Located at 275 Christian Avenue in Stony Brook, The Jazz Loft offers a month of great music in July:
Wednesday, July 5
Young at Heart: Requests! at 1 p.m.
Tom Manuel and the Jazz Loft Trio will take requests from the audience for this month’s Young at Heart. Young at Heart is a monthly themed afternoon jazz concert series to help seniors enjoy and remember familiar tunes.
Tickets: $10
Wednesday, July 5
Jazz 101: Long Island Jazz Legends with Darrell Smith
6 p.m.
Tickets: $15
Wednesday, July 5
Jam Session at 7 p.m.
Jam Sessions are led by Keenan Zach Jazz and musicians of all ages are invited to play on stage along with fellow Jazz enthusiasts.
Tickets: $10, after 8 p.m. $5
Thursday, July 6 at 7 p.m.
Viva Cuba!
17 piece Latin Big Band directed by Tom Manuel celebrating the music of Prez Prado, Xavier Cugat, Machito, Tito Puente and others
Jam Sessions are led by Keenan Zach Jazz and musicians of all ages are invited to play on stage along with fellow Jazz enthusiasts.
Tickets: $10, after 8 p.m. $5
Thursday, July 13 at 6 p.m.
Summer Swap
The Jazz Loft will be holding four outdoor Summer Swap concerts on the Jazz Loft front lawn throughout the summer. This show will feature the Equity Brass Band and is FREE!
The Summer Swap series is sponsored by Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn, Stony Brook University and Stony Brook Medicine.
FREE on the Jazz Loft lawn
Tuesday, July 18 at 7 p.m.
Jazz Loft Bottle Launch Wine Tasting
The Jazz Loft will be offering concert goers the option of purchasing wine by the bottle at performances. To get a taste of the wine list, The Jazz Loft Bottle Launch will give attendees an opportunity to taste the new selection of wines, with wine specialist Paul Yolango of Opici Wines and Laura Landor of the Jazz Loft. The evening includes a tasting of each wine and discussion of the flavor profiles.
Tickets are $25 and $10 for Friends Circle members.
Wednesday, July 19
Jam Session at 7 p.m.
Jam Sessions are led by Keenan Zach Jazz and musicians of all ages are invited to play on stage along with fellow Jazz enthusiasts.
Tickets: $10, after 8 p.m. $5
Thursday, July 20 at 7 p.m.
The Bad Little Big Band
The 12-member Bad Little Big Band led by pianist Rich Iacona and featuring vocalist Madeline Kole presents fresh and new arrangements.
Pictured here from left to right are Racanelli employees Christine Armanno, Christine Wright,
Dan Van De Kar, Carmine Martuscello, David Hodukavich, Steve Peragallo, Joe DiPasquale,
Team Captain for the project Jodi McWilliams, Dan Delahunty, John Lopusnak, Alexandra
Vacca, Karina Aguirre, Samantha Brandt, and Paul Viola
Racanelli Construction Company, Inc. of Melville recently participated in a Habitat for Humanity of Long Island house build.
On June 21, 14 employees — Christine Armanno, Christine Wright, Dan Van De Kar, Carmine Martuscello, David Hodukavich, Steve Peragallo, Joe DiPasquale, Team Captain for the project Jodi McWilliams, Dan Delahunty, John Lopusnak, Alexandra Vacca, Karina Aguirre, Samantha Brandt, and Paul Viola — volunteered their time to help build a new home in Mastic Beach, where they spent the day performing demolition work and renovating the home for a deserving family.
According to Racanelli Construction’s Director of Human Resources Alessandra Cavalluzzi, “One of the core values of Racanelli Construction Company is giving back to the communities where we live and work. It is a part of our company’s DNA going back to our founding and continues to this day with our Principals, who serve on nonprofit boards and are actively involved in many charitable events.”
For the month of July, the Reboli Center for Art and History is showcasing the work of jewelry designer Sarah Richardson.
Richardson comes from a long line of artisans so it was only natural that her creative side was nurtured to have a passion for art. She studied Metalsmithing at Rhode Island School of Design and then continued her design studies in Germany. Afterwards, she moved to New York and designed customed jewelry for a gallery in the West Village. Richardson taught metalsmithing and focused on fine art jewelry. In 2006, she returned to California and set up her own studio.
