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Robert and Shirley Kenny

By Daniel Dunaief

When Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny was getting ready to leave Queens College to become president of Stony Brook University in 1994, she called her mother in Tyler, Texas, where she grew up.

She told her mother she was taking “a much more important job” and she “burst into tears.”

Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny

She felt Queens College had a heart and cared about its students and that she was taking over at Stony Brook where “science ruled” and where the “faculty were more important than students.”

She believed the public university had the “most incredible science faculty for a state institution, but it didn’t have a heart.”

Supported by her husband Dr. Robert “Bob” Kenny, the first female president at Stony Brook made numerous changes during a tenure that lasted until the summer of 2009, overseeing the beautification of the campus, directing the school’s athletic program into Division 1, and forging lasting connections with luminaries including world-renowned paleanthropologist Richard Leakey and celebrated actor Alan Alda.

In a wide-ranging celebrity podcast phone interview from their home in McLean, Virginia, Shirley and Bob Kenny shared numerous stories, insights, observations and reflections, offering specific steps the former president took to bring about cultural change at the university.

“When I got there, students didn’t matter,” said Kenny. “Faculty mattered and we had incredible faculty, particularly in the sciences.”

Kenny appreciated how hard her predecessors worked to recruit and retain talented faculty.

“Each of us played a very different role,” she said.

John Toll, the first longtime president who held the role from 1965 to 1978 “couldn’t have cared diddly squat what the campus looked like or felt like,” said Kenny. “He just wanted the best scientists in the world.”

Kenny believes John Marburger, who was president from 1980 to 1994, consolidated what Toll had done. “I came in at a very different point in history,” said Kenny. “I thought students did matter.”

Changing the campus and the focus of the university wasn’t easy. She said she received numerous figurative bruises along the way.

University leaders thought it was a “waste of time” and money to focus on undergraduates, she said. “We want to be the best graduate university that we can be,” she recalled, echoing the underlying philosophy of the school in the mid- 1990’s. “There was tremendous resistance.”

‘The ugliest campus in America’

Kenny brought in famed architect John Belle, who had worked with her at Queens College and had also been involved in the 1990 restoration of Ellis Island.

“The first important thing I did was to change [Stony Brook] from the ugliest campus in America to the beautiful campus it is now,” said Kenny.

When Kenny arrived, the area that is now the central mall was asphalt. She and Belle, who was one of the founders of architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle, walked the campus.

Belle asked Kenny if the university had a center and “it really didn’t,” she said. Buildings went up here and there, seemingly without much consideration for developing aesthetically pleasing and relaxing outdoor green space.

Kenny also urged Belle to add a fountain, building on her experience at the University of Texas at Austin, where the fountain became not only a focal point for gatherings and activities but also a place to celebrate.

While Stony Brook doesn’t condone throwing people in the fountain, the way students did in Texas, the fountain has become a “central campus focus” and a place to show prospective students touring the university, she said.

Kenny also helped build and expand the student center, which created a place for students to interact and “have fun,” she said.

Important partners

Through easy-going laughter and self-deprecating humor, Shirley described meaningful and important partnerships that helped shape the direction of the school, academic opportunities and campus life.

Kenny described inviting Charles Wang to lunch. At the time, she was president of Queens College and he was the chief executive officer of Computer Associates.

“I thought I was being so sophisticated,” she laughed. “Here I am, Shirley, from Tyler, Texas. I thought, ‘He knows Chinese food. I’ll take him to a Korean restaurant.’”

Wang, as it turns out, was a Chinese food gourmet and thought she was mixing up his Chinese background with that of Korea.

“He never let me forget what a terrible mistake I’d make,” Kenny said. “He thought I didn’t know the difference between Chinese and Korean.”

She considered Wang one of her several brothers in her academic career. 

Kenny met Richard Leakey at a lunch in Manhattan. She intended to see if Leakey might give a lecture at Stony Brook, but started by asking him why he was in New York.

He had come for new prosthetics, after he’d lost his legs in a suspicious plane crash in 1993 when he was working to save endangered elephants and eliminate the trade in ivory tusks.

When she found out he didn’t have insurance, she encouraged him to become a visiting faculty at Stony Brook, where he could get insurance.

“That connection with Leakey and the Leakey Center has endured since then and has been very important to the university,” said Kenny.

