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Lettuce Herb Salad with Nasturtiums and Pansies

By Barbara Beltrami

While the flowers that bloom in the spring (tra-la) may not provide a hearty repast for an appetite burning with spring fever (unless you’re a deer), many a posy  can be used as an ingredient that is as pleasing to the palate as it is to the nose and eye. If you want to make flowers a centerpiece for an elegant or informal spring or summer meal, by all means stick them in that Waterford vase or ceramic pitcher you made in pottery class. 

But if you want to adorn a gorgeous and memorable dessert, try candied violets and rose petals. And for one of the prettiest salads you’ve ever seen, toss in nasturtiums, pansies and lots of herbs. Looking for a knockout appetizer? Stuff squash blossoms with a mixture of ricotta, cream cheese and chives. So go on, get out there with the deer and feast on your garden.

Ricotta-Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Ricotta-Stuffed Squash Blossoms

YIELD: Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces fresh ricotta cheese

3 ounces whipped cream cheese 

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup minced drained fresh tomatoes

1 tablespoon minced fresh chives

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

12 squash blossoms (the ones that grow on stems, not attached to baby squash)

DIRECTIONS: 

In a food processor puree the ricotta, cream cheese and oil. Using a rubber or plastic spatula, scrape contents into a small bowl. Stir in the tomatoes, chives, salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag or small resealable plastic bag. If using a plastic bag, seal, then snip a small diagonal corner off the bottom of the bag. Snip the pistils from inside the squash blossoms, and make sure no insects are hiding in there.

 Gently pry and hold the blossom open with one hand while you pipe about a tablespoon of the cheese mixture into the blossom with the other hand. Lay blossoms on a platter and serve at room temperature with focaccia and a chilled white wine.

Lettuce-Herb Salad with Nasturtiums and Pansies

Lettuce Herb Salad with Nasturtiums and Pansies

YIELD: Makes 4 to 6 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups mixed baby greens

2 cups arugula

2 cups torn bibb lettuce

½ cup nasturtium leaves

6 lovage leaves, finely chopped (optional)

10 to 12 basil leaves, julienned

1 handful chives, washed and snipped

¼ cup vinaigrette or balsamic salad dressing

10 to 12 nasturtium blossoms

10 to 12 yellow pansies

6 chive flowers, chopped

DIRECTIONS: 

Wash and gently dry greens, arugula, lettuce, nasturtium leaves, lovage and basil. Toss with the chives in a salad bowl. Gently rinse and shake dry the nasturtium blossoms and pansies. Refrigerate all greens, flowers and herbs until 30 minutes before serving. When ready to serve add salad dressing and toss again. Sprinkle nasturtium blossoms, pansies and chive flowers on top of salad and serve immediately with tuna or chicken salad.

Candied Violets and Rose Petals

Candied violets on cupcakes

YIELD: Decorates one dessert.

INGREDIENTS:

¼ to ½ cup violet blossoms

¼ to ½ cup rose petals

1 egg white

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ to ½ cup superfine granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS: 

Candied rose petals on a cake

Gently rinse and drain the blossoms and petals. Remove stems and then spread out to  dry for a short time, but not long enough to wilt. In a small bowl beat egg white until soft peaks form, then add vanilla and beat just enough to combine. Very carefully and gently dip blossoms and petals into egg white mixture; let violets drip a little, then dip them in sugar to entirely coat. Again handle them with great care. For the violets, try to open them a little with your fingers or a toothpick, then add a little sugar to the insides. For rose petals, just be sure both sides are coated with egg white mixture, then sugar.  

Place on a cookie sheet and let dry in the sun or in a warm oven no higher than 200 F.  When they are dry and sort of crispy, store in an airtight container lined with waxed paper. Serve as garnish for cake, cupcakes or ice cream.

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Never leave a pet alone in a parked car for any amount of time. Stock photo

By Matthew Kearns, DVM

Here we are, getting ready for another great summer on Long Island. This article will address preventative care and safety issues for the best summer ever! 

Fleas and ticks are more and more prevalent every year. Luckily, there are plenty of flea and tick preventatives available including topical medications, collars and oral medications. Some are administered monthly and some last for several months.  Preventing fleas will help with skin irritations and allergies. It is best to speak with your veterinarian to discuss which option is best for you. This is based on efficacy (especially when fighting the deer tick), safety, cost and which works best for your pet.  