Sarah Richardson Jewelry includes earrings, necklaces, rings, and bracelets, as well as a Bridal Collection featuring eternity and engagement rings, earrings and pendants. “All of my pieces are finely crafted using recycled sterling, 18 karat gold and platinum and ethically sourced stones. Any pieces which are vermeil are plated in a heavy 18 karat gold over sterling, with gold fill chains, to ensure long lasting quality,” said Richardson.
“My jewelry is a process of evolving designs,” she explained. Drawn to the organic quality of each individual pod, a repetition of these elements creates geometric form. Using traditional wax carving techniques, each piece is hand carved, then cast in 18 karat yellow gold or sterling.Using heat to bring the fine metal to the surface, each piece is then polished on the edges creating an interior glow.
Lois Reboli, president and founder of The Reboli Center, saw Sarah Richardson Jewelry at the NY NOW show at the Javitz Center. “As I admired her collection and variety of pieces, I asked if she would be interested in being featured at The Reboli Center and lucky for all of us – she said yes!I hope everyone appreciates her fine work and designs as much as I do,” said Reboli.
Sarah Richardson Jewelry will be on display during July at the Reboli Center, located at 64 Main Street, Stony Brook. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information please call 631-752-7707 or visit www.rebolicenter.org
Scarlett Johansson in a scene from the film. Photo courtesy of Focus Features
Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel
Auteur Wes Anderson’s first feature film was Bottle Rocket (1996), based on a short he made in 1994 with Luke and Owen Wilson. His sophomore outing, Rushmore (1998), brought him to prominence. The quirky, line-crossing comedy follows a high school student (Jason Schwartzman) with a crush on a fifth-grade teacher (Olivia Williams).The film featured Bill Murray in the first of nine collaborations with the director.
With a focus on (and often delight in) the dysfunctional and a sense of heightened reality, Anderson’s works (for which he not only directed by served as writer and producer) have included The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and The French Dispatch (2021).
His films have received fifteen Academy Award nominations (winning four, all for The Grand Budapest Hotel). In addition, the works have 20 BAFTA nominations (winning five) and 10 Golden Globes (winning two).
To discuss Anderson’s latest offering, Asteroid City, two terms are helpful. The first is “meta.” Definitions of “meta” vary slightly. The most accessible is Merriam-Webster’s informal explanation: “showing or suggesting an explicit awareness of itself or oneself as a member of its category; cleverly self-referential.” It goes on to cite various examples:
“The Bar?” she said. “I know the place. Been meaning to drop by. Love the name. Very meta.” — Gillian Flynn
A new comedy about fantasy football, which follows a group of armchair quarterbacks as they try to tackle life. How meta would it be if people started betting on what was going to happen on the show? — TV Guide
Leave it to Larry [David] to contort public desire for a Seinfeld reunion into a meta plot that chronicles his not-necessarily-noble struggle to pull off a Seinfeld reunion. —Dan Snierson
The second term is “shaggy dog story.”
Again, let us turn to Merriam-Webster: “of, relating to, or being a long-drawn-out circumstantial story concerning an inconsequential happening that impresses the teller as humorous or interesting but the hearer as boring and pointless.”
And therein explains the meta-comedy/shaggy dog story Asteroid City, one hundred and five minutes of tedious indulgence that evokes an occasional strained chuckle but otherwise ceaselessly plods to a non-conclusion.
A Rod Serling-like host (Bryan Cranston) introduces a television show following the creation of a play penned by world-famous writer Conrad Earp (Edward Norton). The black-and-white framing device evokes the earliest days of television. Earp’s play, Asteroid City (presented widescreen in vivid shades of sherbet), tells of the titular desert town hosting a youth astronomy convention. The action shifts between the presentation of the play and the television special. Some might complain that the documentary gimmick interferes with the narrative action. However, this is a minor cavil since the story plays in virtual stagnation.
Anderson creates a story where everything means something, even if it doesn’t. The 1955 world of the Cold War, atom bomb testing, a movie star, singing cowboys, a grieving widower, and a host of odd types and situations parade limply through the convoluted plot. Eventually, the assorted characters end up under government quarantine when an alien briefly appears, stealing a meteorite fragment.
There is enormous potential for commentary and outrageous, pointed humor between the two worlds- the theatrical and the narrative. However, Anderson misses on almost every count. Even his concept of a three-act play bears no sense of understanding, with its only true reference to the indication of scenes.