Shirley met actor Alan Alda of MASH fame at a dinner at the Staller Center.

Alda shared an idea he pitched to other university presidents around the country that deploys improvisational acting techniques to communicate and, in particular, to share information about science.

Kenny was receptive to the idea, which led to the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science.

A life partner

Shirley and Bob Kenny shared anecdotes and advice about their lifelong partnership.

The couple, both of whom grew up in Texas and met as undergraduates at the University of Texas when they worked for the school newspaper, have been married for 68 years.

When asked for the key to such a lasting marriage, Bob suggested it was “patience and tolerance.”

Shirley suggested the scales weren’t balanced as her husband “had to be patient with me more than I have to be patient with him. I’ve never doubted how clever I was to hook him.”

The Kennys have four grandchildren and a great grandchild.

The couple, who don’t travel as often to the university as they had in the years after leaving Stony Brook, maintain a close connection to the school through their daughter Sarah Azzara, who is a Full-Time Lecturer in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stony Brook.

The next leader

While the Kennys aren’t involved in the current search for a new president at Stony Brook, Shirley shared some thoughts on the qualities she’d like from the next leader.

“What I really want is somebody who cares about Stony Brook and who is not just looking at this as a weigh station to a more ‘prestigious’ presidency,” she said. “The last few people have been on their way to other presidencies.”

She would like someone who “loves and cares about Stony Brook and wants to keep making it better.”

As for advice she’d share with anyone contemplating becoming a university president, Kenny suggested the importance of hearing other people.

“You need to be able to listen and not just talk,” she said. Presidents need to be sensitive to “what the campus wants, as well as having your own vision of where you think it should be going.”

Even if a prospective leader believes in a particular vision, that person “shouldn’t just pronounce and do, even if [he or she] thinks they have a wonderful vision.”

She urged universities and their leaders to focus on recruiting extraordinary teachers as well as talented researchers.

Robert Kenny spent 12 years without electricity, then rose to top academic posts

When the lights go out, Robert Kenny feels like he’s home.

“I react by saying, ‘Yeah, I’ve been there. I’ve been to this place,’” said Kenny.

That’s because, for the first dozen years of his life, Kenny had no indoor plumbing or electricity on what he described as a “hard scrabble farm” in Texas.

Shirley and Robert Kenny at Robert’s 90th birthday lunch. Photo courtesy of the Kennys

“I grew up basically in the 19th century,” said Kenny, from the current home he and his wife of 68 years Shirley share in McLean, Virginia.

Kenny brought buckets of water from the windmill to the house, while his mother cooked on a four-burner wooden stove.

The family, which farmed land to raise cattle for beef, had a battery powered radio powered by a windmill on the roof of the house.

When the wind blew, the battery charged and the family could listen to news and entertainment, but when the air was still for longer periods of time, the radio wouldn’t function.

Kenny also lived in a home with a phone that looked like a box with a crank. His neighbors, whose homes were about a mile away, all had similar boxes connected to one line.

Everyone was on the same line and a call to each family had a distinctive ring.

When the summer evenings got too hot indoors, the family took their beds outside and slept under the sky.

“It was terrific,” recalled Kenny. “I enjoyed it. You tended to wake up early.”

On the unusual night when it rained, the family would bundle everything up quickly and race indoors.

“I knew from childhood that I wanted to leave that world,” said Kenny.

When the family finally received electricity, Kenny was thrilled that he could read in the evening as long as he was allowed to stay up.

Kenny’s parents were “very supportive of education,” he said. “That’s what made” it possible for him to leave the farming world and enter academia.

Army counterspy

Before adding to his academic resume, Kenny served as a counterspy in the army.

“That was the age in which everybody was suspected of being a communist,” said Kenny. “The army was very worried about people becoming subverted and becoming spies.”

His unit’s job was to search for people who might be susceptible to any leverage the Russians might find.

“At that time and one hates to say it now, the Army was very suspicious of homosexual activity,” he said. “They thought [gay soldiers] were vulnerable to blackmail.”

When his unit found gay men, they were “usually pushed out of the Army,” he said.

That, Kenny said, proved ironic, because he was sure at least one of the people in this counterspy group was, himself, a closeted gay man who rose through the ranks.

While he was in the army, Kenny married Shirley Strum, who decades later would serve as the first female president of Stony Brook University.