Vaccines are an integral part of maintaining any pet’s health. It is important to make sure your pet is updated on all their vaccines if you want to walk around, visit dog parks, etc. Remember, vaccines are also required by law in Suffolk County at all boarding facilities. Certain groomeries/doggie day care facilities require them as part of their policy. Be sure to check before you arrive or you may be postponing your trip to go to the vet’s office to update vaccines.

Remember to keep ol’ Fluffy and Fido hydrated with cool water throughout the day, and if it is very hot or humid, limit their outside time. Early symptoms of overheating include excessive panting, difficulty breathing, drooling and weakness. If the overheating is not corrected, it will lead to vomiting, bloody diarrhea, stupor, collapse, seizures and possibly death. 

Never leave a pet alone in a parked car for any amount of time. A car can reach in excess of 20 degrees from the outside temperature within 20 minutes and the consequences can be deadly.

We are surrounded by the best beaches anywhere! However, be aware of glass, sharp rocks, debris, etc. A good piece of advice is to think of your pet like a 2-year-old: Everything is interesting, and everything seems to go in their mouths. This can lead to inadvertent obstructions. 

Signs of a blockage include vomiting, lack of appetite and lethargy. An X-ray will usually confirm the diagnosis. Many times IV fluids and medications to control nausea allow the obstruction to pass on its own. Sometimes, surgery is necessary. If any of the symptoms mentioned are seen, better to see your veterinarian as soon as possible. 

When one thinks of summer, delicious barbecue food is the first thing that comes to mind, but just remember many of these foods can be very dangerous to your pet. Keep any kind of bones and/or raw meats (chicken, meat, fish) out of the reach of your pets. Also, make sure your pets stay away from grills, grease and hot surfaces. Avoid leaving around alcohol, raisins, grapes, nuts, chocolate, onions and any artificial sweeteners.

Lastly, remember to be aware of pets around fireworks. It’s best to keep your pet inside or at home if fireworks are going to be part of your summer celebrations to avoid them getting injured or burned. If your pet (usually dogs) suffers from noise phobias, remember to talk to your veterinarian as early as possible. Many anti-anxiety medications take three to four weeks to reach therapeutic levels. I hope everyone has a fun and safe summer!

Dr. Kearns practices veterinary medicine from his Port Jefferson office and is pictured with his son Matthew and his dog Jasmine.

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MEET LYRIC!

Kent Animal Shelter’s newest addition is Lyric, a beautiful 3-year-old yellow lab mix with a super sweet personality. Lyric is so loving and playful that she would be a perfect fit in any home. If you are looking for your new best friend, then Lyric is the girl for you! As an added bonus, she comes spayed, microchipped and is up to date on all her vaccines. Come meet her today!

Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. For more information on Lyric and other adoptable pets at Kent, visit www.kentanimalshelter.com or call 631-727-5731. 

Update: Lyric has been adopted!

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By Linda M. Toga, Esq.

Linda Toga Esq.

THE FACTS: Many of my friends have told me that I should transfer my house to my son and retain a life estate.  

THE QUESTIONS: What are the pros and cons of doing that?

THE ANSWER: People often transfer their property to their children and create life estates because they believe it is the best way to increase their chances of being Medicaid eligible or to avoid probate. In most cases, there are better ways to achieve those goals. 

Before the Medicaid look-back period was changed to five years for all nonexempt transfers, life estates were a very popular part of Medicaid planning. However, since the look-back period is now the same whether you transfer a residence and retain a life estate or put the residence in an irrevocable trust, there is no advantage to creating a life estate when it comes to the look-back period. 

The downside of a life estate from a Medicaid planning perspective is the fact that, if the house is sold during your life time, you are entitled to a portion of the proceeds from the sale. The percentage of the proceeds allocated to you would be governed by life expectancy tables and is surprisingly large. 

For example, if you, as the life tenant, are 80 years old when your $300,000 house is sold, you will be entitled to approximately $130,000 of the proceeds. In the context of a Medicaid application, that $130,000 will be deemed an available resource and may result in a denial of benefits. This is true even if you created the life estate more than five years before you apply for Medicaid. 

If, on the other hand, you transferred the house into an irrevocable trust, even if the house was sold, the proceeds would be fully protected in the trust after the five year look-back period. 

With respect to avoiding probate, if you transfer your house to your son during your lifetime and create a life estate, the house will not be subject to probate when you die, the value of the house will not be included in your gross taxable estate (although the value of the transferred share may be subject to federal gift tax) and you will continue to enjoy any real estate tax exemptions that were applicable to the property before you deeded the house to your son. 

