From left, juror Caitlyn Shea and Alex Cartwright in front of Alex’s wining artwork, “Pearl”. Photo courtesy of HAC
BEST IN SHOW The Huntington Arts Council held a costume party reception for its annual Nightmare on Main Street art exhibit last Saturday afternoon. Juror Caitlyn Shea chose Alex Cartwright’s piece “Pearl” as the winner in the Best in Show Senior Division, which was featured on the cover of TBR’s Arts & Lifestyles last week. Best in Show Junior Division was awarded to Jack Ruthkowski, for his piece “Jimmy.” The exhibit will be on view through Nov. 5. For more information, visit www.huntingtonarts.org.
William Connor in his favorite room in the house — the kitchen. Photo from Amy Connor
By Rita J. Egan
Back in April, Northport Middle School student William Connor participated in the show “Chopped Junior,” and when it came to the outcome, he had to keep it a secret until the Food Network broadcasted the episode on Oct. 25. Turns out the local junior chef made it all the way to the dessert round before being eliminated. In the episode, titled “Snapper Snafus,” William and three other contestants were judged by a panel that included Danica Patrick, Jamika Pessoa and Scott Conant. Ted Allen was the host.
On the night of Oct. 25, William said his parents held a big party. He said on hand were his parents, Amy and Gene, siblings, James and Sarah, as well as his grandparents, friends, teachers and the two chefs, Rob Thall and Michael Roberts, who helped him train for the show. His parents also recorded the show. “I’m glad we taped it, though, because sometimes people were cheering so loud that I missed part of what happened,” he said. The 13-year-old admitted he was nervous, because even though William knew what happened, he was curious to see how it was edited and what the result would look like. “It was interesting to see the way they edited it, which was really awesome. I was extremely proud of going on the show and making it that far and getting to show the skills I have in culinary,” he said.
After the network aired the show, William said he received many compliments from family and friends. “And everyone said they wanted to eat my curry ice cream,” he said. When he was at school the next day, in addition to receiving congratulations, someone gave him a note signed by 20 people, many he knew and a few he didn’t from different grades. He said it read, “Great job. We all watched you on ‘Chopped Junior,’ and you really inspired us.”
Now that the show has aired, William, who admitted he had hoped he would make it at least past the appetizers round, can talk about what went on during taping. “There was one time when Scott Conant said he didn’t know what a cheese ball was, so the next day I had to go back to film some more commentary stuff, and I brought him a cheese ball. I didn’t get to see his reaction because we were in two different studios that day, but they told me he liked it,” he said. William also said that during the entrée round he had trouble finding basil leaves due to another contestant using all of them. He spotted another type of leaf, smelled it, realized it was mint and decided to use it for his pesto. “The judges loved it. They thought it was very creative of me,” he said. The future professional chef also said he was proud that he received positive feedback about his ice cream. “Ted Allen wanted to taste it, which he never does,” he said.
While William is back to life as normal, with school and Boy Scouts, he has kept in touch with one of his competitors. “I’ve been in touch with Taylor, who got cut first — I think we got the closest. We’ve been trying to get together but she lives in the city so it can be kind of hard. She wants to be a chef too, so maybe we’ll be in culinary school together,” he said.
William’s appearance on the show has turned into a great learning experience for the Northport resident. “I think it really actually transformed me into the chef I am at this moment. I mean, it made me realize that I’m not perfect, nobody is perfect, and I still have a lot to learn.”
U.S. Marine Corps veteran Gregory Moore and his wife Elissa watch their new roof being installed by All Pro Remodeling, with materials donated by Owens Corning. Photo by Alex Petroski
By Alex Petroski
It’s impossible to adequately thank military members and their families for their sacrifices, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
The Port Jefferson Station-based company All Pro Remodeling teamed up with manufacturer Owens Corning to provide veteran Gregory Moore and his family with a new roof for their home on Sandpiper Lane in Coram Nov. 1. All Pro supplied the labor free of charge and Owens Corning donated the materials as part of their Roof Deployment Project. The 501(c)(3) charity Support Our Troops assisted in selecting the Moores.
“I’ve heard of things like this, but it never happened to me,” Moore said. “I was always grateful for any veteran getting help, because there’s a lot of veterans in need that are too proud to say they need a roof, a car, or any help because we were raised like that — to be independent. So when things like this happen to me, it’s just amazing.”
