Ward Melville senior Robert Hauss pushes up-field in the Suffolk class AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
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Ward Melville senior Robert Hauss pushes up-field in the Suffolk class AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville senior Robert Hauss heads the ball in the Suffolk class AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville senior Owen Haviland heads the ball in the Suffolk class AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville senior Wilman Castellon battles for possession in the Suffolk class AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville senior Sawyer Meckley settles the ball in the Suffolk class AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville senior Jack Zazzera heads the ball in the Suffolk class AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville midfielder Justin Clarke heads the ball in the Suffolk AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville sophomore Jack Salgado clears the ball in the Suffolk class AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville senior goalie David McElroy makes another save in the Suffolk class AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville midfielder Justin Clarke heads the ball in the Suffolk AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville senior goalie David McElroy makes the save in the Suffolk AAA final against Brentwood. Photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville senior Owen Haviland battles for possession midfield. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
The Patriots of Ward Melville (No. 3) entered the final round of the Suffolk Class AAA championship soccer game against undefeated Brentwood, who had an 18-0 record and were looking to keep their spotless season intact.
Patriots senior midfielder Wilman Castellon was the spark for their offense when he drilled a scissor kick that stretched the net giving Ward Melville the lead with eight minutes left in the opening half.
Brentwood, finding itself in the unusual position of trailing at the halftime break, got down to business. In keeping the pressure upfield and scoring three unanswered goals, they clinched the Suffolk Class AAA championship game, 3-1, at Patchogue-Medford High School Thursday Nov. 2.
Ward Melville senior goalkeeper David McElroy had two saves in net.
Ward Melville wrapped up its 2023 campaign with an impressive 13-3-2 record, concluding the varsity careers of its 15 seniors.
DoD photo by Samuel King Jr., U.S. Air Force/Released
As this year’s local election season comes to a close, the TBR News Media staff congratulates our newly elected officials at the county and town levels.
There is much work ahead in the coming term, with many local issues and important public business to resolve. We look forward to working with our officials to bring these issues to the public’s attention.
To those not elected Tuesday night, we strongly urge you to stay involved in our deliberative process. Incumbents need strong voices and passionate citizens who can direct them toward representative policy decisions. The issues raised and discussions shared throughout the campaign were not for nothing, so continue to speak up.
Within a broader context, many Americans are losing faith in our democratic norms. So often, petty politics erodes civility within our democracy. The bickering among politicians can give way to gridlock and a breakdown of progress. Ultimately, when politicians refuse to get along, the people lose out.
At the same time, we are confronting simultaneous regional crises from municipal solid waste disposal, wastewater infrastructure, budget stabilization and environmental degradation, among others.
Right now, the stakes are simply too high to allow for inaction in the years ahead. If our local officials fail us now, our region could undergo irreversible decline. The result will be a further exodus of people away from Suffolk County in search of a better life elsewhere.
Averting these potential calamities is easier said than done. It will require our officials put the public good over party interest or private benefit.
Political extremists and tribalists from both ends of the political spectrum tend to attract undue attention from officials and press alike. We must begin to drown out these extremes as well, lifting the voices of the more temperate majority while advancing the interests of moderate, independent-minded citizens.
To be effective, our local officials must first learn to achieve compromise. We, therefore, hope for greater bipartisanship, civility and unity in the coming term. Our community and region depend upon this critical first step. Let’s put the people first.
Increasing tomato sauce consumption is a simple way to decrease your prostate cancer risk
By David Dunaief, M.D.
Dr. David Dunaief
Welcome to “Movember,” a month dedicated to raising money to fund awareness and research initiatives focused on men’s health (1). An initiative of the Movember Foundation, its efforts have funded 1,320 men’s health projects globally, with focuses on mental health, suicide prevention, testicular and prostate cancer.
Its prostate cancer initiatives focus on early detection, treatment options, and quality of life considerations for different treatments. I’d like to add prevention options to the conversation. Regardless of your family history, you can reduce your risk of prostate cancer with some simple lifestyle changes.
How does obesity affect prostate cancer risk?