Kenny, meanwhile, built on his love of reading and appreciation for education, becoming Dean of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences at George Washington University.

Real world lessons

While dedicated academics, the Kenny couple received difficult lessons in the real world during their honeymoon.

They were robbed twice on their honeymoon, first in Miami and then in Puerto Rico when they swam in the hotel swimming pool.

When they returned to the United States, Bob Kenny had to call his commanding officer to ask for an advance on his money so he could get back to the base.

Looking back on his over 90 years of life, Kenny suggested he especially enjoyed his 20s, when he could travel the world. He also reveled in the 40’s, when the family enjoyed time with their young children.

He described visiting the shrine at Delphi in Greece as being “absolutely eerie and magical.”

As for the way he best supported his wife during her tenure as the president of Stony Brook, Kenny suggested that his role was as a “listening post” and a “place to vent where she could express her frustrations.”

Looking at an academic legacy that has continued through the generations, with their daughter Sarah Azzara at Stony Brook and grandchildren including Avi Kenny, an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics at Duke, the Kennys are proud of their ongoing academic legacy.

For Bob Kenny, such academic success came from a humble beginning.“Books were not easy to come by in that part of the world,” he said. “I read everything” he could get his hands on. His favorite was Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer.”

 

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A scene of destruction in Western North Carolina after Tropical Storm Helene. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/NCDOTcommunications

By Kurt Johnsen  

On August 19, 2024, a “thousand-year” rain event breached Harbor Road and drained the Stony Brook Mill Pond. TBR News Media published my memoir of my personal relationship with the pond and my deep sorrow of its loss on Aug. 29.

I live in Asheville, North Carolina and on September 28, I awoke to a Natural Disaster that was beyond my comprehension. Tropical storm Helene had scourged our beloved Western North Carolina.  I’ll first note that my wife and I were fine, and our home only suffered minor damage. I stepped outside and began to witness what was soon to be apparent destruction of “biblical” proportion.

Overnight, 40 to 100 miles-per-hour winds had ravaged our region. Asheville received 14 inches of rain, much of Western North Carolina received two feet of rain and even up to 30 inches, all in the previous two days. Trees were downed everywhere and with them thousands of power lines cutting off electricity and making even simple travel down the road impossible. Soon, the magnitude of the destruction started to become evident. 

Close to 900,000 acres of forest were downed or damaged, thousands of homes were destroyed and 150,000 people were displaced. If you haven’t yet, you can go on YouTube and watch the hundreds of videos showing events that, before this, we only witnessed from afar often in third world countries. Two miles from our house  Biltmore Village was flooded and EVERY business was gutted or ripped down. Eighty percent of our beloved River Arts District was destroyed. The torrents caused massive mudslides. Across the region, houses were torn apart and floated  like balsa wood along powerful rivers that, two days prior, were small streams and brooks. 

There are 104 verified storm-related deaths. It is Incredulous this number isn’t higher. Vehicles, homes, businesses were piled like matchsticks. People’s lives were upended and, for many, will never be the same. Even now, as you drive out to smaller towns that were virtually destroyed,  you proceed through a “tunnel” of the hulks of demolished cars, trucks, houses and other flotsam.

The main Pipeline from the reservoir that supplies most of Asheville with water was shattered and under 28 feet of thick muck! Water immediately ceased flowing out of the tap for, in most cases, months and even longer to become potable. Asheville’s unemployment rate jumped from three to 9 percent overnight. The lack of affordable housing, already a crisis for service industry employees in our tourist-based economy, was extraordinarily exacerbated overnight.

Stop reading for a minute and imagine the all-too-real picture I have painted above. Now, let me put this in perspective. The Mill Pond is approximately 11 acres in size. That is 0.001 percent of the area that was impacted in WNC from Helene. And now, much of Los Angeles looks like Dresden after the firebombing. I will not go far out on a limb to say we have reached the “tipping point”; climate change is now ravaging our planet.  James Taylor sang “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain.” He had no idea how prophetic his prose would become. 

Author Kurt Johnsen, who grew up in idyllic Stony Brook,  now resides in  Asheville, North Carolina.

