

Dry cleaning businesses will no longer be allowed to advertise their services as organic when describing the solvents or methods used in production, thanks to recently approved legislation from Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket). And if they get caught, business owners could face fines of $500 on the first offense to $1,000 on the second, the legislator said.

“A consumer chooses an ‘organic’ cleaning method with the belief that this option is better for his or her health and our environment,” Hahn said in a statement. “Without a universally accepted definition of what constitutes organic services, consumers go through the wringer when making their decisions based upon subjective standards that, in some cases, can be completely contrary to their intentions.”

Under Majority Leader Hahn’s bill, no professional garment cleaning establishment operating in the county will be allowed to describe its services as “organic” in advertising or signage. In a statement, Hahn said the term organic is found in many industries, including dry cleaning, and has come under increased public scrutiny as regulators have not established clear criteria governing the word’s usage in consumer goods and services.

“It is very important that customers understand terms used in dry cleaning advertisements,” said Beth Fiteni, owner of Green Inside and Out Consulting, an advocacy organization committed to empowering the public to find healthier alternatives to common toxins, also in a recent statement. “Organic in this context is a technical term, and does not mean chemical-free. This legislation in Suffolk County helps address possible confusion.”

In her legislation, Hahn said one of the most harmful chemicals used in the dry cleaning industry, perchloroethylene — also known as perc — contains carbon molecules. Carbon is a naturally occurring element and perc is sometimes advertised as being organic, despite its detriment to the environment.

“In some instances there is a significant disconnect between the term organic that has become part of the vernacular and the scientific definition used by industry,” Hahn said. “I want to ensure that Suffolk consumers are making decisions based on intention rather than semantics.”

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has already approved several alternatives to perc for use in non-vented, closed-loop dry cleaning machines that are equipped with a refrigerated condenser, conform to local fire codes and meet the additional specifications required by the alternative solvent manufacturer.

Suffolk’s bill would be nullified should a standard be adopted by state or federal regulatory agencies.

The only thing preventing the bill from becoming official is the absence of a signature from County Executive Steve Bellone (D). Once signed, cleaners would have approximately 60 days to come into compliance.

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Jennifer Anderson is a professor at Stony Brook University. File photo

By Kevin Redding

Jennifer Anderson is a professor at Stony Brook University. File photo
Jennifer Anderson is a professor at Stony Brook University. File photo

A lecture hall at Stony Brook University transported those in attendance back in time between the 17th and 19th centuries, when Long Island mariners left home for years of their lives, set sail into the deep, dark sea, and braved impossible odds in their voyage to hunt for whales.

“Long Island Whalers: Navigating a Changing World,” on April 15, was an all-day, open-to-the-public event that offered new and exciting research on an often-overlooked, hugely important part of Long Island’s heritage. So rather than read passages from “Moby Dick,” a panel of experts in varying fields of history and archaeology spoke at length about the more in-depth aspects of the whaling industry.

“This allows us to be on the front lines of sharing material, as it’s coming hot off the presses,” said Jennifer Anderson, an associate professor of Atlantic history at SBU and co-organizer of the event. “We live on this incredibly diverse island, from really urban and suburban areas to beautiful nature and agricultural history, and it’s easy to forget that there’s this really long human history of people making use of the maritime resources of Long Island — not just going to the beach, but actually deriving their livelihood from the waters surrounding us.”

With topics that ranged from the historical preservation of an important yet forgotten African American whaler named Pyrrhus Concer, and the role of race then and now, to the foreign and economic impact that came from sea travel, it wasn’t difficult to see the relevance this far-gone time has in 2016.

“This history is the basis of the modern Long Island society,” said speaker Frank Turano, who teaches Long Island environmental history at the college. “[We’re] built upon what happened in the past. That’s the key thing for people to understand; these are not just some quaint activities.”

Frank Turano is a professor at Stony Brook University. File photo
Frank Turano is a professor at Stony Brook University. File photo

Starting at 9 a.m. and ending around 6 p.m., the room was consistently full of people, all engaged in the presentations that followed. In particular, Robert T. Chase, a history professor in attendance, had a significant connection to the event’s subject matter, as a direct descendant of Owen Chase, First Mate aboard the Essex whaler. That ship’s wreckage by way of a behemoth sperm whale, and Owen Chase’s firsthand account of it, was the inspiration for Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” and the subject of Nathaniel Philbrick’s bestseller “In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.”