He has assembled an all-star cast (many veterans of his films), headed by Jason Schwartzman (as the widower) and Scarlett Johansson (as the movie star), supported by first-rate talents including Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Matt Dillon, Steve Carell, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, and Margot Robbie.
Sadly, they all give the same performance—or rather, the idea of a performance of a performance. Everyone speaks in an identically flat cadence, lips barely parting like poorly skilled ventriloquists, mouthing pretentious dialogue, wanting—but failing—to be outrageously quippy or metaphorically deep. Rarely has so much talent gone for so little.
The only interest rests in the two-dimensional visuals, alternating between crisp black-and-white and hyper-rich colors, the work of cinematographer Robert Yeoman. A few whimsical pieces—vending machines that dispense martinis complete with lemon twists or others that offer valueless desert real estate—evoke a weary smile. But again, not enough to sustain the short but interminable running time.
Great art manifests best when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. What happens when there is no center? When the whole is a hole? Several times, the lead actor complains, “I don’t understand the play.” The director’s response: “But just keep doing it.” Well, perhaps not.
Rated PG-13, the film is now playing in local theaters.
The Suffolk County Police Department, assisted by the New York State Police and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s
Office, arrested three motorists during an overnight sobriety checkpoint in Port Jefferson Station on June 30 and July 1.
Police officers from the Suffolk County Police Department’s Highway Patrol Bureau conducted a joint sobriety checkpoint operation with New York State Troopers and Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs at the corner of Route 112, at Hallock Avenue, from 11:40 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. The checkpoint was part of an ongoing July 4th holiday weekend enforcement crackdown targeting alcohol and drug impaired driving. A total of 414 vehicles went through the checkpoint.
The following were charged with allegedly Driving While Intoxicated:
Gabrielle Brewer, 30, of Coram
Jariel Felix-Benitez, 30, of Farmingdale
Matute Monjoya, 41, of Mt. Sinai
The above arrestees will be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on July 1.
(L-R) LIMEHOF 2023 music scholarship winners Jacob Leshnower (Half Hollow High School East High School), Alexis Pabebianco (Mineola High School) Chris Hummel (Harborfields High School), Coleman Schubert (Babylon, Babylon Jr-Sr. High School) and Luca Alexandru (Syosset High School).
For the first time since opening the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF) Museum in Stony Brook last fall, LIMEHOF recently awarded its annual music scholarships to five graduating students from across LongIsland in a special ceremony held in the main exhibit hall.
This year’s Distinction in Music scholarship winners include Chris Hummel (Centerport, Harborfields High School), Jacob Leshnower (Dix Hills, Half Hollow High School East High School), Alexis Pabebianco (Williston Park, Mineola High School), Luca Alexandru (Syosset, Syosset High School) and winning the Pat DeRosa Scholarship was Coleman Schubert (Babylon, Babylon Jr-Sr. High School). The Pat DeRosa Memorial Scholarship was created to honor the memory of LIMEOHF inductee Pat DeRosa and was awarded specifically to a High School Senior to continue their studies in Music on the saxophone or woodwind instrument.
“We are immensely proud of our scholarship winners who have been granted the opportunity to pursue their passion for music through higher education,” said Tom Needham, LIMEHOF’s Educational Programs Director. “Their talent, dedication, and commitment to their craft inspire us all. We believe that their journey will not only shape their own futures but also contribute to the rich musical legacy of our community and beyond.”
Both Patricia DeRosa Padden, the daughter of LIMEHOF inductee Pat DeRosa and her daughter, Nicole DeRosa Padden (Pat’s granddaughter), were in attendance to present the scholarship in his name to Coleman Schubert. Afterwards they were presented with Pat DeRosa’s LIMEHOF inductee award trophy by LIMEHOF Chairman Ernie Canadeo. Pat DeRosa had been inducted during the Covid lockdown restrictions and unfortunately, he passed away in March of 2023 before the official in person presentation ceremony could be held.
About Christopher Hummel (Centerport, Harborfields High School, Violinist)
Christopher Hummel
Christopher Hummel has a passion for music which has brought him from Germany to Oregon. Equally comfortable leading an orchestra (he is currently serving as concertmaster of the Long Island Youth Orchestra), playing in chamber groups (he is the violinist in the HBK Piano Trio), and as a soloist (he has performed at the Majestic Theatre, and was a featured soloist during the Long Island Youth Orchestra’s 61st season), he has had the opportunity to work with some of today’s leading teachers.