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File photo by Raymond Janis

Smithtown freight yard is a threat to our community

As a 75-year resident of our beautiful community, it saddens me to see Smithtown is moving ahead on the freight yard proposal by Toby Carlson.  Like California, you are adopting the law of unintended consequences. In the effort to pursue the “Green New Deal” they ignored the well-being and safety of their citizens. Reservoir water was redirected to save fish, fire budgets were cut and brush in county parks was left to grow contrary to state laws. All of this was to improve social justice policies. If a freight yard is the answer to our garbage needs, this is not the place for it, adjacent to a residential and historic area.

While the tragedy California is dealing with was never anticipated by the politicians, the dangers were all too apparent. So too, the terrible record of freight train derailments and toxic spills have put adjacent communities at risk and caused many tragedies throughout the country. While this is a real possibility, what is a certainty is that our home values, quality of life and water aquifer will all be negatively impacted. Just as California turned a blind eye to brush removal laws for many years, Smithtown has ignored the many code violations on Old Northport Road. Clearly, California has subordinated their community safety in pursuit of an alternative agenda. This should not happen here.Elected officials should protect and preserve our communities.

For 30 years I served with the Fort Salonga Association as director and president. We worked  to protect our zoning, establish  Bread and Cheese as an historic Road and identify many homes dating back to the American Revolution. To undermine our efforts, damage our quality of life and impact our property values is a betrayal of our trust. There are better places for a freight yard than 150 feet away from residential homes. Please protect our community!

Frank Konop

Smithtown

Sergeant-at-arms can protect without weapons

At the Suffolk County Legislature’s Organizational Meeting on Jan. 2, I suggested appointing a sergeant-at-arms for future meetings. As an employee of the Legislature that individual would be responsible for ensuring that all in attendance follow protocols. Helping to escort guest dignitaries such as the Suffolk County executive into the auditorium to address the legislators when they are in session would also be a job requirement. Despite the words “sergeant” and “arms” in the title, that person would not be a law enforcement officer and would not carry any weapons.

My request was prompted by events at two General Meetings last year when a member of the public who was speaking was asked by the presiding officer to not provocatively say “your base is racist.” These uncomfortable moments quickly overheated when the presiding officer determined it appropriate to request deputy sheriff officers who are present at the General Meetings to escort the speaker out of the hearing room. Witnessing law enforcement officers with loaded guns on their person being instructed to remove constituents is concerning as such circumstances have the potential to quickly and unpredictably escalate.

During my tenure as a New York State assemblyman, I observed that Legislature’s sergeant-at-arms routinely offering potential disruptors a piece of candy from a bowl he kept at his desk. This literally sweet gesture would provide an opportunity for de-escalation and, in turn, maintain the required decorum to continue with a safe and effective legislative meeting. It also demonstrates that the individual who is the sergeant-at-arms can function as an antidote to disharmony and an instrument of civility. The Suffolk County Legislature should make use of this tool to add both a buffer against immoderate moments and add to the procedural dignity of the chamber.

Steve Englebright

Suffolk County Legislator

Fifth District

Keep the town code, keep out freight terminals

We are writing to express the opposition of our members to the proposed changes to the

[Smithtown] Town Code – as written – that would permit rail freight terminals, rail transfer stations and wood chipping and mulch processing in Smithtown. The proposals as written make no sense and should not be enacted.

Although increased capacity for the transportation of ash from waste-to-energy plants and construction and demolition debris (“C&D”) off Long Island likely will become a necessity, we believe that as drafted, the proposed code changes are misguided, overbroad and frankly, unrealistic.

The most surprising aspect of the proposal is that a special exception could be granted for any ofthese uses on parcels as little as two acres. Likewise, we are surprised that the proposal includes the possibility that a rail freight terminal could be permitted in a light industry zone anywhere in Town. Since the proposed amendments would affect the entire Town, they could have negative impacts in any community where in ustrially zoned properties exist, including the Mills Pond National Historic District and the Flowerfield property.

For the past four years, the community has been working with the State Department of Environmental Conservation and Suffolk County to preserve the undeveloped 48-acre portion of the Gyrodyne/Flowerfield property, which is the last remaining open space in St. James. The State and County are closer than ever to a purchase that would compensate Gyrodyne fairly for its land. Supervisor Wehrheim, you have expressed to the DEC that the Town has no objection to the State’s proposal to acquire the property using Environmental Protection Funds. However, the proposed code changes, as written, could jeopardize the goal of preserving Flowerfield Fairgrounds as open space.