Obesity may slightly decrease the risk of nonaggressive prostate cancer; however, it may also increase your risk of aggressive disease (2). Because larger prostates make biopsies less effective, the study’s authors attribute a lower incidence of nonaggressive cancer to the possibility that it is more difficult to detect it in obese men. Ultimately, those who are obese have a greater risk of dying from prostate cancer when it is diagnosed.
Does consuming animal fat affect your risk?
There appears to be a direct effect between the amount of animal fat we consume and the incidence of prostate cancer. In the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, those who consumed the highest amount of animal fat had a 63 percent increased risk of advanced or metastatic prostate cancer, compared to those who consumed the least (3).
Also, in this study, red meat contributed to an even greater, approximately 2.5-fold, increased risk of advanced disease. If you continue to eat red meat, reduce your frequency as much as possible, targeting once a month or quarter.
In another large, prospective observational study, the authors concluded that red and processed meats increase the risk of advanced prostate cancer through heme iron, barbecuing/grilling and nitrate/nitrite content (4).
Should you cook your tomatoes?
Tomato sauce has been shown to potentially reduce the risk of prostate cancer. However, uncooked tomatoes have not demonstrated the same beneficial effects. It is believed that lycopene, which is a type of carotenoid found in tomatoes, is central to this benefit. Tomatoes need to be cooked to release lycopene (5).
As part of this larger study, 32 patients with localized prostate cancer consumed 30 mg of lycopene per day via tomato sauce-based dishes over a three-week period before a radical prostatectomy. Key cancer indicators improved, and tissue tested before and after the intervention showed dramatic improvements in DNA damage in leukocyte and prostate tissue (6).
In a prospective study involving 47,365 men who were followed for 12 years, prostate cancer risk was reduced by 16 percent with higher lycopene intake from a variety of sources (7). When the authors looked at tomato sauce alone, they saw a 23 percent risk reduction when comparing those who consumed at least two servings a week to those who consumed less than one serving a month. The reduction in severe, or metastatic, prostate cancer risk was even greater, at 35 percent. This was a statistically significant reduction in risk with a very modest amount of tomato sauce.
Unfortunately, many brands of prepared tomato sauce are loaded with salt, which has its own health risks. I recommend to patients that they either make their own sauce or purchase prepared sauce made with low sodium or no salt.
Do cruciferous vegetables help?
While results among studies vary, they all agree: consuming vegetables, especially cruciferous vegetables, helps reduce prostate cancer risk.
In a case-control study, participants who consumed at least three servings of cruciferous vegetables per week, versus those who consumed less than one per week, saw a 41 percent reduction in prostate cancer risk (8). What’s even more impressive is the effect was twice that of tomato sauce, while the intake was similarly modest. Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, kale and arugula, to name a few.
A separate study of 1,338 patients with prostate cancer in a larger cancer screening trial concluded that, while vegetable and fruit consumption did not appear to lower outright prostate cancer risk, increased consumption of cruciferous vegetables — specifically broccoli and cauliflower — did reduce the risk of aggressive prostate cancer, particularly of more serious stage 3 and 4 tumors (9). These results were seen with consumption of just one or more servings of each per week, when compared to less than one per month.
What about PSA screening?
In a retrospective analysis of 128 U.S. Veteran’s Health Administration facilities, those where Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening was less frequent found higher rates of metastatic prostate cancer (10). During the study period from 2005 to 2019, researchers found an inverse relationship between PSA screening rates and metastatic prostate cancer. When screening rates decreased, rates of metastatic cancer increased five years later, while in facilities where screening rates increased, metastatic cancer rates decreased.
While the study authors caution about extending these findings to the general population, they do suggest they could help inform conversations between men and their physicians about the value of PSA screening.
When it comes to preventing prostate cancer and improving prostate cancer outcomes, lifestyle modifications, including making dietary changes, can reduce your risk significantly.
References:
(1) www.movember.com. (2) Epidemiol Rev. 2007;29:88. (3) J Natl Cancer Inst. 1993;85(19):1571. (4) Am J Epidemiol. 2009;170(9):1165. (5) Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2002; 227:914-919. (6) J Natl Cancer Inst. 2002;94(5):391. (7) Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2002 Nov;227(10):886-93. (8) J Natl Cancer Inst. 2000;92(1):61. (9) J Natl Cancer Inst. 2007;99(15):1200-1209. (10) JAMA Oncol. 2022 Dec 1;8(12):1747-1755.