Moore, 39, and his wife Elissa have lived in the home for five years with their two sons — Dana, 15, and Mason, 10. Moore served in the United States Marine Corps for eight years and currently works out of MacArthur Airport as a member of the National Guard.
He said his roof had several leaks and the family was already budgeting to repair it in the near future. Moore and his wife both recounted the moment he broke the news to her over the phone. Understandably, there were tears.
“It means a lot — it debunks all of the stories out there that we don’t appreciate our veterans, because we do.”
— Elissa Moore
“It means a lot — it debunks all of the stories out there that we don’t appreciate our veterans, because we do. There are a lot of programs out there that benefit military families. It shows that military families are appreciated. The sacrifices that are made, it affects not only the soldier, but the family as well.”
All Pro Remodeling owner Mike Hughes said he’s had this idea for some time.
“This is the first time I’m doing something like this,” he said. “I always wanted to, I just didn’t have the means. This year it worked out, so I was happy to give back and help a veteran.”
Moore said he has some plans for the money they’d been saving now that the roof no longer needs fixing. The couple plans to bring their son Dana to visit the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, and they’ll also be renovating a bathroom in their home.
“Thank you to Owens Corning and All Pro,” Moore said. It’s awesome. I’m very grateful for it.”
Owens Corning sales manager for the North East region Joe Russo embraced the importance of taking care of veterans.
“It’s something that makes me proud of my company, that they support military families,” he said. “They’re the ones that protect our freedom and it makes me feel good that we can do something like this.”
Stony Brook University women’s soccer team drafted 4-year-old Rylie Laber. Photo from Stony Brook University
Kevin Redding
On July 4, 1939, New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig stood before 60,000 fans at Yankee Stadium and confirmed his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and closed his statements by saying: “I might have had a tough break — but I have an awful lot to live for.”
This sort of display of courage and determination in the face of great affliction is now being echoed by a 4-year-old girl named Rylie Laber, a student at Middle Country’s Bicycle Path Pre-K/Kindergarten Center, who loves to play soccer and takes great joy in learning new things in the classroom.
Those who know her best describe her as energetic, loving, happy, competitive and sassy, with a great laugh. Her spirited personality serves as the ultimate remedy for the rare genetic disorder she’s suffered from since she was 6 months old.
Stony Brook University women’s soccer head coach Brendan Faherty places a cap on Rylie’s head after she was drafted. Photo from Stony Brook University
Called Shwachman Diamond Syndrome, the disorder causes bone marrow failure, pancreatic insufficiency, malabsorption of food and vitamins, and growth difficulties. For most of her life, Rylie’s day-to-day schedule has consisted of countless doctor and hospital appointments, infections, taking medications with every meal, bruising easily, mouth sores, and a lot of dehydration due to fevers. Even two hours of mindless fun at Chuck-E-Cheese when she was only 2 years old led to a miserable three months of being sick with a chronic cold and fever.
But since late August, when she was taken under the wing of SUNY Stony Brook’s women’s soccer team through the Team Impact program, she’s turned over a new leaf and has something to consistently look forward to. In turn, her involvement as an honorary team member has made life better for her family, and the team itself has been impacted greatly by her fun-loving presence.
Rylie’s grandmother Mary Balint, who has full custody, which she shares with Rylie’s father, said that even with her illnesses, Rylie’s always been very cheerful and happy, and that’s only increased tenfold since joining the team.
“She is pushing forward and she absolutely loves her team,” Balint said. “Just last month she had asthmatic bronchitis and every day she was like ‘I’m not letting this stop me. I’m going to practice. I’m going to be with my team, I’m going to do what I have to do,’ so she’s definitely fighting through whatever she needs to fight through to stay with this. She’ll do anything for them. It’s just made her so much stronger.”
Because of how rare Rylie’s illness is, every other year she and Balint journey to Camp Sunshine — which provides retreat and support for kids with life-threatening illnesses and their families in Maine — for a medical conference. This is where Balint first heard about Team Impact, the organization that draftskids to become members of local college athletic teams.
Initially, as Balint was looking into the program and submitting Rylie’s application, she was told that they generally didn’t start kids until they were 5, but that was until they learned that she had a special interest in soccer — which she’d been playing since she was 3.