However, if the house is in your son’s name, his creditors can attach liens or judgments to the property. If you create a life estate, you will be required to file a gift tax return reporting the gift of the property to the IRS. 

Finally, by creating a life estate you may be subjecting your son to a capital gains tax liability. That is because your son will not get the step up in basis when you gift him the house that he would get if he inherited your house after your death. 

For example, if you paid $150,000 for the house 20 years ago, your son’s basis in the house if you gifted it to him would be $150,000. If he sells the house after you die, he will have to pay capital gains tax on the increased value of the house. 

If, on the other hand, he inherits the house after your death, he will get a step up and his basis in the house will be the date of death value. Unless he holds on to the house for an extended period of time, it is unlikely that your son will have any capital gains tax liability. 

If your goal in creating a life estate is to avoid probate, a better alternative to a life estate is a revocable trust. Although transferring your house into a revocable trust does not provide protection from estate taxes, it does avoid the need for filing a gift tax return, it protects the house from your son’s creditors and it will allow your son to get a step up in basis when he inherits the house after your death. 

There are clearly many issues to consider when deciding whether a life estate, revocable trust or irrevocable trust offers the best solution for you. The cost of each option is also a consideration. Since creating a life estate can have far-reaching consequences, it is important to discuss your goals and your options with an experienced attorney before taking action. 

Linda M. Toga, Esq. provides personalized service and peace of mind to her clients in the areas of estate planning, real estate, marital agreements and litigation. Visit her website at www.lmtogalaw.com or call 631-444-5605 to schedule a free consultation.

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Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel in a scene from ‘The Producers’
A scene from ‘The Producers’

Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies, Studiocanal and Rialto Pictures are celebrating the 50th anniversary of “The Producers” by bringing the classic movie to select cinemas nationwide for a special two-day event on Sunday, June 3, and Wednesday, June 6.

The 1967 satirical comedy film stars Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn and Kenneth Mars. The film was Mel Brooks’ directorial debut, and he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 1996, the film was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the  Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Once the King of the Great White Way, Max Bialystock (Mostel) is reduced to romancing old ladies to finance his next flop show. But when nervous accountant Leopold Bloom (Wilder) surmises that more money could be made from a flop than a hit, the next step is to produce the Busby Berkeleyesque musical “Springtime for Hitler” and to cast stoned-out Flower Child “LSD” (Shawn) in the lead. A surefire flop, or is it?

The special screening also features an interview between TCM host Ben Mankiewicz and Brooks. 

Participating movie theaters in our neck of the woods include AMC Loews Stony Brook 17, 2196 Nesconset Highway, Stony Brook at 2 and 7 p.m. on both days; Farmingdale Multiplex Cinemas, 1001 Broadhollow Road, Farmingdale on June 3 at 2 p.m. and June 6 at 7 p.m.; and Island 16 Cinema de Lux, 185 Morris Ave., Holtsville on June 3 at 2 p.m. and June 6 at 7 p.m. To purchase your ticket in advance, visit www.fathomevents.com.

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‘Golden Grasses’ by Julie Doczi
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‘Golden Grasses’ by Julie Doczi
‘Summer on the Sidewalk’ by Jeanette Martone
‘Sight’ by Hannah Steele
‘Driveway of the Artist’ by Frederic Mendelsohn;
‘Eternize #3’ by Claudia Cron
‘Summer Bouquet’ by Renee Blank

By Heidi Sutton

The lazy days of summer are still a few weeks away, but inside Smithtown Township Arts Council’s Mills Pond Gallery the flowers are in full bloom, a warm breeze of salt air tickles your nose, and if you listen closely, you can hear the splashing of water in a pool. There are other sights and sounds as well as you travel from room to room throughout the first floor of the historic 1838 Greek Revival mansion — a Ferris wheel goes round and round at a carnival, children giggle as they play hopscotch on the sidewalk and waves softly lap at a fishing boat tied to a dock.

Now in its 40th year, STAC’s annual Juried Fine Art Exhibition is back with fervor. Aptly named A Summer Song, the colorful show, which runs through June 24, features over 50 original works of art by 45 artists depicting scenes relating to summer. And if one catches your fancy, it may just be available for purchase.