Christopher has won national accolades (3rd prize in the 2021 Charleston International Baroque Competition, and 2nd in the 2021 New York MTNA Senior Performance Competition). He currently studies with Ann Setzer and Jennifer Frautschi. When not with his violin in hand, you will find him swinging a tennis racquet or spending time with his wonderful family.
Christopher is incredibly grateful to receive this scholarship from the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. This generous scholarship will enable him to pursue his passion for music at Juilliard, taking the next step towards his dream career of being a soloist. He would like to thank the scholarship committee, his teachers, and his parents for supporting him on his journey to becoming a professional musician.
About Jacob Leshnower (Dix Hills, Half Hollow High School East, Percussion and Piano)
Jacob Leshnower
Music has played a unique role in shaping Jacob’s academic and professional pursuits. Jacob began playing piano when he was two years old and chose percussion in fourth grade after being wowed by the timpanist at a Carnegie Hall concert. In high school, he played percussion in the All-District Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Symphonic Orchestra, and Marching Band, and piano in Jazz Band and Pit Orchestra.
Jacob also has had the amazing opportunity in recent years to perform as a percussionist in All-County, All-Eastern, and All-National ensembles, as well as the featured pianist in the All-State Symphonic Band. These experiences have provided him with an opportunity to meet like-minded people and confirm my commitment to pursue music as I enter college and beyond.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jacob participated, by audition, in the Juilliard Summer Percussion Masterclass Series, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and the NYU Sandbox Percussion Seminar. In addition, he has conducted original research into complex and important aspects of the intersection of music and psychology that has been accepted for presentation at international science competitions. Jacob plans to continue this music-related research in college and beyond, and he would like music performance to be a major part of his career. Jacob looks forward to attending Yale University in the fall, participating in ensembles while taking lessons at the Yale School of Music. “I am honored to receive the Long Island Music Hall of Fame scholarship because it is a testament to my passion for music and a source of great encouragement as I embark upon a musical career.”
About Luca Alexandru (Syosset, Syosset High School, Guitarist, Singer-songwriter)
Luca Alexandru
Luca Alexandru is a guitarist, singer-songwriter, and producer. In addition to his selection as the jazz guitarist of the 2022 All National Jazz Ensemble, Luca was also selected as the jazz guitaristfor the 2022 All State Vocal Jazz Ensemble, a Bass for the 2022 All State Mixed Choir, a jazz guitar alternate for the 2021 All State Jazz Ensemble, and a finalist in the 2023 All Eastern Composition Symposium. In his free time Luca likes to write and perform music with his band, play soccer on his travel team, and teach guitar lessons.
“I am so incredibly grateful to receive this scholarship. I would like to thank all of my music teachers and mentors for their guidance and for inspiring me to be the best musician I can be every day.”
Luca is very excited for his future in Boston as he plans to attend Berklee College of Music and major in Music Production and Engineering.
About Alexis Panebianco (Williston Park, Mineola High School, Voice and Trumpet)
Alexis Panebianco
Alexis’s passion for music grew stronger after taking part in middle and high school musicals, choirs, and marching band. There was no greater honor in her music career than being Drum Major of the Mineola Mustang Marching Band. The band achieved 1st Place in New York State Championships for three years during her tenure. Participating in the marching band gave her the opportunity to learn important life skills, such as leadership, resilience, and accountability.
Alexis has also participated in the ACDA All National Chorus, the NAFME All Eastern Chorus and NYSSMA All County and All State Chorus’s as a soprano vocalist. Alexis’s positive experiences with music solidified her plans to major in Music Education at Hofstra University.
Her family has lived on LongIsland for three generations, and she looks forward to using her education and experience to help students on Long Island grow, mature, and expand their minds in the same way the resources of Long Island and music have helped her to grow into the student and musician that she has become.
“Thank you to the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame for awarding me the 2023 Student Scholarship! I knew that music would help me find my voice and purpose from a very young age.”
About Coleman Schubart(Babylon, Babylon Jr-Sr. High School, Oboe and English Horn)
Coleman Schubart
From a large musical family, Coleman Schubart is the fifth of six siblings and has a twin sister. Coleman studied piano and cello between the ages of 6 and 10 and then picked up the saxophone in the fourth grade. By the eighth grade, his school band was drowning in saxophone players, and his band director asked him to switch to oboe. Since then, Coleman has studied oboe with Dr. Terry Keevil, the Chamber Music Director at Stony Brook University.