However, Robert Chase said he was more interested in the broader interracial movement going on at the time. According to him, people of color were central to the role in the industry, and often not talked about. “Sadly, they were the first to die because they were the least fed on the boat,” he said. “It’s really wonderful that this conference explores their history [further].”

In between panels, Stephen N. Sanfilippo sang the mid-1800s songs and recited the poetry of the Long Island whalemen. A teacher at Maine Maritime Academy, Sanfilippo’s been playing this music for 40 years. Rather than choose songs and poems about on-board debauchery and sea fights, he instead wanted to challenge the stereotypes surrounding the whalers. “I wanted to show that at least some whale men were mindful and sentimental,” Sanfilippo said. “I hope all of you will immerse yourselves in, what we have come to see as, the extraordinary lives that were, in their own time, the ordinary lives of ordinary Long Islanders.”

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Rachel Masullo moves through traffic. Photo by Desirée Keegan

Middle Country made quick work of Commack Tuesday, scoring five unanswered goals in the first five minutes of the contest, and despite losing its opening power, came away with a 15-10 win.

“We were kind of flat — there wasn’t a lot of intensity and it definitely showed,” Middle Country head coach Lindsay Dolson said. “It has to do with our warm-up, and certain teams they take lightly. We’ve talked about it — not to do that. Good thing we didn’t get caught today, but it definitely could’ve happened.”

Jamie Ortega gains possession off the draw. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Jamie Ortega gains possession off the draw. Photo by Desirée Keegan

After gaining possession off the draw, junior midfielder Jamie Ortega beat out two defenders and stuffed the ball into the left side of the cage for the early advantage just 30 seconds in. She won possession off the draw again, and scoring next was junior midfielder Ava Barry. The two connected for the third goal of the game, when Ortega passed to Barry, who dumped it in up front.

“Jamie’s been doing an awesome job on defense and offense for us,” Dolson said. “She definitely leads the team in that aspect. She’s doing a great job.”

At the 20:42 mark, Commack was fouled for shooting space, and freshman midfielder Sophie Alois raced to the center of the field in front of the crease and scored to the left side for the 4-0 lead. Ortega and Barry connected for the final goal before Commack put its first point on the board, when Ortega couldn’t find an open lane and moved outside and away from a defender to be able to send a quick pass to Barry in front of the cage.

“We’re good at moving the ball around and finding the open girl quick because a defender comes on her, but on defense we could’ve crashed earlier,” Barry said.

Defense is where the Mad Dogs struggled most. Once Commack began winning possession off the draw, Middle Country wasn’t able to turn the ball over and the Cougars collected points as a result.

Sophie Alois contains after scooping up a ground ball. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Sophie Alois contains after scooping up a ground ball. Photo by Desirée Keegan

By the end of the first half, Middle Country still had a substantial lead, 11-5, and jumped out of the gate again to start the second half, scoring three unanswered goals before Commack countered at the 13:33 mark, and scored twice more to trail 14-8.

Middle Country junior midfielder Amy Hofer found the back of the cage for the Mad Dogs’ final goal of the game, but Commack scored three more.

Ortega finished the game with four goals and three assists, while Barry ended with a hat trick and two assists. Twin juniors Amanda and Rachel Masullo added two goals apiece, and Barry’s younger sister Jen, a freshman, tacked on a goal and an assist.

“We need to win, and we can’t always win by playing the way we played today,” Ortega said, who added that it’s been difficult playing without her sister, Nikki, the team’s leading scorer last season. “We lost a lot of important players from last year, but we’re still close, we’re still a family and we connect. It helps.”

Ava Barry shoots past Commack’s goalkeeper for the good goal. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Ava Barry shoots past Commack’s goalkeeper for the good goal. Photo by Desirée Keegan

Her coach is still seeing improvement though, as the mixed team, with seven freshmen and seven juniors, looks to reach the county finals level that last year’s did.