Dr. David Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, visit www.medicalcompassmd.com or consult your personal physician.
Ward Melville running back Griffin Kramer rumbles through the Lindenhurst line on Nov. 3. Photo by Steven Zaitz
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Ward Melville running back Griffin Kramer rumbles through the Lindenhurst line on Nov. 3. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Ward Melville Patriots battle the Lindenhurst Bulldogs on Nov. 3. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Ward Melville Patriots battle the Lindenhurst Bulldogs on Nov. 3. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Ward Melville Patriots battle the Lindenhurst Bulldogs on Nov. 3. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Ward Melville Patriots battle the Lindenhurst Bulldogs on Nov. 3. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Ward Melville Patriots battle the Lindenhurst Bulldogs on Nov. 3. Photo by Steven Zaitz
Patriot quarterback Ethan Burgos pumps his fist in victory on Nov. 3. Photo by Steven Zaitz
By Steven Zaitz
Fortune really does favor the bold.
Clinging to a 14-10 lead with less than five minutes to go in its first-round playoff game against perennial powerhouse Lindenhurst on Nov. 3, the Ward Melville football Patriots were desperately trying to run out the clock.
But after two unsuccessful running plays and facing 3rd and 12 from their own 15-yard line, the very real possibility of punting the ball back to the Bulldogs with plenty of clock and likely a short field stared Patriot head coach Chris Boltrek directly in the face. He took a timeout to discuss his options with his staff and senior quarterback Ethan Burgos.
Conventional and conservative football wisdom would be to run the ball, melt the clock as much as possible, and let your defense — which had shut the Bulldogs out in the second half — seal the victory.
So much for conventional wisdom.
With a stacked box, Burgos took the snap on this fateful third down play, wheeled around and handed it to senior wideout Jackson Weber on a jet sweep option pass. Weber sprinted to the far sideline, stopped, and threw the ball to a crossing WR Brody Morgan, who caught the ball and was knocked out of bounds at the Patriot 38-yard line. It was plenty good enough for a first down, with the clock now whittled down to three minutes.
“It’s a play we practice every week,” said Boltrek. “If it’s not set up perfectly, then Jackson simply runs the ball and we punt it back to them. If the defense attacks the run, it opens things up for our receivers behind them.”
Coach Boltrek makes it sound logical and easy, but there is still a matter of risk and execution, especially at such a critical juncture of the game.
“When the play was first called after the timeout, I was nervous because I knew no matter what, I couldn’t throw an interception in that spot,” said Weber. “But I knew I had to come up big to make the play for my team. Brody did a great job of getting open, and I’m happy my coach had confidence in me to make a big play.”
Burgos, who threw for a touchdown in the first quarter and ran for the game-winner to start the fourth, managed the game like an old pro, mixing up runs, passes and the occasional trickeration to confuse and surprise the Lindenhurst defense.
“They were a tough and physical opponent, and guys on both sides were willing to give it their all,” said Burgos. “But many people still don’t give the Ward Melville football program the respect that it deserves. I hope this win changes that somewhat, and our goal for the rest of the playoffs is to earn even more respect.”
One player who earned the respect of everyone who watched this particular game was RB/LB Griffin Kramer, who seemingly never came off the field for Ward Melville. He had 60 yards rushing as a punishing fullback and made 12 tackles on defense—three of which were behind the line of scrimmage. He also had a sack of Bulldog QB Christian Capogna.
“After that first drive, our defense got after it,” Kramer, a senior, said. “We didn’t want to let the team down and as a unit, we started playing with the mindset that there was no way our season was going to end on this night.”
The evening started in easy breezy fashion for the defending Suffolk County Division I champions, as Burgos led a seven-play, 70-yard march that ended with a leaping catch in the end zone by Senior WR Sebastian Jolly for a 7-0 Ward Melville lead.
But Lindy held serve on its opening possession by virtue of a 27-yard TD pass from Capogna to Christian Aquino, who led the Bulldogs with 105 yards receiving on eight receptions. Bulldog kicker Ben Choden would connect on a 22-yard field goal in the second quarter to give his team a 10-7 lead that they would carry into halftime. That would be the only scoring in the game until Burgos scrambled up the left sideline for a 17-yard score with ten minutes left in the game.
