Photo by Tom Caruso
After months of hybrid learning during the COVID pandemic, thousands of Stony Brook University students were awarded degrees at the Winter Virtual Degree Conferral Celebration. The Degree Conferral was webcast on Friday, December 18 at 6:30pm, ET.
Candidates, with their families and friends, were invited to participate in the live-streamed celebration as Bachelors, Masters, Doctoral and Professional, Medical Degrees and Graduate Certificates were bestowed.
During her first graduation address, President Maurie McInnis commended the newly-designated alumni for their fearlessness during these trying times.
“You were brave enough to start at a new school; brave enough to make mistakes, learn new things, and share your opinions. You were brave enough to take risks and allow your minds to change. You were brave enough to excel through this most difficult year in contemporary memory. And you were brave enough to take the leap of faith that is inherent in any commencement,” she said.
In addition, former Stony Brook Southampton faculty member and internationally renowned Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, recognizing his talents that also include achievements as a celebrated playwright, screenwriter, satirist, children’s book author and graphic novelist. After he left the Village Voice where he worked for 42 years, Feiffer joined Stony Brook’s MFA program in Creative Writing and Literature where he taught ”Humor and Truth,” one of the program’s most popular classes.
After receiving his honorary degree this evening, Feiffer said, “When I started on that first day [of teaching at Stony Brook Southampton], I said ‘You have a license to fail and if you don’t take advantage of that license, you really will fail. But if you take chances; if you fall flat on your face; if you just reach out to what you can’t do, I’m going to help you learn how to do it and we’re going to have a very good time together’ and in the years that I taught, we did have a very good time together failing our way upward.”
Pre-recorded remarks for the Conferral Celebration were provided by Interim Provost Fotis Sotiropoulos and Deans from each of Stony Brook University’s Schools and Colleges. For the first time in history, several students from the Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM) at Stony Brook University conferred their degrees and took their Hippocratic oath during a December ceremony, administered by Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky, Dean, RSOM and Sr. Vice President of the Health Sciences.
In lieu of the Huntington Choral Society Winter Concert and in the hope of a brighter 2021, HCS is pleased to present a short film presentation entitled, A Holiday Gift from Huntington Choral Society viewable from December 23rd on at www.huntingtonchoralsociety.org and on their Facebook page. Visit either, relax, and enjoy their gift of beautiful music.
“HCS has had a productive virtual fall semester on Zoom during which we spent time bolstering sight reading and music theory skills; studying lyrics; rehearsing chorales from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Ferko’s Trois Chansons, and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms; developing our vocal technique; and enjoying well-reputed guest speakers, Dr. Rollo Dilworth and Professor Barbara Fusco-Spera. We look forward to our spring semester, which holds at least some promise for face to face rehearsals,” said Director Dr. Jennifer Scott-Miceli.
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum, 180 Little Neck Road, Centerport has extended its very popular Bright Lights event for an additional five nights before and after Christmas.
The Museum will welcome visitors on Dec. 22, 23, 27, 29 and 30. Tickets can be purchased for admission at 5, 6 or 7 p.m.
Evenings include holiday lights, themed light-up displays and classic holiday songs playing throughout the estate. (No costumed actors will participate.) Hot pretzels will be available for purchase.
Elizabeth Wayland-Morgan, executive director of the Vanderbilt Museum, said, “We’re excited to offer more evenings of our festive Bright Lights celebration. The decorated Estate grounds are a winter wonderland with family fun for all.”
The Vanderbilt Mansion walkways, courtyard and gardens are decorated for the season. The Museum is presenting the event in collaboration with Redmax Events. The initial weeks of the event were a fundraiser (with higher ticket prices) for the Museum and included Santa Claus and various friends portrayed by costumed actors, as well as vendors of foods and gift items, and a performance of The Nutcracker by the Posey School of Dance of Northport.
The extended evenings of Bright Lights are a public holiday event and do not include Santa and friends, vendors, or The Nutcracker. Admission for these evenings, for all ages: $5 for members, $8 for non-members, children under 2, free.
For everyone’s safety, all visitors must adhere strictly to all current public health and safety guidelines and practices, including social distancing. All guests must wear a mask when unable to maintain six feet of social distance.