“They definitely have been growing and going in the right direction,” Dolson said. “Today, I think, was a little bit of a setback, but hopefully we’ll pick up from this in practice tomorrow and get ready for Northport on Thursday. They’re going to come with very aggressive defense. We need to handle that pressure and we have to put together a whole game.”

Middle Country takes on Northport Thursday at 4 p.m.

Barry said that if her Mad Dogs can limit the turnovers, get to the ground balls and continue to work on the draws, they’d have a good shot against Northport.

“I feel pretty strongly,” she said. “If we practice hard tomorrow and we warm up strong, we’ll play a better game.”

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Harborfields' Jake Miller and Alex Martin makes their way around the track. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

Rocky Point and Harborfields each looked to notch their first victory of the season Tuesday, but the Tornadoes’ boys’ track and field team blew past the Eagles on their home track, to win the League V meet, 103-38.

Harborfields' Randy Maldon leaps into the sand pit. Photo by Bill Landon
Harborfields’ Randy Maldon leaps into the sand pit. Photo by Bill Landon

Harborfields long jump standout Randy Maldon, a senior, was the talk of the event, taking first with a jump of 18-9 3/4, to come up well ahead of the second place finisher.

Maldon, who has competed in the event since his sophomore year, also runs winter track, and said the windy conditions affected his performance despite the positive turnout.

“The wind definitely throws off my steps — it’s pushing me back so I have to push harder, and it affects me in the air,” he said. “Going down the runway, I drifted to the left a little bit.”

The Tornadoes flexed their muscles early, dominating, the 1,600-meter to take the top five spots. First across the line for Harborfields was sophomore James DeSantis, who won the event in 4 minutes, 59:06 seconds. Harborfields senior Jake Miller won the 3,000 in 11:28.2, finishing just ahead of teammate Alexander Martin, a junior, as both runners traded the lead several times.

“It was windy, but I ran with my teammate Alex alternating laps and we would take turns blocking the wind,” Miller said. “We needed to see who had a little bit left with 800 meters left.”

Rocky Point’s Chris Valleau, a three-year varsity competitor, competed in the 200 and 400 dashes, and said he felt he underperformed.

“I can run better than I did today,” the junior said, adding that it had nothing to do with the windy conditions.

Rocky Point senior Kevin LaRosa, who competed in the 100 and 200, finished the races in 13 seconds and 28 seconds, respectively.

“I thought we underperformed as a team today — we certainly could’ve done better,” LaRosa said. “The conditions really didn’t affect me today in the shorter races, but it does in the longer distances.”

Cameron Cutler leaps over the hurdles for Rocky Point. Photo by Bill Landon
Cameron Cutler leaps over the hurdles for Rocky Point. Photo by Bill Landon

Alex DeMottie, a senior who competed in the high jump, 800 and 4×800 relay, echoed LaRosa’s and Valleau’s assessment that there was room for improvement.

“It wasn’t my best performance,” DeMottie said. “I’ve got to work harder to improve my times.”

Rocky Point head coach Chris Donadoni said in the end, his Eagles just faced a better team.

“I was pleased with our shotput and discus events today, although we didn’t get to see those because those events are held on the lower field,” the head coach said, adding that his assistant coach said each kid threw their best in both events. “It’s a growing process with this team. They’re real young and inexperienced, so each meet is an opportunity for all of them to learn something. We’ll look at each of their performances, but more importantly, how they prepare mentally for each event. They’ve made progress in their preparation since the start of the season.”

With the win, Harborfields improves to 1-2 as the Eagles fall to 0-3.

Rocky Point travels to Westhampton Beach on April 30 for an 8:30 a.m. meet.

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Event attendees learn how to use Narcan to counteract opioid overdoses. Photo by Giselle Barkley

By Giselle Barkley

Parents and students alike walked out of Mount Sinai High School knowing the ugly truth about heroin and opioid use and addiction. But they also walked away with a lesson about Narcan.