While the current Town Board might not allow a rail terminal on the Gyrodyne/Flowerfield property, future Town Boards could do so if the code changes before you are approved. The proposed code amendments would be antithetical to the broad explicit goal established in the Town’s new Comprehensive Plan to protect the character of residential communities like St. James. Even if the minimum required parcel size was increased to 100 acres, the proposals should not be enacted, for the following reasons.

Permission to create a rail freight terminal “used for the temporary staging and/or storage of commodities, consumer products or equipment” transported via rail at the Gyrodyne/Flowerfield site would require the addition not only of railroad tracks and storage facilities, but would also of necessity generate daily heavy truck traffic on Mills Pond Road, North Country Road and Stony Brook Road, all of which are narrow, two-lane country roads.

In sworn testimony at the 2010 eminent domain trial Gyrodyne’s own planning and zoning expert testified that getting traffic in and out of the Gyrodyne site is problematic because it is remote from major roadways, and that the property therefore could not accommodate the additional traffic that would accompany more industrial development. The level of traffic on nearby roadways under current conditions is rated as failing, which was a major impetus for the legal challenge against approval of the Gyrodyne subdivision, still pending. The proposed code amendments would allow this property to potentially be developed for uses that would be even more objectionable than those proposed by Gyrodyne in its subdivision proposal.

Another significant issue to be considered is the limited capacity of rail infrastructure in the Town of Smithtown. The Port Jefferson Branch of the Long Island Rail Road is served by a busy single commuter track and is ill-suited to the addition of rail freight.

There are numerous other locations in Suffolk County which are more suitable for use as rail freight terminals to facilitate the expansion of transportation of ash and construction and demolition materials (C&D) off Long Island.

Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Preservation Coalition

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Pixabay photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

The back to back days of pardons given by former president Joe Biden and current president Donald Trump put me in a pardoning frame of mind.

In that vein, I think we should have a national day of pardoning in the United States, unrelated to who is president and what those pardons might reflect about the taint politics has on the entire notion of a justice system whose rules can and should apply to all.

Perhaps the day after the inauguration should become a day of amnesty or for some sort of pardoning day, when we can ask for and receive pardons from regular folks for regular offenses.

Here are a few pardonable categories:

Inaction: We sometimes have those moments when we could or should say something and don’t. We see someone bullying someone else and we have the chance to stand up for that person. Instead, maybe we’re relieved that the bullying didn’t come directly at us.

Many years ago in college, one of my professors (and some of you may have read this anecdote before, so pardon me) was berating someone for trying to remove some equipment quietly from the room. He shouted at him and dressed him down, complaining that this other person was making it impossible for him to do his job.

At the time, I thought about getting out of my seat and leaving the room, but I didn’t. I could have helped the person doing the work, or, perhaps, have said something.

Funny is in the eye of the beholder: We sometimes think, hope or believe we’re funnier than we are. Maybe we make a friend or classmate uncomfortable, joke with a partner or invalidate someone else with words we think are more clever than they are. A pardon day could give us a chance to rephrase what we said or, instead of explaining it or editing it, just deleting it from the record. Wouldn’t that be nice? Pardon me for trying too hard to be amusing and missing the mark so badly. Can’t you just see that on a card or in a text?

We thought we knew better: How often have our parents suggested something, like wearing boots in the snow, putting on mittens in the cold, or doing our homework instead of praying for a snow day, and been right? Perhaps an amnesty day would give us a chance to admit that they were right and, in return, they could ask for our pardon for telling the same stories about our stubborn and self-assured nature.

Last teammates: Gym class is filled with opportunities for embarrassment, discomfort and failure. We might let a ball scoot by us, run the wrong way or pass to the wrong teammate. But those pale in comparison to the moment when someone is picked last, yet again. These character-building experiences can and should include moments when the people chosen last defy the odds and receive a welcoming and eager reaction from a captain or teammates.

Understanding instead of anger: It’s easy to react to someone’s angry, abrupt or inexplicable actions with frustration and hostility. Why didn’t this person answer a text or email? Why did he or she cut me off? We can ask for a pardon and perhaps get a better understanding of why someone wouldn’t let us finish a sentence.

Ears not mouth: Sometimes, we need a pardon for speaking instead of listening. Speaking is so much easier, as we can share whatever thoughts are percolating in our brains. Listening is often harder, but can be more rewarding and meaningful for people who have something to share. Pardon me for speaking. What did you want to say? I promise I’m listening.