To purchase tickets, please visit www.vanderbiltmuseum.org
If only every main road could be a downtown. The ones we know and love, the ones with walkable streets, sights to see, unique restaurants to eat at, a feeling that life is being lived there at every level.
Though of course anything is better than driving down the highway and passing by the umpteenth empty strip mall, with enough “for rent” signs to recreate a new mall entirely.
And it makes it that much more glaring when it seems every developer focuses on the new — of a new apartment complex or a new shopping mall or a new medical park — all ignoring the multitudes of empty complexes dotting the Long Island landscape. New development, especially that which plows ahead without concern for the neighborhood, next leads to issues of congestion and the impact on the environment. Meanwhile, local electeds are vying for shrinking pots of funds to buy up and preserve land that keeps the environmental vistas, as we have on the North Shore, viable and serene. There will never be enough money to buy up every stretch of forest or meadow or beach.
Reporting on North Shore Long Island sometimes feels like watching a hoard of starving animals vying for the smallest strip of meat, as discarded carcasses rot not 5 feet away.
That’s why the Town of Brookhaven’s plans for a so-called commercial redevelopment district zoning are so interesting, because it seems like one of the few real efforts we at TBR News Media have seen toward incentivizing rebuilding instead of new development. Though we also hope that such developer incentives can find ways around abuse, especially when too many developers are already incentivized to build with things like Industrial Development Agency tax deals.
Brookhaven’s proposed CRD special zoning, as proposed, will only be available to those property owners who can prove they are redesigning aging property with walkability, livability and commercial interests all in one. Such applications for that special zoning will also be at the discretion of the Town Board.
If the idea pans out, it could mean a massive push toward revitalization in places such as Port Jefferson Station. If it does what it’s intended to do, other towns like Smithtown or Huntington, who are suffering their own ills of vacant stores and strip malls, could adopt something similar as well. It would be nice, for a change, to hear from a developer about redesigning an eyesore rather than the usual plan to pave paradise to put up a parking lot.
Though we also have to share our reservations. Developers are already well incentivized throughout Suffolk County to build anew, especially with a multitude of deals coming from IDAs at both the county and town level. In Port Jefferson, for example, every single new apartment complex in the past several years has been given a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal by the Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency. While IDA board members say such projects will contribute to the economy, these new developments hardly add any significant job numbers to the local economy once the building process is complete.
Brookhaven’s CRD zoning intends that developers will get more leeway on applications for rebuilding based on location or how many amenities there are — such as green space or places for social activity. The risk is that these same builders will find ways to take advantage of these deals while still getting IDA money. Such a new zoning will need even greater scrutiny on applications than is already happening at the town level. A bike rack here or there isn’t worth as much to a community as a new location’s property taxes.
Still, overall, we think this could be a great leap in the right direction. We hope both local developers and local government are up to the task of revitalizing the commercial areas too long neglected.
I have brought three fictional characters in to discuss their thoughts for 2021. Please welcome Yoda from the “Star Wars” series, Jack Ryan from Tom Clancy books, and Jane Craig from the film “Broadcast News.” I will call you all by your first names. Well, except for you, Yoda.
TBR: After such a tumultuous 2020, I wanted to ask you what you all thought would likely happen next year.
Yoda: Tough to say, the future is. If the answers you don’t like, the questions you must change.
Jack: Look, I’m not sure what we’re doing here, but I think the vaccine offers real hope for change. Your world, such as it is, should be able to move in the right direction.
Jane: The trends at this point are horrific. You have enormous numbers of positive tests each day, hospitalizations are up and the number of dead continues to rise.
TBR: Yoda, you’re kind of off point and sound like a backwards fortune cookie. Jack, I appreciate the optimism and Jane, I think you’re focusing on the negatives.
Jane: We can’t preclude the possibility that the positive infections will continue to climb for months. While it’d be swell to have a big party to celebrate the vaccine and the return to whatever version of normal each of us has, it’s important that we protect ourselves and our families.