Event attendees learn how to use Narcan to counteract opioid overdoses. Photo by Giselle Barkley
Event attendees learn how to use Narcan to counteract opioid overdoses. Photo by Giselle Barkley

The school district held it’s first “The Ugly Truth” presentation on Tuesday in the Mount Sinai High School auditorium. Suffolk County Police Department officer George Lynagh, EMS officer Jason Byron and county Medical Examiner Michael Caplan tackled the origins of heroin and trends among addicts over the years. Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) and Town of Brookhaven Councilwoman Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point) also spoke at the event.

But residents didn’t simply learn about heroin on the Island, they also left with their own Narcan kits after Byron led a Narcan training class. According to Sgt. Kathleen Kenneally of the police department’s Community Response Bureau, Narcan, also known as Naloxone, was successfully administered around 530 times since the opiate antidote was introduced to the police department in July 2012.

Narcan, which reverses the effect of heroin or other opiate-based overdoses, can be administered via an injection or nasal spray. Mount Sinai resident Susan Matias said the spray is a friendly option for community members.

“Here, it’s introduced through the nasal passages — there’s no harm done, you’re not afraid of administering a needle and/or sticking yourself in the moment of chaos,” Matias said. “I think that’s why people are more open to partake and participate in the training.”

The nasal spray also makes it easier for people who still have a stigma about drug addicts and users. Byron reminded residents that the face of addicts has evolved and they’re not the only ones in need of drugs like Narcan.

“Sadly, the connotation is, we think people that could have overdosed are dirty when really it doesn’t have to be,” Byron said. “For opiate overdose, it doesn’t mean that it’s someone addicted to heroin. It could be somebody who’s possibly on pain management for cancer, end of life care, hospice care. It’s not the stereotypical — I hate to say it — junkie. That’s not what we’re seeing out there.”

According to Caplan, in the last few years, drug addicts who’ve overdosed on the substance have gotten younger and younger. The rate of opiate overdose deaths has increased by 140 percent since 2000. Synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, are responsible for 80 percent of these death rate increases.

Fentanyl, which some dealers or users will mix with another drug like heroin, is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Combining this drug with others can make it difficult when administering Narcan.

“One of the problems with Fentanyl is, because it’s so potent, because it acts so fast, you may need to give multiple doses of Naloxone,” Caplan said.

According to Lynagh, the police department is starting to see higher levels of Fentanyl. He added that in his more than three decades as a police officer, the drug is one of the more addictive drugs he has seen. Lynagh added that heroin was initially introduced to combat morphine addiction.

“We don’t have too many people addicted to morphine now,” Lynagh said. “We have this heroin addiction, so sometimes we mean to do something well or combat a drug or something bad, with something else that’s bad.”

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Harborfields High School. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

Full-day kindergarten is one of the several new programs featured on the adopted 2016-17 budget for the Harborfields Central School District.

The board of education presented a cap-piercing $82.8 million budget last night, with a 1.52 percent increase to the tax levy cap.

Francesco Ianni, assistant superintendent for administration and human resources, speaks during the budget presentation. Photo by Victoria Espinoza
Francesco Ianni, assistant superintendent for administration and human resources, speaks during the budget presentation. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

The district has been looking at several options for a budget this year, some that stay within the .37 percent state-mandated tax levy cap and maintain current programs, and others that go above the cap but add new programs and features to the district.

The adopted budget included a new music elective at the high school, third grade string, a teacher’s aide testing room at Oldfield Middle School and a BOCES cultural arts program.

Since this proposed budget is higher than the tax levy cap, the budget will require a 60 percent supermajority of voter approval, and taxpayers in the area will not be eligible for the $130 state tax rebate, which is part of a state incentive program that encourages municipalities to comply with the cap in exchange for the tax rebates.

Board member Hansen Lee said he thinks the community will get behind this budget.

“I’m really optimistic that this budget will pass,” Lee said at the meeting. “We’re Harborfields, we always come together for the success of our kids and the greater good. Most of all I want to say thank you to the community for your continued input in the entire process.”

Many residents have said they will stand behind the budget due to the inclusion of full-day kindergarten, which the district said would cost about $600,000.

Members of the group Fair Start: Harborfields Residents for Full-Day Kindergarten, traveled to Albany in March, hoping to spread awareness of their efforts to support full-day kindergarten on a state stage.