Coleman began participating in NYSSMA at the age of six and consistently received score of A+ each year. In the 10th and the 11thgrade, he received scores of 100 on his oboe All-State auditions. He was an All-State alternate in 11thgrade and was selected for the All-State Band in 12th grade. Coleman is a member of the Tri-M Honor Society and has played in the pit orchestra of three high school musicals, covering clarinet, saxophone and oboe parts. Throughout high school, he has been selected for many orchestra and band festivals, and in 11th grade, he was the winner of the Eastman School of Music Award.
Outside of school, Coleman is first chair oboist in the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, through which he has performed at the Tilles Center, the Staller Center, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall.
He has volunteered as a parish musician in three Long Island parishes. Under the baton of his conductor father, he has been afforded countless opportunities to play with graduate school and professional musicians in ensembles ranging from quartets to symphonic orchestras. Coleman has been engaged over the last year as a featured oboe soloist for several recitals. His most recent appearances were at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington and St. Patrick’s Church in Bay Shore.
Coleman will enter Michigan State University in the fall and will study with Dr. Nermis Mieses as a dual oboe performance and music education major. He looks forward to someday sharing his love of music with future students as his father did with him.
About the Pat DeRosa Memorial Scholarship
Pat DeRosa
Mr. Pat A. DeRosa performed for many years from Manhattan to Montauk and beyond. He taught music in Huntington and South Huntington and in 2018 the Guinness Book of World Records named him the “World’s Oldest Professional Saxophone Player”. (101 years old and still playing in 2022). Additionally, he was inducted into the Long Island Hall of Fame and the South Huntington Hall of Fame.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in South Huntington, Pat picked up a saxophone in the Bowery with his mom at the age of 12. After High School, he worked at Grumman before he was drafted into WWII where he played with the Glenn Miller Army/Air Force Band.
After the war, he played at The Latin Quarter and the Copacabana as well as other NYC clubs while attending the Manhattan School of Music where he received a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in English Horn and Oboe. He played with Tommy Tucker, Tex Benecke, Lionel Hampton amongst others while on the road stopping to make a movie in Hollywood where he was invited to have lunch with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. When he returned home, he was introduced to John Coltrane and they played duets together for three years.
Most recently he could be seen playing with his daughter, Patricia DeRosa Padden of Montauk, on piano and his granddaughter Nicole DeRosa Padden, also of Montauk, on vocals and flute as well as sitting in with numerous bands on the East End and Western Suffolk. Pat retired from teaching in 1978 but his students continued to contact him often.
This Memorial Scholarship has been set up for a High School Senior to continue their studies in Music on the saxophone or woodwind instrument. The criteria includes a 95 or above in Music and a 90 overall average. An essay should also be provided by the student to show why they would like to continue to pursue music.
Founded in 2004, the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall Of Fame (LIMEHOF) is a 501(c) (3) organization dedicated to the idea that Long Island’s musical and entertainment heritage is an important resource to be celebrated and preserved for future generations. The organization, which encompasses New York State’s Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, and Kings (Brooklyn) Counties, was created as a place of community that inspires and explores Long Islandmusic and entertainment in all its forms. In 2022, LIMEHOF opened its first Hall of Fame building location in Stony Brook Village. To date, the organization has inducted more than 120 musicians and music industry executives, and also offers education programs and scholarships, and awards to Long Islandstudents and educators.
Sasson on the eve of her high school graduation. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Like every other graduating high school senior across Long Island, June has been a crazy month for Ward Melville’s track and field sensation Abigail Sasson.
Abigail Sasson high-jumping at Suffolk County Winter Track Championships in Brentwood this past February. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Between the graduation parties, final exams, prom, commencement ceremonies and saying goodbye to teachers and friends, high school’s final moments are a uniquely special time.
However, Sasson’s June was perhaps crazier and a little more memorable than most.
On Father’s Day weekend, Abbi, as she is known to friends, family and teammates, had the opportunity to compete as a high jumper at the 2023 Nike Outdoor National Championships held at the University of Oregon in Eugene.