Jack: She’s right. Everyone doesn’t have the vaccine and everyone hasn’t taken it, which means we won’t reach herd immunity for a while. While this is killing the entertainment industry, among so many others, it’s necessary for us to sit tight for a while. At the same time, we need to consider the possibility that other governments will become opportunistic about this messy transition at the White House. We need to protect ourselves and remain vigilant. This is a dangerous time, in so many ways, and we need to analyze all kinds of traffic.
Yoda: Know something about vigilance, do I. Messy, this world has become. Goodness, hope and optimism, there remains. Effort to get there will it take.
TBR: Jane, this question, in particular, seems right up your alley. What do you think about the news business in 2021?
Jane: I’m not going to lie to you, it’s been a tough year for everyone, particularly in the news business. We are not the enemy. When we do our jobs well, people get to hear the truth. They can make informed decisions that affect their lives. Are there problems? Of course, but that doesn’t make the entire industry corrupt, any more than it would in any other business.
Yoda: Inside each of us, the enemy resides. Confront it, we must.
Jack: I’ve dealt with journalists all the time. They are a competitive group, I’ll give them that, but they are necessary to shine light, at the right time, on everything from the fight against the virus to the battle against corrupt governments.
TBR: Do you think we’ve learned any lessons from 2020?
Jack: It’s been a brutal year and so many people have lost so much. The numbers don’t tell the entire story. We can only live with what we know: we can protect ourselves and our family through policies that have nothing to do with politics. Careful analysis and science brought us the vaccines. We need to make informed decisions about using them.
Jane: Exactly my point, Jack. We can and should make informed decisions, which the media, at its best, can support.
Yoda: Mistakes, everyone makes. Opportunities to learn, we have. Family and those fortunate enough to share life with us, we must cherish.
By Leah S. Dunaief
One of my favorite days occurred this week. It is the winter solstice, usually considered to be Dec. 21 or 22. Why do I like that day, you might wonder? Some people think of it negatively as the shortest day of the year. In New York, the night was 14 hours and 45 minutes, shorter than in Minnesota at 15 hours and 50 minutes but longer than Miami at 13 hours and 28 minutes. For me it marks the turning point of the seasons, when each subsequent day then begins to have more light. Darkness will be lifting over the next six months, gradually but definitively. And for COVID-19, the pandemic of the century, it is a perfect metaphor. The vaccine is arriving at winter solstice with the promise that the disease, like the days, will lighten.
The vaccine is the match that will eventually banish the darkness. People all over the world, since the beginning of recorded history, have lit fires to ward off the night. It is not a coincidence that the birth of Jesus is celebrated at this time. Houses and trees are brightly decorated with all manner of lights. Hanukkah candles burn brightly at this same time, and in an 8-day sequence, as if prophesying the gradual lighting up of the days. Diwali is a five-day festival of Hindus, Sikhs and others, pushing back the night and celebrating the coming of more light.
So will the vaccine, perfectly timed, gradually vanquish the pandemic over the same next few months.
Just as a point of information, I looked up the meaning of winter solstice and found the definition as the time during the earth’s orbit around the sun at which the sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator. So the other part of the shortest day is the winter season that we have to get through with its long days before we can enjoy more brightness and warmth. And we will also have to endure more illness and death from the novel coronavirus before we can recapture the world as we have known it. We will have to hold on, using our various strategies for survival, until what has been described as the unending “snow days” of lockdown yield to recovery.
Winter can be thought of as a time of intense cold, of scarcity, of starkness and even of death of the earth. But the earth has not died. It is merely resting, and all who live on it are forced to slow down until light and warmth bring growth. For us humans, it can be when we nest with our families, play games, watch movies, tell stories about our ancestors and fill the house with the smells of stick-to-the-rib cooking. Unfortunately, we have been doing just that, unwillingly, for the past 10 months. But the warmth and the light inside the home are especially welcome now that the wind is howling and the snow is sticking.
When we were in Alaska some years ago, many of the residents we met said that winter was their favorite season, when members of the community come together indoors to socialize and look after each other as the elements rage in the darkness outdoors.
This winter, we will be coming together via zoom and the other miracles of modern technology. As the earth lies fallow, we can just rest. Or we can evaluate our lives and priorities, learn things that, like planted seeds, will flower in the warmth and light of the spring. We can certainly straighten out our closets and desk drawers, if we haven’t already. All the while, we can follow the guidelines of the scientists and physicians and keep ourselves safe for the spring.