Board member Suzie Lustig said it is time for full-day kindergarten.

“[Full-day kindergarten] is part of a 21st century education,” she said at the meeting. “It’s part of what our future is. The time is now to be progressive.”

Board member Donald W. Mastroianni recorded the only vote against the adopted budget.

“In my opinion, a budget that stays within the cap this year would absolutely be an educationally sounds and fiscally responsible budget,” he said. “And it will continue to fully support the excellence of Harborfields. I cannot support the budget proposed that would pierce the cap this year and I will be voting no.”

This year, the district received nearly $16 million in state aid, which will make up about 19 percent of the budget, according to the district. The 2016-17 tax levy of $62.1 million will make up 75 percent of the budget, and the final 6 percent will come from reserves and fund balance.

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Sari Feldman, Amanda Geraci, Aria Saltini and Melanie Acampora star in a scene fron ‘Cinderella.’ Photo by Peter Lanscombe, Theatre Three Productions Inc.

A sweet little fairy tale waltzed into Theatre Three last weekend and quickly stole the hearts of the entire audience. The theater is closing its 2015-16 children’s theater season with the perfect choice: a classic retelling of “Cinderella.”

Many little princesses sat in the audience during Saturday’s opening to see Cinderella find her true love and live happily ever after.

With book, music and lyrics by Douglas J. Quattrock, Theatre Three’s version of this rags-to-riches story is full of singing, dancing, magic, quirky characters and lots of laughs. In short, your kids will love it.

From left, Jenna Kavaler and Amanda Geraci star in a scene from ‘Cinderella.’ Photo by Peter Lanscombe, Theatre Three Productions Inc.
From left, Jenna Kavaler and Amanda Geraci star in a scene from ‘Cinderella.’ Photo by Peter Lanscombe, Theatre Three Productions Inc.

Directed by Jeffrey Sanzel, the eight adult cast members all deliver stellar performances and clearly love the craft they have chosen. In a nod to the 17th century author of the modern Cinderella story, who is commonly referred to as the father of the fairy tale, the show’s narrator is named Charles Perrault. This “squire to the sire,” played by Andrew Gasparini, transports theatergoers to a faraway land ruled by King Utterly Charming (Steven Uihlein), who wants to retire to Boca and pass the crown on to his handsome son, Prince Charming (Hans Paul Hendrickson) — and yes, he is indeed charming. However, the king feels that his son should get married first and invites all eligible maidens to a royal ball.

The squire delivers the invitations to the home of the beautiful Cinderella (Amanda Geraci), who is still being treated badly by her wretched stepsisters (Sari Feldman and Melanie Acampora) and mean stepmother, played by newcomer Aria Saltini.

Left behind while the three meanies go to the ball, Cindy is visited by her fairy godmother, Angelica, wonderfully portrayed by Jenna Kavaler. Speaking with a Southern accent, Angelica quickly cooks up a beautiful gown and sends Cinderella on her way.

During Cinderella’s infamous missing shoe episode, Prince Charming interacts with all the little princesses in attendance, asking them for their shoe sizes as he searches for the glass slipper’s owner — a nice touch.

The songs, with Steve McCoy accompanying on piano, dominate the show. Geraci’s solo, “A Girl Like Me (And a Boy Like You),” is sweet as she dances with a broom and dreams of falling in love, and her duet with Hendrickson, “Here in Your Arms (The Waltz)” is delightful. Special mention should also be made of Gasparini’s solos, “Once Upon a Time” and “Take a Chance.”

The cast of ‘Cinderella’ at Theatre Three. Photo by Peter Lanscombe, Theatre Three Productions Inc.
The cast of ‘Cinderella’ at Theatre Three. Photo by Peter Lanscombe, Theatre Three Productions Inc.

Teresa Matteson’s costumes are on point, from Cinderella’s beautiful gown to Prince Charming’s crown. Feldman’s choreography ties it all together.

Meet the entire cast in the lobby after the show and stay for a special photo with Cinderella and the Prince.