Rylie Laber stretches with the Stony Brook University women’s soccer team. Photo from Mary Balint
That’s when the organization touched base with Brendan Faherty, Stony Brook’s new head coach of the women’s soccer team, who, along with the student athletes, took to her immediately. Rylie joins the Seawolves in the weight room, goes to practice and games, stretches with them on the sidelines, and kicks the ball. As Balint says, everything they do, she does. According to Faherty, it didn’t take long for Rylie to be herself among her new friends and teammates.
“In the beginning, she was a little bit shy,” he said, “but that lasted about five minutes. She’s super outgoing. She just wants to talk to everybody — goes from one player to the next — and she’s got a great attitude, and really cares about everybody in the program. … We try to spend as much time as we can with her. We went to one of her soccer games and she’s actually really good. She’s super aggressive on the field and she scores a lot of goals and just seems to really love soccer.”
In terms of Rylie’s impact on the students on the team, Stony Brook senior and teammate Lindsay Hutchinson said that Rylie was with them for almost the entire season, and every day the Seawolves spent with her was guaranteed to be a good day. The Stony Brook team even improved upon its record this season with Rylie by their side.
“She just kind of puts everybody in a good mood,” Hutchinson said. “Personally, it gives me a greater appreciation of life, because Rylie just walks around like the happiest child in the world, even though she has a lot of things going on — probably more than we realize. She clung to us right away. Every time she comes to see us, whether it’s at practice or a game, she’ll run right out on the field and give us all hugs.”
For Balint, it was always important that Rylie be kept in the loop as to what was happening with her medically, rather than try to mask it, and said that she knows a lot more about her illness than a 4 year old should. At school, she stays on top of all the medication she needs to take and makes sure that she’s using her own crayon box, to avoid coming in contact with others’ germs, and even a small cold could wipe her out for three weeks straight. Being on the team is Rylie’s incentive to keep herself in tip-top shape, especially since she’s going to be part of the team again next year.
“Sometimes, I sort of use it as a bargaining chip,” Balint said. “If she won’t do something that she has to do, I’ll say to her ‘you think your team would like that?’”
In fact, the team has such an effect on her that she’s even developed a variety of superstitions once it’s game time.
“She has to wear the strings out of her shorts,” Balint said, “and she’s gotta wear her red jersey to school and white jersey to the game. Right before every single game, she runs to the coach with a package of Scooby Doo fruit snacks and he has to eat them. It’s been her little superstitious tradition now.”
John Lutterbie and Naomi Solo with the sign designating Port Jefferson as a ‘green’ village.
By Naomi Solo
The Port Jefferson High School Environmental Club sells reusable water bottles at a previous Go Green event.
A decade ago Ann Kaplan and John Lutterbie from the Stony Brook University Humanities Institute formed a university community group in order to inspire positive thinking about the environment. When the group wanted to choose a target area to begin its work, the Village of Port Jefferson was selected. The Humanities Institute joined forces with the local government and Port Jefferson schools to make the village a model for environmental awareness.
On Saturday, Nov. 5, the community is invited to to learn more about these joint efforts at the 9th Annual Go Green Information Fair. This year the free event will be held in the cafeteria of the Earl L. Vandermeulen High School at 350 Old Post Road in Port Jefferson from noon to 3 p.m. Creative projects initiated by local students will be the highlight of the day along with musical presentations by the elementary school chorus and a special musical performance by high school student Cole Fortier.
Come learn about Port Jefferson High School’s new Green Roof project, located on the roof of the boy’s locker room. A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. Sierra Club members will be on hand with information on where to hike and explore on Long Island, and members from the Long Island Native Plant Initiative will demonstrate the many ways to cultivate a garden using indigenous plants. A fine example of this is the native plant garden Go Green, LINPI and Port Jefferson Village have developed on the green triangle at the intersection of Spring and High Streets.
An environmental-themed student art show, organized by Lynn Edsall, chairperson of the high school art department, will also be on view to add to the richness of the day and don’t forget to stop by the “Green Elephant” table where, for no money, you can be part of yet another recycle team by taking home whatever items you wish. You may also contribute items while cleaning your closets and cabinets. Call Barbara at 631-642-3048. Please no clothes, linen, electronics, or books.