“Ethan is a special athlete and a very smart football player,” said Kramer. “He stayed calm tonight and did whatever we needed from him to win this game.He’s an elusive runner and threw the ball really well when he was called upon to do that.”
Burgos was 10 for 17 for 86 yards in the air, and he ran for another 92 yards. That is good for a 91.8 passer rating. He had mutual admiration for his teammate Kramer.
“Kramer is the toughest kid I know, and the entire defense runs through him,” said Burgos. “His ability to read what the opposing offense id trying to do is unmatched and he is the energy of the team – on both sides of the ball.”
They will need a large energy reserve for their next task — a semifinal match on the road against arch enemy and Suffolk Division I’s second seed Sachem North, who easily dispatched Walt Whitman over the weekend, 42-10.
Both teams are 7-2 entering the game, but the Patriots beat the Flaming Arrows 29-7 in the regular season, rolling up 250 yards on the ground. Burgos had 107 of those yards and is assuming Sachem hasn’t forgotten that late September beatdown.
“We’ll be ready for them,” he said. “I expect us to play our brand of football, assert ourselves over them and walk into another county championship.”
A bold statement from the Ward Melville signal caller – a trait that seems to run deep with this Ward Melville football team.
Stony Brook University is studying traffic and pedestrian safety, thanks to a $1 million grant from the New York State Department of Transportation. The study will assess road safety on and around university properties to prevent pedestrian and cyclist traffic deaths, according to Heather Banoub, SBU’s new assistant vice president of community relations, and may include a pedestrian overpass at the intersection of Nicolls Road and state Route 347 with more sidewalks.
Banoub, who shared a range of university updates at the Three Village Civic Association’s Nov. 6 meeting, said she anticipates results from the study around 2025.
“It will determine what would be the best way to help our campus be safer — as well as our larger community — as people come into and out of campus,” she said.
In serving to introduce herself to the community, Banoub said she was previously at New York University, where she served as assistant director of communications since 2014.
Carl Mills, SBU’s assistant vice president for government relations, added that area traffic flow will also be part of the study but that efforts at improving traffic need to be a cooperative effort between the university, state, county and town.
He emphasized that the funding is for information collection, and no actual structural changes are in the works yet. “If we were even to go forward with the overpass, we would still have to apply for additional funding to get it,” Mills noted.
He added that since SBU was earmarked by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) as a flagship university of the state university system, there are efforts to increase capacity for “cutting edge” research, and he expects the student body and faculty to grow. The university is currently assessing needs for additional housing and buildings, but any development will involve increasing sewage capacity.
Banoub also told attendees that a new radar survey of the area around a gravesite on campus near Dogwood Drive found four additional gravesites, in addition to the four sets of remains previously discovered. Banoub said the university is hoping to engage a genealogist to attempt to discover who was buried there and whether they have any living relatives.
Banoub said the site will be part of a beautification plan “that will include appropriate markers designating the historic importance of this site and turning it into a place where people go and pay their respects.”
Civic association leaders expressed gratitude that three representatives from SBU joined the meeting — Erika Karp, community relations representative for Stony Brook Medicine/SBU, was also in attendance. Civic member George Hoffman welcomed this closer connection between university officials and the community. “I get a real sense we’ve turned a corner in our relationship,” he said. “It would be so incredible for the community to be working in partnership with this great institution, and I think you’ve got the right team in place to make that happen.”
New police advisory board
Also at the civic meeting, Felix Adeyeye, Suffolk County Police Department’s director of community engagement, encouraged residents to apply for the new Precinct Level Advisory Board, a group of eight to 12 people in each precinct who will have direct access to their precinct inspector to inform SCPD about areas of community concern as well as to learn about safety issues facing the county.”
Adeyeye said this initiative stemmed from a summer ruling against the department in a lawsuit over racial discrimination in traffic stops, brought by civil rights group LatinoJustice.
“There’s a mandate under the police reform that stipulates that the department must engage in an overabundance of community engagement effort,” he said, adding that this engagement must be at the administrative level and not just on the streets. ”I want to implore you to get very active in not only this civic association but also in your police department.”
The department’s website about the boards indicated the application deadline was Oct. 15, but at the meeting Adeyeye said the police department is still accepting applications and will begin the review process in December.