Bad math moment: Maybe we were splitting a check, leaving a tip or returning the favor for a gift someone gave our children and yet, somehow we didn’t send/ spend enough. We’ve all been distracted at inopportune times, even with money. A pardon for under-tipping a hard working waiter or waitress might go a long way. 

Sharing poorly: On a recent vacation, I went up to a buffet, filled a plate with chocolate chip cookies and carried them through the restaurant. A child in the restaurant pointed and said, “Look it’s the real cookie monster.” Yes, that’s me. So, for all those times I didn’t exactly share well, pardon me.

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METRO photo

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief,
Publisher

There is a place called Ramsey, where they have banned cellphones during class. Perhaps you have heard of it? It’s in New Jersey. Ramsey High School has banned students from using cellphones and electronic devices during school hours, except at lunch. The idea was to reduce distractions and improve mental health.

No doubt you have been reading or hearing about how cellphone overuse is ruining our kids’ moods and minds, not to mention how hard it is for teachers to reach the students if the latter are plastered on their cellphone screens. 

Well, a San Francisco company called Yondr has stepped into the breech with a lockable pouch for each student that keeps phones out of reach until the pouch is tapped on an unlocking base.

There are 741 students in the high school, and upon entering the building they put their  cellphone into the small holders that they carry with them but cannot open until lunchtime. They can then check their messages, text with friends, play videos, and otherwise use their phones until they return to class, where the procedure repeats itself. At the end of the school day, they reclaim their phones and can jump back on them as they go home or wherever they go next.

How did they do it? 

The district was able to put the policy together, after board approval, by sending three letters: one to parents, one to students and one to teachers and administrators, explaining the program. Communication was good, and the policy was helped by New Jersey’s Governor Phil Murphy endorsing the idea for all 600 school districts in his State of the State address.

How is it working for them?

Many of the students have responded positively to the change. They point out that they are actually happy to see their friends in the hallways and talk with them, whereas before, they were all in their cellphones while changing classrooms. So better socializing has been a plus.

Grades have improved, according to some of the students and teachers, as student attention is now directed to the lessons. Teachers undoubtedly find it more satisfying to teach less distracted kids. And cyberbullying seems reduced.

Concerns about safety have subdued. Should emergency messages need to be sent, having clear bandwidth to the police or whomever would be an advantage. The investment for the district was $30,000.

UNESCO is advocating cellphone bans in schools, arguing that the devices are distractions from learning, are bad for teens’ mental health and may be an obstacle for students’ privacy, as some digital education tools can survey the children using them. The recommendations come from the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report, which analyzes global policies on technology use in classrooms.

“Only technology that has a clear role in supporting learning should be allowed in school,” the United Nations agency for education and science stated, according to the publication, Global News. 

In fact, one in four countries has already implemented full or partial cellphone bans in schools, according to the report. “Incoming notifications or the mere proximity of a mobile device can be a distraction, resulting in students’ losing their attention from the task at hand,” the report states. One study showed  it can take students up to 20 minutes to refocus on learning once their attention was drawn away.

Data from a 2018 study showed that young people 11-14 on average spent 9 hours in front of a screen, down a bit to 7.5 hours for 15-18 year-olds. The report further pointed to an American study that showed higher screen time was associated with “poorer well-being; less curiosity, self-control and emotional stability; higher anxiety; and depression diagnoses.”

If this has a familiar ring to it, for those of a certain age, the same concerns were expressed in the early years of television. How did we deal with the problem? 

Less television.

P.S. Just woke up yesterday to learn that Gov. Hochul is advocating the same idea. She must have heard of Ramsey.

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New York Blood Center (NYBC) has declared a blood emergency due to a significant drop in blood donations following a holiday season of alarmingly low donor turnout. NYBC has seen a nearly 30% drop in donations in recent weeks which has resulted in 6,500 fewer donations and crippled the region’s blood supply. Donations of all blood types are urgently needed – especially Types O- and B-, which are down to dangerously low 1-3-day supply.

Blood donations typically decrease during the holiday season, but January poses additional challenges: inclement weather causing blood drive cancellations, flu, COVID, and RSV reducing donor eligibility, and schools and workplaces hosting fewer drives during holiday breaks. These factors have strained an already fragile blood supply, which is critical for surgeries, trauma care, cancer treatments, and managing chronic illnesses. Hospitals and patients depend on a steady stream of volunteer donors, yet the past few years have seen persistent, nationwide blood shortages.