This is my last column of the year. The next issue, of 12/31, will be entirely filled with stories about those heroic and tireless residents who kept life going in 2020 and richly deserve to be honored as People of the Year.
We here at TBR News Media wish you and your loved ones holidays that are happy and safe.
We look forward to rejoining you next year.
Long Island’s very own Carter Rubin is back home and was greeted with a parade in his honor.
The 15-year-old winner of NBC’s “The Voice” was welcomed home Friday with a caravan of people supporting and cheering on the newest local celebrity.
Carter, of Shoreham, won the national singing competition during Tuesday’s series finale, as a representative of Team Gwen, headed by singer Gwen Stefani.
On Dec. 18, several dozen cars lined up outside Shoreham-Wading River High School with signs and balloons, ready to surprise the sophomore outside his home.
Also greeted by media, as Carter hosted interviews alongside his family, firetrucks, the local police and community members shocked the young singer with a warm welcoming. They held signs out of their car windows, handed him balloons and flowers, and yelled their joy for achieving a huge feat.
“I’m still in shock, I don’t think it really hit me yet,” the ecstatic and overwhelmed Carter said. “My feet have not touched the ground. I’m still trying to comprehend what happened.”
Since October, the young singer was traveling back and forth from his Shoreham home to Los Angeles to participate on the show. During the initial audition, Stefani and fellow judge singer John Legend both wanted the then-14-year-old on their teams. He chose the No Doubt singer, making this her first win on the show.
After touching the hearts of both the judges and America as a whole, Carter is now able to share what he loves with the world, his mother, Alonna Rubin said.
“It’s pretty awesome,” she said. “We’re so happy to be able to see him do what he loves and make so many people happy.”
Throughout the competition, he often dedicated his performances to his autistic older brother, Jack, who was back home watching his little brother shine on the small screen.
“I’m just so happy for Carter that he won ‘The Voice,’” he said, smiling. “It felt so good to see him on TV.”
Their mother is an advocate for the autism community and is founder of the local nonprofit Families in Arms, which helps support families of children on the spectrum.
The father said it was hard having his son and wife across the country, but FaceTime helped, and even the distance was well worth it to watch Carter shine.
“Watching him just do the work, perform and step up was amazing,” David Rubin said. “But he really made a big impact on people which is, as his parents, really incredible.”
Along with his new title as the show’s Season 19 winner, he also was awarded $100,000, a trip to Universal Orlando and a contract with Republic Records. Carter added that his next steps are to start writing his own music and start performing when COVID is done.
“I want to get in the studio and record music to put out there for everyone,” he said. “Once COVID is over, I want to perform.”
He’s been performing for years, though, his grandfather Ric Mango said. Mango, who was a member of 1960s group Jay & the Americans, said that Carter had opened up for him and his own band since he was 6 years old.
“He’s a great kid,” the proud grandfather said. “He’s great inside and out, and he’s going to be an idol.”
When Carter and his mother headed home Thursday night, family friend and Shoreham Civic Organization president, Mike Goralski, knew he wanted to do something special for the teen.
“I’ve been friends with the family for a little more than 12 years, and I felt as though something should be done because he’s a wonderful kid,” he said. “The family, from the kids to the grandparents, are
great people.”
So Goralski recruited local elected officials and the rest of the community to give Carter a big hello.
Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) presented “The Voice” champion with a proclamation to congratulate him on his achievement.
“This is the best holiday gift ever,” Anker said. “We really need this, and Carter is the perfect person to provide this excitement. His heart is so warm, his courage is so strong, and his belief that you can follow your dreams has made such a difference, not just for him, but for everyone.”
And while his personality shined on stage, he was still in disbelief he won this honor and received all this love from his neighbors.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “I’m just so grateful for all the outpouring support in the middle of a global pandemic.”
Looking for a way to connect young artists during a time when schools are unable to hold art shows, three Ward Melville High School students decided to give creative teens a chance to share their work, not only on the web but also in print.