Theatre Three, 412 Main St., Port Jefferson, will present “Cinderella” through June 11. The new season will begin on the Mainstage with “The Emperor’s New Clothes” from July 8 to Aug. 5 and the premiere of “The Misadventures of Robin Hood” from Aug. 5 to 13. All seats are $10. For more information, call the box office at 631-928-9100 or visit www.theatrethree.com.

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The Long Island Museum. Photo by Phil Corso

Two landmark Three Village institutions have received a landmark gift.

The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook and the Setauket Presbyterian Church were named beneficiaries of a $100 million charitable trust through the Kingsley Gillespie Charitable Trust, giving both groups a financial boost from a family that loved its community. The gift carried on the philanthropic contributions that both the Kingsley and Kenyon Gillespie families have made, keeping the arts, community service and faith strong.

The charitable trust came as a result of Kenyon Gillespie’s death in March 2015, which built upon the success of his father Kingsley Gillespie and mother Doris Kenyon, who both died in the 1980s. Every year, the beneficiaries will receive slices of the income earned by the $100 million trust, bringing in millions of dollars in gift money.

Neil Watson, executive director of the Long Island Museum, said the gift came at an exciting time as it approaches 80 years since the museum’s inception.

“This is a very significant gift for us — one of the biggest in our history,” he said. “It allows us to chart our own future.”

Watson said the charitable gift would allow the Long Island Museum to better maintain its 14 buildings, balance its $2.4 million budget and provide better programming for the North Shore community. Looking ahead, he said the museum would be working on launching new programs to attract new visitors, reopening the facility’s gift shop at its headquarters and investing in capital improvements to its carriage museum, which houses a 125-person meeting room dedicated to the Gillespie name.

“The board of trustees and the museum’s staff are overwhelmed by the Gillespies’ generosity,” Watson said in a statement. “This tremendous gift strengthens the LIM’s existing endowments and solidifies the museum’s financial foundation. We are forever indebted to the Gillespie family for their foresight and their belief in the important of the LIM and its place as a cultural leader in our community.”

The Setauket Presbyterian Church, founded in 1660, will also benefit considerably through the charitable trust. The institution, located on the village green at Caroline Avenue in Setauket, has been a longtime home for more than 500 people of faith.

Doris Kenyon was born in 1900 in Brooklyn, but spent summers as a child in Old Field before moving there in the 1930. She had a lifelong affection for the Three Village community, the Long Island Museum said in a press release. She was married to Kingsley Gillespie, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the two built their family in the Three Village area before retiring to Florida.

Other beneficiaries of the charitable trust include MIT and various Stamford, Conn., institutions.

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Some ideas or lessons stick with us through the decades. Religions offer plenty: We should treat others the way we want to be treated and we should respect our elders, to name two.

From my grammar school world, the Venn diagram is one concept that offers such a wonderful visual image that I think about it or rely on it with some regularity.

Do you remember the Venn diagram? It has two adjoining circles with a varying amount of overlap in the middle, and the theory can be applied to almost any circumstance.

Let’s start with sports, where passions are high, but the consequences of any single event or season are, relatively speaking, much lower.

Red Sox and Yankee fans would seem to have almost nothing in common, with two circles drawn as far away on a page as humanly possible. But each year there is at least one game where a Red Sox fan might root for a Yankee and a Yankee might root for a member of the Red Sox. Yes, think about it. The all-star game determines the home field advantage for the World Series. If the result of the all-star game was on the line and a member of the Red Sox could win the game with a home run, wouldn’t a Yankee fan begrudgingly cheer for that player in the hope that if our team made it to a seventh game of the World Series, the game would be at Yankee Stadium? There, we might get to see our team win a title instead of in a National League park.

From the passion of sports to the passions in our lives, a Venn diagram can also be useful in affairs of the heart. Let’s say you’re dating and you’re exploring similarities in your partner. Do you like the same food, books and movies? Do you have the same view on the importance of family, the role you might play in a community or the value of vacation time?

While all of these questions might lead to a better understanding of where you have common ground, marriage counselors or even dating services might suggest that circles with a perfect overlap might not create a perfect couple. After all, some differences or nonoverlapping spaces might make for a refreshing extension of our own circles. Maybe, as part of these relationships, we look for ways to expand the circles that define what we know and have experienced.