Adeyeye said the community is fortunate to have these advisory boards, particularly since a community ambassadors program instituted by outgoing Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison is currently in limbo after the commissioner resigned last week, just months after his department’s widely celebrated accomplishment of making an arrest in connection with the Gilgo Beach serial killings, though an alleged party is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
The community ambassadors program is the prerogative of the sitting commissioner, and under Harrison allowed a handful of residents from each community access to the county’s top cop. Adeyeye said the newly-elected county executive when in office will appoint a replacement police commissioner, and there should not be a delay in the county Legislature approval process.
Suffolk County Police arrested an Islandia man on Nov. 11 for allegedly burglarizing four businesses a total of 14 times during the past 11 months.
Following an investigation by Fifth Squad detectives, Christopher Lacker was identified as the man who allegedly committed multiple burglaries at storage facilities within the confines of the Fourth and Fifth Precinct between December 7, 2022 and November 9, 2023. During each burglary, Lacker allegedly entered storage facilities, cut locks from individual storage units, and stole property from within. Lacker, who was located by detectives at his home on November 11 at 4:33 p.m., burglarized the following locations:
• Public Storage, located at 770 Nesconset Highway in Nesconset, on December 7, 2022.
• Extra Space Storage, located at 3016 Express Drive in Islandia, on February 24 and 28,
September 29, October 3, 4, 13 and 14, November 8 and 9, 2023.
• Extra Space Storage, located at 1590 Lakeland Ave. in Bohemia, on September 27, 2023
• Public Storage, located at 745 Calebs Path, Hauppauge, on October 16, 2023.
Lacker, 42, was charged with 14 counts of Burglary 3rd Degree and one count of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 7th Degree.
Ginny Svoboda, 84, of Homosassa, Florida, passed away Oct. 7.
She was born Feb. 12, 1939, in Mineola and moved to Florida 31 years ago from Sound Beach. Ginny was an active volunteer member of the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. She was a homemaker and a talented artist.
Ginny is survived by her husband Bob; her children, Debbie (Louis), Dawn (Gary), Robert Jr., Mark (Tina), James (Julie), John (Karen) and Ellen (Danny); 15 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren and 10 nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her sister Carol Paige and brothers Bruce and Louis.
The funeral Mass was celebrated on Thursday, Oct. 12, at St. Benedict R.C. in Crystal River, Florida. Interment followed at Fero Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Beverly Hills, Florida. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations to The Friends of Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park, 4150 S. Suncoast Blvd., Homosassa, FL 34446 and/or St. Benedict R.C. Church at 455 S. Suncoast Blvd., Crystal River, FL 34429.
Perhaps it’s due to an owl’s forward facing eyes, imparting a humanlike aspect to its face, that is the source of the long-held belief that owls possess great wisdom and intelligence. Actually other birds, most notably members of the crow family like ravens, crow, and blue jays do best in intelligence tests but you wouldn’t know it from the photo of Alfie, a screech owl, that adorns the cover of Carl Safina’s new book Alfie & Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe. With an intense stare suggesting human level concentration possessing sickle shaped talons clutching the branch, Alfie is a vibrantly alive bird,an impressive predator that fully “knows” how to be an owl.
The book involves the author raising a young screech owl dealt a terrible hand that would have been a fatal one were it not for the intervention of the author. Along the way Alfie learns to become more independent, finds a mate and raises a family of three.
Author Carl Safina
What becomes immediately clear and what I did not know despite being neighbors and friends of Carl and Patricia, but what I should have known given their abiding and deep interest in the natural world, is just how much time they spent closely watching Alfie reach her potential, blossoming into a fully functioning adult owl, one member of a five member family — all during the COVID pandemic.
They both, but especially Carl, spent what must be hundreds of hours observing Alfie.And as a reader of the book will soon discover, this world enlarges with the appearance of her mate Plus-One and the logical results of Plus-One appearing on the scene — three young baby screech owls. These babies, individually and together, are variously described as: “little spheres of fluffiness,” “a fat ball of a baby,” and a “fluff-jacketed cutie.” The quintet were named “The Hoo,” who together “remained down-jacketed, fluffy, light as the clouds above them.”