Hayward Field, Oregon’s home arena, is considered hallowed ground for the sport of track and field. Nike co-founder Phil Knight is an alumnus, ran the mile for the school decades ago and since becoming a captain of industry has always had a vested interest in preserving the venue as a track and field mecca. Running stars Alberto Salazar, Keshia Baker and Steve Prefontaine were all Oregon Ducks, and this place is the track equivalent to Cooperstown or Canton.
This pilgrimage was a fitting way for the Nebraska native, who moved to Setauket when she was 10 years old, to finish off her storied career as a Lady Patriot. In wet conditions, Sasson was not able to clear 4 feet, 10½ inches in her three attempts, but for her, it was a personal victory in making the trip and earning the experience of performing on such a grand stage.
“At first it was jarring to be in such a huge and famous stadium in front of so many people, but it was great to compete against the best athletes in the country and in a setting that is so beautiful,” said Sasson, who made the 2,900-mile journey with her mom Lise. “This was the last meet of my high school career and to be able to do it at nationals in Oregon was an absolutely amazing experience that I will never forget.”
Back home in Setauket, Sasson is so much more than a high jumper, and she wears a lot of hats — as well as a lot of different shoes — for the Ward Melville track and field program. She excels at the pentathlon, which combines the 100-meter hurdles, long jump, high jump, shotput and the 800-meter run. Abbi is the reigning Suffolk champion for pentathlon, capturing the gold at the Section XI Championship at Commack this past May after winning silver as a junior in 2022. The versatile Sasson has earned all-county or all-league honors for triple jump, high jump and long jump in her career at Ward Melville and has been named as a Suffolk Scholar-Athlete all four years of high school.
Abbi Sasson at Nike Outdoor Nationals at University of Oregon in Eugene. Photo from Lise Sasson
“Since the eighth grade, Abbi has shown great ability to do multiple events,” said Ward Melville girls track and field head coach J.P. Dion. “She is an extremely bright kid who retains everything she is taught and loves to pass that information on to the younger kids. But in addition to being a great athlete and leader, I think the really special thing about Abbi is her heart.”
Dion has a lot of company feeling in this way.
Last week, Sasson was presented the 2023 Ward Melville Spirit, Leadership and Cooperation Award, which was voted on by the entire Patriot athletic department. Abbi’s success on the track alone might have been enough to merit this award, but she won it while having to overcome a goodly dose of adversity, which was dealt to her just weeks into her senior year.
In October of 2022, Abbi was driving on Route 347, just south of Stony Brook University, when she was slammed from behind by another vehicle. Sasson suffered whiplash and a concussion, the effects of which she still feels today. She missed a chunk of school in the fall and was not allowed to compete for about six weeks. Although the injury made it difficult for her to read and she was not allowed to run or jump, it did not stop her from attending track practice.
“It was tough because I had to make up all my tests and get my college applications in before deadline,” Sasson said. “But I also wanted to meet my new teammates and help the coaches any way I could. It was cold, but I didn’t mind. Being around the track is always my favorite part of the day.”
One of these teammates was junior and fellow pentathloner Kate Woods.
“Abbi is like my track mom and anytime I had low self-confidence, she was always the first person by my side and cheering me up even when she was not able to compete,” Woods said.“I genuinely don’t know if I would have been able to accomplish everything I accomplished this year without Abbi. She meant so much to the whole track team because she always found the positives in all of us. Everyone loves and looks up to Abbi so much.”
Woods was named to the all-county pentathlon team along with Sasson and still has two more years as a Lady Patriot. Sasson will be pre-med at Vassar College in the fall and will be competing as a member of the Vassar Women’s Track and Field team.
But she’ll not soon forget her former Lady Pat teammates and coaches, who have helped shape her into the athlete and person she is today.
“Track, and being a member of this team, is definitely the part of high school that I will miss the most,” she said. “The friends I’ve made on this team are life-long friends and when I’m on break from Vassar, I hope they let me come back to pop in and say hello.”
With all that Sasson has accomplished and contributed to the Ward Melville community, it’s a safe bet that they will.
The first editorial ever published in our newspaper [“The spirit of ’76,” April 8, 1976] declared our opinion pages as “a forum where everybody has an opportunity to be heard.” Through the many changes over the last 47 years, we affirm this creed unconditionally, subject to concerns of libel and good taste.