Artists were invited to submit “representational images of summer-related sights, activities, impressions, or atmosphere — as well as surrealistic or abstract evocations inspired by the subject” from “images of sun, sea, surf and verdure to a more melancholy awareness of summer’s last gasp, a prelude to fall.”

And much to the delight of STAC’s Executive Director Allison Cruz, the entries that poured in by local artists from Bay Shore, Brookhaven, Centereach, East Hampton, East Northport, Farmingdale, Hauppauge, Hempstead, Holbrook, Holtsville, Huntington Station, Commack, Montauk, Nesconset, North Babylon, Northport, Patchogue, Port Jefferson, Ridge, Rocky Point, Ronkonkoma, Setauket, Smithtown, St. James and Stony Brook were on point. Artists from as far as Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Vermont answered the call as well.

According to Cruz, a national show is good for a lot of reasons. “There’s so much talent here but I see it as an eye opening experience for [local artists] in a way for them to learn how to grow their art,” she said.

Chosen mediums run the gamut from oil, pastel, acrylic, watercolor and pen and ink to paper lithograph, resin mix media and torn paper collage, stoneware and kiln-formed glass.

The exhibition’s juror was Carol Strickland, an art historian who contributes feature stories on visual art to Art in America magazine. Her articles on culture have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Art and Antiques, MOMUS and Private Journey magazine. The author of “The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern,” Strickland also writes a monthly column on art and politics for www.clydefitchreport.com. 

“The excitement in this exhibit for me was having a juror who has never juried anything out [on the Island] before and whose credentials throw the exhibit into a whole different light,” said Cruz, adding, “There are a lot of new artists this year.  [The juror] attracted a lot of new people.” 

“It was a pleasure to see so many varied responses to the theme, which hit all the notes in terms of sensory and aesthetic interpretations,” said Strickland. “Some were so expressive and lively, I felt a jolt of energy, as if inhaling a big gulp of freshening wind from the seashore. Others captured a more tranquil or pensive mood, inducing contemplation of both summer’s joy and transience.”

Participating artists include Janet Amalfitano, Shain Bard, Jorus Beasley, Victoria Beckert, Marta Beltramo, Renee Blank, Jean Marie Bucich, Renee Caine, Kevin Casey, Frank Casucci, Carol Ceraso, Gerry Chapleski, Donna Corvi, Claudia Cron, Julie Doczi, Anna Franklin, Janice Gabriel, Vivian Gattuso, Maureen Ginipro, Jan Guarino, Katherine Hiscox, Paul Hitchen, David Jaycox Jr., Jim Kelson, Lynn Kinsella, Mary Lor, Jeanette Martone, Frederic Mendelsohn, Joseph Miller, Margaret Minardi, Debra Puzzo, Kate Rocks, Micheline Ronningen, Joseph Santarpia, Stacey Schuman, Kathee Shaff Kelson, Margaret Shipman, Roxene Sloate, Rosemary Sloggatt, Hannah Steele, Rita Swanteson, Alexandra Turner, Nicholas J. Valentino, Adriann Valiquette and Patty Yantz.

While finding the task difficult because “the level of technical skill in the entries was impressive,” Strickland eventually chose a first-, second-, and third-place winner along with three honorable mentions.

First place was awarded to “Summer on the Sidewalk,” pencil and ink on paper, by  Jeanette Martone of Bay Shore; second place went to “Summer Bouquet,” acrylic on canvas, by Renee Blank of Holbrook; and “Eternize #3,” paper lithograph and mixed media by Claudia Cron from Connecticut, garnered third. 

Honorable Mentions include “Driveway of the Artist,” oil, by Frederic Mendelsohn of Port Jefferson Station; “Sight,” charcoal on wood, by Hannah Steele from Massachusetts; and “Golden Grasses,” pastel, by Julie Doczi of Port Jefferson Station.

According to Strickland, she made her final decisions based on presenting “a wide array of different facets of the theme, to show images that varied in media, subject and style,” as well as looking “for works that aroused a response in me.”

For Cruz, Strickland’s presence was an important one for the gallery and the participating artists. “For me personally, it was an opportunity that fits into my line of thinking,” she said. “When I do a juried show and I’m hiring a juror, the point of it is to give the artists a different experience, a different opportunity to have someone with a different background to look at their work.”

 For Strickland, the feeling was mutual. “In all cases, I appreciated each artist’s originality and individual approach to mark-making … and wish all entrants a satisfying future of art making.”