In this way the book is a classic story of a scientist delving deeply into the world of a wild animal, along the lines of Douglas Chadwick’s The Wolverine Way, Bernd Heinrich’s Mind of the Raven or Maria Mudd Ruth’s detailed study of the Marbled Murrelet in Rare Bird. There’s exploration and analysis, observation and interpretation, study and understanding, and most importantly the development of a strong relationship.
What’s unique in Alfie & Me is this all takes place in an acre or so around their suburban home, and within that area most within a 50-foot envelope around the house. This story, the development of an intimate “around the house” wild bird-human relationship, ties Alfie & Me with Julie Zickefoose’s Saving Jemima, in which the author spends a good part of a year raising a blue jay to health and independence. There are many delightful parallels between the two books.
Unlike Safina’s earlier books like Song for a Blue Ocean, A Sea in Flames, Voyage of the Turtle, and Eye of the Albatross, Alfie & Me, is more of an extension of, and elaboration upon, some of the concepts advanced in Safina’s three most recent books: The View from Lazy Point, Becoming Wild and Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel. These later books explore the intellectual, emotional, and sensory world of animals, their societies and culture, and complexities in the relationship and attitudes of humans with other life forms, specifically, and the natural world generally.
A fundamental aspect of the book is, of course, the interspecies relationship between a few humans and a few owls with colorful side notes on a few dogs and a flock of chickens; an overlapping connection between the one world of the two species, the author aptly emphasizing Alfie being able to place “a wing in ours, I, with a foot in hers.” Or “….the ability to walk the bridge Alfie had opened between their world and ours.”
The Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio) is one of two common woodland owls that find breeding habitat here on Long Island. Along with their much larger cousin, and sometimes mortal enemy the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), Screech Owls are surprisingly common in forests both large and small. Even parcels as small as ten acres are likely to host a breeding pair. Less common woodland owls here include Saw-whet (Aegolius acadicus) and Long-eared Owls (Asio otis) “whoo” are joined by open country visitors during the winter months — Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus) and Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus), coastal and grassland inhabitants respectively.
And unique to the owl species found in eastern North America, screech owls come in two color forms or morphs. Alfie and Plus-One are red or rufous morph individuals which is the more common form on Long Island. Or as Safina notes “a magical russet comet.” The grey form, however, is more common throughout the species range.
Safina is a highly gifted writer, quite adept at turning a phrase and the book is replete with colorful imagery and strong sentences, to wit: “I have always felt that my generation existed in a time spanning the last good years and the beginning of the end of the world,” “The air was stock still. Leafy canopies of maples and the spires of cedars formed a denser darkness against the star-studded vault of space”,and “If they fell to the ground, they’d still climb straight up a trunk, but they were also realizing that crossing distances involved flapping their interesting upper limbs. In a way, they were finding their inner owl.”
This book would be a worthwhile read if all it presented was a highly articulate description ofscreech owls and their behavior and ecology. But it’s so much more. Alfie provides a feathered springboard for the author to discuss how western thought, espoused by western thought leaders (think Descartes, Bacon, Dawkins, et al.) has led to the dangerous result and our current predicament where so many members of human society are estranged from animals and nature with the resultant deterioration of the global environment. Their “reductionist” thinking of animals as being nothing more than soulless machines incapable of thoughts, emotions, even the ability to feel pain, was all pervasive resulting in the view that humans commanded a lofty and unique perch above lowly forms of life that gave them full dominion over all animals.
In contrast, Safina documents, Eastern and North American Indigenous cultures and religions held views that better harmonized humankind with the animal kingdom and the natural elements of the world. A world with more passion and less consumption. Clearly, the book is an exploration of proffered beliefs, strongly held.
This book also is an exultation of life and living things, a fundamentally and qualitatively unique aspect in this otherwise lifeless universe, a concept that Safina notes and embraces and Alfie illustrates. Life is something worth celebrating, cherishing, and protecting. “The owls gave us the opportunity to pay attention. That was their main gift to us: to be present for a while in the always magical here and now.”
Through Safina’s prose we all can take delight in his decision to intercede and change what was clearly a fatal trajectory for Alfie. We are all the richer for his intervention. Safina ends: “It was amazing how quiet and empty the air could feel once you subtracted owls. But now I knew they were out there, livening up the nights with or without me. Yes, I felt an empty nester. But I’d been dealt a full house, a winning hand.”