Jaeda, age 5, and Giana, age 3, of Setauket paint their pumpkins. Photo by Heidi Sutton
From left, 6-year-old Tyler McDermott of Lake Grove, his brother Justin, age 8, and Dylan Munoz, age 2, of Islip enjoy the day. Photo by Heidi Sutton
Painted pumpkins wait to dry at the Long Island Museum's Halloween Family Fun Day. Photo by Heidi Sutton
The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook hosted its annual Halloween Family Fun Day last Sunday afternoon. The free event attracted many families who enjoyed the day painting and decorating pumpkins, trick-or-treating, games and a 1960s-themed musical performance by Squeaky Clean.
The Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook will welcome Suzzy Roche and Lucy Wainwright Roche in concert on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 3 p.m. for an afternoon of songs, great harmonies and stories. The mother/daughter duo bearing the names of two famous musical families is presented as part of the museum’s Sunday Street Concert Series, which is a collaboration with WUSB-FM, The Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and The Long Island Museum. All concerts take place in the Carriage Museum’s Gillespie Room.
Advance sale tickets are $22 through Nov. 11 at www.sundaystreet.org. Tickets may be purchased at the door for $27 (cash only). For the full Sunday Street schedule visit www.sundaystreet.org or call 631-632-1093.
Staff members from the Sachem Public Library’s Community Services Department pose with Lidia Bastianich after the event: from left, Patrice Prawicka, Debra Vigliotti, Lauren Gilbert, Anne Marie Tognella, Lidia, Lorraine Silvering, Barbara DiPalmo, Karen Brady and Wendy Schlactus. Photo from Annemarie Tognella
The celebrity chef speaks to the a large audience at Sachem Public Library on Oct. 30. Photo from Anne Marie TognellaTeen librarian Kyle Quenneville gets his signed copy of Bastianich’s new book. Photo from Annemarie Tognella
TUTTI A TAVOLA A MANGIARE!
Approximately 375 fans of celebrity chef, author and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich attended a talk and book signing event at Sachem Public Library in Holbrook last Sunday in honor of Italian Heritage Month. Lidia signed copies of her latest book, “Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Great Italian Cook,” and posed for pictures with attendees both before and after her talk.
Lidia spoke about growing up in Italy and moving to the United States at the age of 12, how she got started in television with the help of Julia Child, going into business with her children and how important family is to her. She described some of the differences between Italian and Italian-American cuisine, how proud she is to be from “the two best countries in the world” and answered some cooking questions from the audience. The crowd was thrilled to meet her and enjoyed her personal anecdotes.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from Huntington Town's annual Halloween parade on Main Street Monday, Oct. 31. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
Scenes from St. James Halloween parade Sunday, Oct 31. Photo by Bob Savage.
A dog in a Pope costume at Port Jefferson's Harvest Festival Oct. 30. Photo by Bob Savage
A Star Wars costume at Port Jefferson's Harvest Festival Oct. 30. Photo by Bob Savage
A participant in the Halloween Parade of Dogs at Port Jefferson's Harvest Festival Oct. 30. Photo by Bob Savage
DJ Placente and his dog Apollo of Coram at Port Jefferson's Harvest Festival Oct. 30. Photo by Bob Savage
File photo by Bob Savage
Kelly Schiavone and her dog Damian at the Port Jefferson Harvest Festival Oct. 30. Photo by Bob Savage
The band Our Generation performs during Port Jefferson's Harvest Festival Oct. 30. Photo by Bob Savage
People come from all over to Trick or Treat in Stony Brook Village at The Ward Melville Heritage Organization's 2016 Halloween celebration. Photo by Donna Newman
People come from all over to Trick or Treat in Stony Brook Village at The Ward Melville Heritage Organization's 2016 Halloween celebration. Photo by Donna Newman
People come from all over to Trick or Treat in Stony Brook Village at The Ward Melville Heritage Organization's 2016 Halloween celebration. Photo by Donna Newman
People come from all over to Trick or Treat in Stony Brook Village at The Ward Melville Heritage Organization's 2016 Halloween celebration. Photo by Donna Newman
People come from all over to Trick or Treat in Stony Brook Village at The Ward Melville Heritage Organization's 2016 Halloween celebration. Photo by Donna Newman
Residents from all over the North Shore spent the weekend and Monday celebrating Halloween and dressing up in their spookiest costumes.