Even relationships that have ended can help shape ways to find common ground with someone else.

Then there’s politics. We will need to pick a president in November. Do any of the candidates overlap with your circle? Maybe, instead of looking at the breadth of their campaigns, you can consider the depth or importance of any one issue, extending that middle ground into a three-dimensional space. Maybe your vote will reflect whatever common ground you can find on a single issue, while rolling your eyes at the differences on so many other topics.

Ultimately, it seems that the most effective politician might not be someone who wants to fight for us, as Hillary Clinton suggests in her campaign mantra. And it might not be someone who wants to make America great again, as Donald Trump urges. Instead, it might be someone who can find the greatest common ground with other politicians and with other Americans.

We know that the best policies for Iowa likely won’t be the best for New York, but there must be ways to get New Yorkers and Iowans to find a national leader who can represent all of us — and not just those who are part of our inner circle.

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This is in the nature of a small confession. Until this past Tuesday, I have never, to my best recollection, voted in a primary. So I guess this time offered the most exciting possibilities that drew me to the voting booth. And for that injection of enthusiasm into what has traditionally been an overlong and boring presidential election process, I guess that we ought to thank Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. They have presented us with some real options instead of the usual Tweedledum and Tweedledee candidates.

Whatever happens from this point on, New York state has uncharacteristically played a significant part in this election. Until April, by the time we here have our primaries, the dust has usually cleared and our outcomes haven’t particularly registered on the political Richter scale. This time was different.

Yes, advance polling had projected Trump and Hillary Clinton victories. But the wide margin for both was a major additional factor. With just a few precincts to report, Trump had won 60 percent of the vote in a three-way race; and Clinton won 58 percent against Sanders, holding together a wide coalition of voters more typical of the national voter profile. Some other interesting points: John Kasich came in a solid second with 25 percent; the only district Trump lost was Manhattan, his home, which went to Kasich; and Ted Cruz was a distant third which was predictable, if for no other reason than after his “New York values” comment earlier in the contest.

I have often thought that the race for president goes on far too long but I read an article recently in The New York Times that gave me a different perspective. The writer suggested that the contest could be compared to a job interview, in this case the most powerful job in the world, and that we were the employers, which as voters I guess we are.

So in this long interviewing process, we get a chance to see how the candidates react when in friendly domains, when under pressure from unfriendly spectators and when they are in an adversarial role, attacking each other. These are all simulations of the job they are after, and their reactions are revealing. We also get to judge how well they manage a complex campaign over a considerable period of time. Few would disagree that the stark contrast between the campaigns of Obama and Clinton contributed to Clinton’s loss in 2008. Besides being president and commander in chief, the winner had darn well be a good manager. Although he won the election in 1976 against Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter will go down in history as one of the U.S. presidents’ worst managers who tried in vain to micromanage throughout his four years. Ronald Reagan handily beat him in 1980 and could be known as the delegator in chief for the way he managed his administration until he became ill.

Trump and Clinton, if they wind up going head-to-head in November, also offer stark contrasts. Regardless of whom one intends to vote for, few would deny that Clinton has the most experience in government and Trump has the least. This is the great advantage for Clinton and paradoxically the great advantage for Trump. People who are dissatisfied with the direction our country is headed — or their own lives — or look at government in Washington as abdication of responsibility, see Trump as an unsullied outsider capable of shaking out the deadwood and turning things around. He continually refers to himself as a “deal maker,” capable of making the United States great again. And Russian President Putin likes him, another first for an American presidential election.

Clinton has the problem of being “old goods,” familiar as the paintings on the wall that go unappreciated with time. And for various reasons, people profess not to like her, as if that is a criterion for the highest office. Do they have to like her? In fact I have met her half-a-dozen times and unlike the public face she presents from the podium, she struck me as not only likeable but also delightful and quite human. On the other hand, do people trust her to reflect their values and do the right thing when under great stress? That is the biggest voter question, and in New York state Tuesday the answer came back a resounding “yes.”

Stay tuned.

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