Both Carl and Alfie have a lot to say. And we gain pleasure in listening. Alfie & Me is a most important book and a most compelling and worthwhile read — we too have been dealt a winning hand.
Stony Brook football was unable to stop a stout Monmouth offensive attack, falling 56-17 at Kessler Stadium in New Jersey on Nov. 4.
Stony Brook was led by season-best 141 rushing yards along with a score from redshirt junior Roland Dempster on a career-high 22 carries, averaging 6.4 per carry. Classmate Jadon Turner added 50 yards on 10 carries and while redshirt junior Jayden Cook provided Stony Brook’s other rushing score.
In the air, redshirt freshman Jayce Freeman caught four passes for 50 yards while fellow redshirt freshman Anthony Johnson finished with three catches for 33 yards. In the passing game, graduate student Casey Case went 9-of-17 for 79 yards and an interception, while redshirt freshman Daron Bryden took over in the second half, finishing 4-for-8 for 43 yards.
On defense, redshirt junior Nick Chimienti recorded nine tackles with eight solo stops on the day. Redshirt junior De’Aundre Cruz added seven tackles from the linebacker position. Stony Brook also got a big day on the line from redshirt sophomore Anthony Williams, who finished with 2.0 sacks and five tackles overall.
For Monmouth, Jaden Shirden rushed for 174 yards on 17 carries and three touchdowns. Marquez McCray finished 22-of-27 passing for 323 yards and four touchdowns, all to different receivers. Dymere Miller led the receiving corps with 11 catches for 150 yards and a touchdown.
“We’ve got a great group of kids who keep on rallying despite our inability to execute at times. They haven’t quit and I’m proud of them from that perspective. We’ve faced some adversity as a program with some key injuries, but the kids that have stepped in have really stepped in well,” said head coach Chuck Priore.
The team returns home for the season finale on Saturday, Nov. 11 in the Battle for the Golden Apple against Albany for a 1 p.m. kick off on FloFootball. Next week’s contest will be senior day, as Stony Brook will honor its graduating football student-athletes pregame. Stony Brook is 10-14 all-time against the Great Danes.
On right, #0 Guard Gigi Gonzalez drives the ball down the court during Monday's game.
Photo courtesy of Stony Brook Athletics
The Stony Brook women’s basketball team broke open a 61-61 tie to end the third quarter and knocked off the Columbia Lions 85-73 at home Nov. 6 to earn their first victory of the season.
The Seawolves (1-0) had five players score in double figures, led by Khari Clark, who put together a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Gigi Gonzalez added 18 points and Shamarla King helped out with 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals off of the bench.
The Stony Brook offense was very productive from downtown, making 10 threes on 27 attempts. Victoria Keenan was the most prolific shooter for the Seawolves, draining two treys in the contest.
The Stony Brook defense caused its share of mistakes in Monday’s game, forcing 17 Columbia turnovers. Those takeaways turned into 28 points on the offensive end of the floor. Clark’s three steals led the way individually for the Seawolves.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After falling behind 21-18, Stony Brook went on a 9-0 run with 1:36 left in the first quarter, culminating in a three from Keenan, to take a 27-21 lead, a score that would hold for the rest of the period. Stony Brook relied on its three-point shooting in the period, knocking down four shots to account for 12 of its 27 points.
Stony Brook kept its first quarter lead intact before going on a 6-0 run starting at the 5:07 mark in the second period, highlighted by a three from King, to increase its lead to 38-28. The Seawolves proceeded to tack on one point to that lead and enjoyed a 46-35 advantage heading into halftime. Stony Brook forced six Columbia turnovers in the period and turned them into seven points.
Stony Brook wasted no time building on its lead, going on a 6-0 run to expand its lead further to 52-35 with 7:59 to go in the third. The Lions then rallied to tie it at 61-61 heading into the fourth quarter. Stony Brook played well near the basket, scoring 10 of its 15 points in the paint.
Columbia then snagged a 64-63 advantage before Stony Brook responded by going on a 13-0 run to seize a 76-64 lead with 5:06 to go in the contest. The Seawolves held onto that lead for the rest of the game for the 85-73 win. Stony Brook got a boost from its bench in the period, with non-starters scoring seven of its 24 total points.
The team hits the road to take on Le Moyne on November 11. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on NEC Front Row.