The Mills Pond Gallery, located at 660 Route 25A, St. James, will present the Smithtown Township Arts Council’s Member Artist Showcase through June 24. The gallery is open Wednesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 631-862-6575 or visit www.millspondgallery.org.

All images courtesy of Allison Cruz

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From left, Libo Wu, Zhangjie Chen (both are doctoral students on the ARPA-E project), Ya Wang, Xing Zhang (graduated), Muzhaozi Yuan and Jingfan Chen (both are doctoral students on the NSF project). Photo courtesy of Stony Brook University

By Daniel Dunaief

Picture a chalkboard filled with information. It could include everything from the basics — our names and phone numbers, to memories of a hike along the Appalachian Trail, to what we thought the first time we saw our spouse.

Diseases like Alzheimer’s act like erasers, slowly moving around the chalkboard, sometimes leaving traces of the original memories, while other times removing them almost completely. What if the images, lines and words from the chalk could somehow be restored?

Ya Wang with former student Wei Deng at Stony Brook’s Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center. Photo courtesy of SBU

Ya Wang, a mechanical engineering assistant professor at Stony Brook University, is working on a process that can regenerate neurons, which could help with a range of degenerative diseases. She is hoping to develop therapies that might restore neurons by using incredibly small magnetic nanoparticles.

Wang recently received the National Science Foundation Career Award, which is a prestigious prize given to faculty in the early stages of their careers. The award lasts for five years and includes a $500,000 grant.

Wang would like to understand the way small particles can stimulate the brain to rebuild neurons. The award is based on “years of effort,” she said. “I’m happy but not surprised” with the investment in work she believes can help people with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

“All neuron degeneration diseases will benefit from this study,” Wang said. “We have a large population in New York alone with patients with neuron degeneration diseases.” She hopes the grant will help trigger advancements in medicine and tissue engineering.

Wang’s “work on modeling the dynamic behavior of magnetic nanoparticles within the brain microenvironment would lay the foundation for quantifying the neuron regeneration process,” Jeff Ge, the chairman and professor of mechanical engineering, said in a statement.

Wang said she understands the way neurodegenerative diseases affect people. She has watched her father, who lives in China, manage through Parkinson’s disease for 15 years.

Ge suggested that this approach has real therapeutic potential. “This opens up the exciting new possibility for the development of a new microchip for brain research,” he said.

At this point, Wang has been able to demonstrate the feasibility of neuron regeneration with individual nerve cells. The next step after that would be to work on animal models and, eventually, in a human clinical trial.

That last step is a “long way” off, Wang suggested, as she and others will need to make significant advancements to take this potential therapeutic breakthrough from the cell stage to the clinic. 

She is working with a form of coated iron oxide that is small enough to pass through the incredibly fine protective area of the blood/brain barrier. Without a coating, the iron oxide can be toxic, but with that protective surface, it is “more biofriendly,” she said.

The size of the particles are about 20 nanometers. By contrast, a human hair is 80,000 nanometers thick. These particles use mechanical forces that act on neurons to promote the growth or elongation of axons.

Ya Wang. Photo from SBU

As a part of the NSF award, Wang will have the opportunity to apply some of the funds toward education. She has enjoyed being a mentor to high school students, some of whom have been Siemens Foundation semifinalists. Indeed, her former students have gone on to attend college at Stanford, Harvard and Cal Tech. “I was very happy advising them,” she said. “High school kids are extremely interested in the topic.”

A few months before she scored her NSF award, Wang also won an Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy award for $1 million from the Department of Energy. In this area, Wang also plans to build on earlier work, developing a smart heating and cooling system that enables a system to direct climate control efforts directly at the occupant or occupants in the room.

Extending on that work, Wang, who will collaborate in this effort with Jon Longtin in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at SBU and Tom Butcher and Rebecca Trojanowski at Brookhaven National Laboratory, is addressing the problem in which the system no longer registers the presence of a person in the room.

Wang has “developed an innovation modification to a simple, inexpensive time-honored position sensor, but that suffers from requiring that something be moving in order to detect motion,” Longtin explained in an email. The sensors can’t detect a person that is not moving. The challenge, Longtin continued, is in fooling the sensor into thinking something is there in motion to keep it active.

Wang described a situation in which a hotel had connected an occupant-detecting system to its HVAC system. When a person fell asleep in the room, however, the air conditioning turned off automatically. On a hot summer night, the person was frustrated. She put colored paper and a fan in front of the sensor, which kept the cool air from turning off.