For nearly half a century, our staff, columnists and letter writers have broadcast ideas to the North Shore public each week. This page is our weekly community dialogue keeping vital communication channels alive.
Debate ennobles citizens. Through spirited exchanges, we empower our peers to interpret and digest local current events, enabling rational, informed decisions at the ballot box.
But how our times have changed.
With innovation, many of our discussions have moved from the printed page to the digital screen. Citizens today take their disagreements to social media, where opinions are not subjected to rigorous editorial standards and vetting procedures.
Social media often discourages thoughtful dissent. Unfiltered, shielded by screens, we inject venom and misinformation into our public forum. The natural consequence of this toxic social media culture is the decay of civility and decorum.
We live in a hypercharged, decidedly polarized political context. We expect media outlets and tech companies to squelch meaningful exchanges. We seek only information affirming our existing — often incomplete — worldviews.
Instead of debating, we dehumanize and delegitimize our political opponents. Through our collective softness and fear of dissent, we paint a warped picture of reality.
While our staff may object to some of the sentiments advanced on this page, we remind our readers that we are moderators, not censors. We hold up the words attributed to Voltaire, the great French philosophical champion of free speech, who once wrote, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
We disagree with outlets and tech companies that censor divergent speech, stymie political discourse or needlessly encroach upon our deliberative process. However, we disallow hatred or what appears as personal attacks.
As journalists, we cannot bend our editorial code to meet the censorial standards of our age.
For this republic to endure, we must return to honest disagreement. So in this spirit, let us continue this noble work, allowing the conversations to flourish.
Academy students may have fallen through the cracks on larger campuses
Three Village Academy, above, is tucked behind a quiet Stony Brook neighborhood. Photos by Mallie Jane Kim
Tucked behind a quiet Stony Brook neighborhood sits the least known school in Three Village Central School District: Three Village Academy, home base for about 55 ninth through 12th graders each year who have had a tough time socially or emotionally, and who may otherwise have fallen through the cracks at larger secondary schools in the district.
Principal Gus Hueber checks on a student working independently. Photo by Mallie Jane Kim
At a time children and teens nationwide are struggling with increased anxiety, depression and other mental health issues, the academy, which shares a building with district administration offices, offers a distinctly lower-key environment than the massive, stately Ward Melville High School, population 1,520.
It is a general education program — not special education, though about half of the students have accommodation plans, and not a behavioral intervention program. The academy is primarily for in-district students, but a small portion are sent and paid for by other districts: Smithtown, Commack, Port Jefferson and Sachem, among others, and there are typically about 15 out-of-district students on a waiting list, according to academy principal Gus Hueber.
The academy provides a way for all of its students to receive the same quality of education as any other Three Village student, but with more one-to-one attention and support, and less social pressure.
“Some kids, at whatever moment in their life they are struggling, there’s a window we work with them, we support them,” said Hueber, who has served as principal since the academy’s inception 10 years ago. “It’s not magic; it really is just providing them with a safe and trusting place and trusting relationships,” he added.
But for some families, it may feel like magic when a child with chronic absenteeism suddenly has a safe place they willingly attend.
Like Tabitha DeMuria’s daughter Jenny [not her real name], who was in ninth grade at P.J. Gelinas Junior High School during the 2020-2021 school year when she started missing school. Since it was the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jenny could simply do course work online. Before long, even that stopped, DeMuria said. “She just shut down.”
COVID-19 stress was an exacerbating factor, but struggle had already been brewing. Jenny was coming to terms with the aftermath of a tragedy in her family, and she faced bullying by some girls at school.
When Jenny toured the academy, teachers she met were warm and friendly, as were her peers. “The students came up to her — not knowing who she was — and told her, ‘You’re going to do great here,’” DeMuria said.
Because the school is in-district, the transition was swift and smooth. Academy teachers split their time with the other Three Village secondary schools, and the curriculum is the same. By the time school broke for summer in 2021, Jenny had vastly improved all the grades that had dropped due to repeated absences, according to DeMuria.
Support staff like guidance counselors and school psychologists play an important role, but the teachers themselves become a huge part of these students’ lives. They eat lunch in the same room as the students, they join together for kickball or volleyball and they attend the academy’s prom.
Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon, who helped launch the academy when he was assistant superintendent, set the tone for the school’s culture by hand picking teachers. Scanlon said he told incoming staff that flexibility is vital. “If you are rigid as a teacher and rigid as a person, this is not the right program for you,” he told them.