In December, a new magazine called Junk Dump premiered. The publication was founded by Grace Brouillet, 17, of Port Jefferson Station, Dlisah Lapidus, 16, of Setauket, and Mia Schoolman, 16, of Stony Brook. Brouillet and Schoolman are seniors, while Lapidus is a junior set to graduate a year early.
Featuring artwork, photography, fashion designs and writings, the magazine has no ads, as the girls put up their own money to have it published. They used the online service PrintingCenterUSA to have it printed.
The three said the hope was to recoup some of the outlay by charging $10 for the full-color magazine. While they printed 75 issues of the first edition, titled Distorted Time, they had so many people interested that they are planning to print more of their second issue which is set to be released in February.
Schoolman said they chose the name Junk Dump because they wanted the magazine to be a place where artists could share anything, even if their piece wasn’t completed. Or, as she described it, “a place where artists can dump their work and show the raw side of their artwork.”
“We love unfinished or unpolished work, and you never get to see that in exhibits or art shows,” she said.
It’s no surprise that the girls became interested in creating a publication. Schoolman said she’s into studying the fine arts, and she and Brouillet are interested in graphic design. Brouillet is also editor-in-chief of the school’s yearbook. Lapidus said her interests lie in journalism and fashion design.
Lapidus said the objective was to show all talents whether one is an artist, writer, photographer or designer.
“That was really the goal — we wanted to just give every person who had some creative aspirations a place where they can express themselves and get some recognition for it,” she said.
The magazine features work from teenagers all over the country and the world, even as far as Turkey and Scotland. The three invited people to contribute via Snapchat, and the submissions have also led to an Instagram page and website. Schoolman said they also messaged some young artists directly.
Lapidus said they wanted to include young artists from all over the world as they recognized that with current restrictions due to COVID-19, many don’t have a place to express themselves, something they have witnessed firsthand with school art shows not taking place during the pandemic.
“It would be really interesting to see in this digital age that we have, and where face-to-face contact is restricted,” Lapidus said. “I think we can form a community through this magazine that doesn’t have to just be restricted by geography. It doesn’t have to be just in this area. We can even connect people here to all over the world.”
The high school students plan to publish the magazine every other month, and next year when they’re in college they still intend to produce more issues, Brouillet said.
“I think this is something that we’re all really passionate about and love doing, and we all feel it’s making a difference in our own lives and other peoples’,” she said. “When we go off to college, we’ll be able to build a community even bigger and keep it growing.”
Even though the girls run a website and social media accounts, presenting work in print is important to them, especially to Lapidus, a self-described avid reader, who said she’s always connected more with print media than online.
“It’s just not the same as holding paper in your hand,” she said.
She added so many magazines are online, but during the pandemic having a print version made sense.
“I thought when physical contact is taken from us with this pandemic, it’s important to bring print back in some way, and I think that having a physical print magazine connects people even further,” Lapidus said.
Schoolman said Lapidus’ passion for print, along with her and Brouillet’s graphic-design abilities are a good match.
“I think that when we first started the project, not many people really knew what we were doing,” Schoolman said. “We said we were making a magazine but obviously we didn’t have the physical copy in our hands [at the time]. I think when people actually see us go into publishing, printing our own magazine, it’s so important to kind of combine the digital world with the physical world.”
For more information on Junk Dump magazine, visit www.junkdumpmag.com.
In response to the growing number of COVID-19 cases on Long Island, Stony Brook University Hospital has reopened its “forward triage” site at the Ambulatory Care Pavilion.
Patients who arrive at the emergency room between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. are asked to stay in their cars, where a member of the staff will determine the correct emergency care setting. Hospital staff will then direct patients to go to the main Emergency Department or to the coronavirus triage location. The site aims to limit patients with suspected COVID-19 from co-mingling with people coming to the hospital for other medical services.
After seeing nearly 2,600 patients, Stony Brook Medicine closed its “forward triage” site back in May after a decline in patient visits. The site staffed with board-certified emergency medicine physicians and emergency medicine nurses was open from March 9 to May 4.
The state drive-through testing site located in Stony Brook University’s South P Lot off Stony Brook Road remains open. Residents looking to get tested must make appointments in advance by phone at 888-364-3065 or online at www.coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-testing. Walk-ins are not accepted and will not be seen. The site is open seven days a week. Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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