Instead of using a fan and colored paper, the new system Wang is developing cuts the flow of heat to the sensor, which enhances its ability to recognize stationary or moving people.

Wang and her colleagues will use low-power liquid crystal technology with no moving parts. “The sensor detects you because you are a human with heat,” she said. “Even though you are not moving, the amount of heat is changing.”

The sensor will be different in various locations. People in Houston will have different temperature conditions than those in Wisconsin. Using a machine-learning algorithm, Wang said she can pre-train the system to respond to different people and different conditions.

She has developed a smart phone app so that the house can react to the different temperature preferences of a husband and wife. People can also choose night or day modes.

Wang also plans to work on a system that is akin to the way cars have different temperature zones, allowing one side of the car to be hotter than the other. She intends to develop a similar design for each room.

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By Elof Axel Carlson

Elof Axel Carlson

It is impossible to know ourselves in all the aspects of our lives that we can examine. But we can know a lot about ourselves through science. 

I will start at the level most of us operate in — the macroscopic world in which we see ourselves as a person. I see myself as an old person, almost 85 years old. I see myself as a male, a husband, a father (three out of six of our children still living). I also see myself functionally — I am a scientist, a geneticist and historian of science.  

I have 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. I am an American, born and mostly raised in Brooklyn. I did my undergraduate work at NYU. I got my doctorate at Indiana University with Nobel laureate H. J. Muller. I presently live in Bloomington, Indiana. I have sailed around the world twice teaching on board Semester at Sea. I have had 12 books published. I loved teaching and doing research at Queen’s University in Canada, at UCLA and at Stony Brook University. 

Biologically I have some knowledge of much of my gross anatomy and as a biologist I have some familiarity with my organ systems and how they work. I have observed some of my cells under a microscope when I took a course on histology at NYU as an undergraduate and I prepared slides of my blood. I have seen my 46 chromosomes when I had my karyotype taken some 50 years ago at UCLA. I have not yet had any of my 20,000 genes sequenced. 

But even if I had my entire genome sequenced, I know that no one reading those sequences would be able to infer my life described in the first three paragraphs of this essay because our social traits are largely acquired by where we grow up, the circumstances of our lives in the generation in which we are born and a good measure of luck.

 It was luck that gave me an opportunity to read classical literature aloud for five years to a blind teacher in my high school.  It was luck that made me meet the person to whom I am now married, and Nedra and I have had 58 wonderful years together.  

I am part cyborg with eye glasses (for reading), cataract-free plastic lenses in my eyeballs, six implants in my jaws and two hearing aids. I have the benefit of an altered immune system created by vaccinations that have spared me from diphtheria, typhoid fever, smallpox, pneumonia and many varieties of influenza. I’ve lived through measles, mumps and chicken pox without bad outcomes. When traveling around the world, I prevented malaria by taking daily Atabrine pills. I would probably have died 10 years ago had there not been statins to regulate my cholesterol metabolism.  

I know how I am connected in many ways. My biological ancestors are Swedish on my father’s side and Ashkenazic Ukraine on my mother’s side. My intellectual pedigree through Muller I have traced to Darwin, Newton and Galileo. It made me aware of how few compose the world of scholars in the immense diversity of humanity. 

I owe to many books aspects of my personality, values and goals in life. From Goethe, I have a Faustian personality and try not to repeat my activities each year. From Montaigne I learned to write personal essays. From Samuel Pepys I learned to keep a diary (over 100 volumes and still going). From Freud I learned to sublimate my discontents into works that enrich civilization. From Darwin I learned how all of life is connected and can be related to the past through his theory of evolution by natural selection. 

From Socrates I learned the importance of trying his credo, “Know thyself.” From Job I learned the inscrutability of fate and how limited is our control over our lives. From Kant I learned that ethics and moral behavior can be constructed from reason. From Epicurus and Epictetus I learned that one of the great benefits of life is choosing well and using, as best we can, what talents we have within the limits imposed by society’s circumstances. 

I think of myself as composed of layers of units. I am a unique organism. I have numerous organs that compose my physical being. I am composed of several trillion cells. 

The gene activity in my body and mind are in constant associations with past, present and anticipated activities of cells, some switched on, others off, and at different times and in different places in my body. It is a biological symphony of which I am mostly unaware.  