The closeness of the relationship among staff and students brings a sense of ownership and pride to the community. Academy students get together at the beginning of the school year to create rules for public spaces, like the hallway, and they post signs detailing those expectations. “Don’t be on your phones — keep your eyes up,” one sign reads. “We will not scream, push or make inappropriate sounds,” reads another.
They create murals in school hallways; a version of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” for one. DeMuria said mural painting helps ease Jenny’s anxiety. “All of her stress is gone when she’s able to do something like that,” she said.
Some academy students ride a bus to the high school for the afternoon if they’d like to take AP classes or participate in sports, and others go to BOCES vocational programs to earn certificates in things like cosmetology or auto mechanics. Many of the graduates, according to Scanlon, would most likely not have graduated if they’d stayed at Ward Melville. Others, including Jenny, choose to return to the big school after a few years and wind up graduating there.
Stories of success and growth like Jenny’s are common at Three Village Academy. According to Hueber, every year at graduation when seniors share how far they’ve come from dark places thanks to academy staff, there’s not a dry eye in the room.
“You have no idea the impact you’ve made on certain kids,” he said.
“I’m bored!” exclaimed my cousin, when we were about 10 and sitting in the backyard of my grandfather’s former dairy farm in the Catskills one summer afternoon.
I thought about that for a few seconds. “What does bored mean?” I asked, genuinely puzzled.
“It means I have nothing to do,” she railed.
“Oh. I’ve never been bored,” I replied unhelpfully.
“What do you do when you have nothing to do?” she demanded.
Again it took a few seconds. “I think,” I offered lamely.
My aunt, her mother, who was sitting nearby, burst out laughing.
Looking disgusted, my cousin got up and walked away.
I thought of that exchange, so many years ago, when I saw the headline in last Tuesday’s New York Times: “Let Children Get Bored. It’s Good for Them.” The article went on to advise that “in moderate doses, boredom can offer a valuable learning opportunity, spurring creativity and problem solving and motivating children to seek out activities that feel meaningful to them.”
How, exactly, did I spend my summertime hours when a visit from my cousin was a rarity and there was nothing structured amid the grassy cow pastures?
By the beginning of July, during my elementary school years, I had my books already signed out from the neighborhood library. There was a rule limiting the number that could be withdrawn at one time, but the librarians knew me, knew that I would be taking them away for the summer, that I would take good care of them and return them in September, so they let me exceed the number. Often they would make recommendations that added to my pile. So reading made up a large part of my waking hours.
I also remember picking blueberries from the bushes that grew in the pasture behind the house. They were wild berries. I don’t think anyone planted them there. They were sweet and delicious, and when I had my fill, I would bring back a small amount for my mother and sister, who were with me during the week. My dad would come up by Shoreline Bus on the weekends, and then I would roam with him across many pastures, marked by low stone walls, collecting blueberries in greater quantities.
I would invent games, like selecting a large rock as a target, then throwing small rocks at it from increasing distances, keeping score from one day to the next. If it rained, I would empty the glass jar in which my mother kept loose coins, place a pot against the far wall of the kitchen, then try to pitch the coins into the pot. To this day, I have pretty good aim when I toss something.
As an offshoot from reading, I guess, I would write sometimes. One of my favorite stories was about the antics of the Bobbsey Twins, by Laura Lee Hope, and I would try to dream up adventures for them when I had finished their books. I also loved horses, read the whole series about the Black Stallion by Walter Farley, then tried to extend it with my own amateurish episodes.
Sitting in the shade of a tree, I know I did a lot of daydreaming. I don’t remember any of those thoughts, but I do recall that I loved the smell of the nearby evergreens when the breeze blew and the warmth of the sun on my skin as it dipped down below the level of the tree limbs. In the evening, we could hear the frogs croaking and see fireflies momentarily lighting up the night sky. There were stars, millions of stars that were not visible in the city. And there was The Lone Ranger on the radio at 7:30.
My sister was two years younger, and I would make up scenarios in which I would be Miss Brown, and she would be my secretary. I would send her on all kinds of made-up errands, like mailing a letter at a pretend postal box a block away, and she would gladly run to oblige.
There was an innocence and a peacefulness in those loosey-goosey days that I think today’s youth, with their cell phones and video games, never know.
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