My cells have organelles that are also working on and off to make molecules, digest molecules and recycle molecules.  My organelles are composed of macromolecules whose organization and function have been worked out mostly since I was born. I know nothing of my life at the level of individual atoms save for those that are passing through membranes and ion channels or transported by proteins in my cells. 

I also know an important lesson of life. There is an enormous amount we do not know and humility alone should restrain us from acting as if we have certainty on our side, especially if our beliefs lead to intentional or unintentional bad consequences.  Know thyself may and does celebrate life but it can also be taken as a warning.  

Elof Axel Carlson is a distinguished teaching professor emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University.

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The three bears, from left, discover Goldilocks sleeping in Baby Bear’s bed.

By Heidi Sutton

Summer is just around the corner, making for the perfect opportunity to review safety and stranger danger protocols with young children. Theatre Three’s latest show, “Goldilocks — Is That You?” accomplishes just that through the magic of live theater.

The cast of ‘Goldilocks — Is That You?’

The original musical, written by Jeffrey Sanzel and Kevin F. Story, is an interpretation of one of the most popular fairy tales of all time, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” by Robert Southey, and encompasses all of the beloved characters from the original story plus a few colorful new ones.

In this production, Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear are show biz bears who have retired from the circus and are now living in a house in the country. It’s the first of the month and the banker, Billy de Goat Gruff, has come to collect the rent money, which they don’t have. The grouchy goat gives them until the end of the day or they will be kicked out. While their porridge is cooling down, the bears decide to go for a walk to think of ways to come up with the rent.

In the meantime, Goldilocks, a Campfire Bluebird Pioneer Scout Girl who lives with her grandmother Granny Locks, sets off to her cousin’s house to deliver cookies. She ends up at the bear family’s house by mistake and lets herself in. In one of the funniest scenes of the show, Goldilocks tastes the three bowls of porridge, sits in the three chairs and tries out the three beds, choosing Baby Bear’s bed in which to take a nap.

When Granny Locks realizes that Goldilocks has not arrived at her destination, she seeks the help of local forest ranger Wolf Hunter to find the missing girl. They arrive at the bear’s house just as Baby Bear realizes that “someone’s been sleeping in my bed, and she’s still there!” Luckily for Goldilocks the bears are friendly — they even know Granny Locks from their circus days when she was Eloise of the Flying Trapeze. 

But all’s not well. The banker still wants his rent money, so the group puts on a show to help young people learn about safety to raise the funds. Soon all the children in the audience are learning about the importance of staying safe and that “strangers can mean danger — so don’t talk to strangers.”

Eric J. Hughes, Nicole Bianco and Jessica Contino play the three showbiz bears in ‘Goldilocks — Is That You?’

Expertly directed by Sanzel, the talented cast of seven adults put on a charming and funny show, evident by the constant giggles from the young audience at last Saturday’s opening performance. Meg Bush is perfectly cast as the sweet and innocent Goldilocks and Dylan Robert Poulos, channeling his inner Gilbert Godfrey, is hilarious in the role of Billy de Goat Gruff. Eric J. Hughes, Nicole Bianco and Jessica Contino tackle the roles of the three bears and do a fine job, especially Contino as the adorable Baby Bear. Ginger Dalton plays a fun Granny Locks and Steven Uihlein as the superhero Wolf Hunter, Forest Ranger (“Wherever there’s trouble or danger, you’ll find Wolf Hunter, Forest Ranger!”) is an audience favorite.  

The musical numbers, accompanied on piano by Steve McCoy, are delightful; the choreography by Nicole Bianco, which incorporates baton twirling, ballet and tap, are fresh and exciting; and the costumes, by the design team of Teresa Matteson and Toni St. John, are amazing, especially on the bears and Billy De Goat Gruff. 

All in all, the play can be compared to a great  big bear hug and is just right for young children from beginning to end. Meet the cast in the lobby for photos after the show.

Theatre Three, located at 412 Main St., Port Jefferson will present “Goldilocks — Is That You?” on June 2 and 9 at 11 a.m. with a sensory-sensitive performance on June 3 at 11 a.m. Children’s theater continues with “The Princess Who Saved the Dragon” from July 6 to Aug. 9 and “Alice’s Most Decidedly Unusual Adventures in Wonderland” from Aug. 3 to 11. Tickets are $10. To order, call 631-928-9100 or visit www.theatrethree.com.

All photos by Peter Lanscombe, Theatre Three Productions, Inc.

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