“The months following the holiday season are always a difficult time for the blood supply, with an increase in seasonal illness and inclement winter weather impacting donations,” said Andrea Cefarelli, Senior Vice President at New York Blood Center. “The drop in donations serves as a critical reminder of the fragility of our nation’s blood supply. We’re urging all eligible New Yorkers to start the new year by saving lives – schedule a donation today and bring a friend to double the impact!”

“New York State is facing a critical blood shortage, and the need for donors has never been more urgent. A blood donation helps patients undergoing surgeries, trauma care and treatments for chronic illnesses,” said New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald. “Please roll up your sleeve and help your community during this blood emergency—your donation can save lives.”

“As the largest healthcare provider in the State of New York, Northwell Health is deeply grateful to partner with New York Blood Center to support the urgent needs of the blood emergency,” James Martone, Assistant Vice President, Clinical Laboratory Operations, Transfusion Medicine, Northwell Health Laboratories. “We thank and encourage all community blood donors to roll up their sleeves to meet our patients’ transfusion needs now and throughout the year. Countless lives are saved thanks to the selfless generosity of these individuals.”

January is National Blood Donor Month, which aims to raise awareness about the importance of blood donation and recognize the lifesaving impact of voluntary blood donors. Proclaimed by President Richard Nixon in January 1970, this annual observance remains vital to raising awareness and strengthening the blood supply during a critical time of year.

Blood donors can give every 56 days, and platelet donors can give twice per month. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently lifted several blood donor eligibility restrictions. To view current eligibility guidelines, visit nybc.org or call 800.688.0900.

To make an appointment, donors can call 1-800-933-2566 or visit nybc.org. Can’t donate blood? You can still make a lifesaving impact by supporting NYBC’s mission through financial contributions or volunteering your time. Click here to learn more.

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The Paul Taylor Dance Company will close out the season on May 3. Photo courtesy of Staller Center

By Rita J. Egan

Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts has planned an upcoming spring season filled with diverse entertainment options, from music to dance to comedy and nights out on the town to family-fun experiences.

Season openers

STAR POWER: Two-time Tony® Award-winner Sutton Foster returns to the Staller Center on February 1. Photo courtesy of Staller Center

Alan Inkles, Staller Center director, said the season kicks off on the Main Stage with family fun on Sunday, Jan. 26. The circus act The Great DuBois, featuring Michael DuBois and Viktoria Grimmy, will feature juggling, aerial stunts, comedy and more,

“It’s that time of year where it’s three weeks after the holidays are over, you’re looking for something to do, and I thought a nice family show would be a good time for that,” he said.

Later that week, on Saturday, Feb. 1, the venue will host its annual gala. This year will be An Evening with Sutton Foster, featuring the two-time Tony Award winner in her solo concert. Foster has released three studio albums that mix Broadway and jazz classics along with her own compositions.

Regarding Foster, who has starred in several Broadway productions, including Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes and The Music Man, Inkles said, “No one is working harder or doing more shows.”

For the first time this year, gala attendees can purchase tickets for the show, a pre-concert dinner and a post-show dessert reception. As in previous years, they can also buy tickets for the show only or the show and reception. 

According to Inkles, the money raised from gala ticket sales helps to produce other Staller Center shows and to fund its educational outreach programs. This outreach includes making tickets available to underrepresented families and university students and bringing petting zoos to various schools, churches and libraries.

Let the music play

Among this season’s musical acts will be Grammy-winning violinist Joshua Bell and soprano Larisa Martinez on Feb. 15 with Voice and the Violin. The husband-and-wife act will play classical art songs and operas to show tunes and selections from Latinx composers. Mardi Gras will be celebrated on Feb. 21 in the Staller Center’s Recital Hall with New Orleans Songbook, presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Melissa Errico, accompanied by prolific jazz pianist Billy Stritch, will return to the Staller Center on March 22 for a tribute concert honoring the late Stephen Sondheim. Inkles described Errico as the “quintessential singer of Steven Sondheim.”

The Tony nominee will interpret the songwriter’s works, including Send in the Clowns and Good Thing Going and offer insights into the stories behind the pieces.

“Every Broadway singer in the world knows if you want Sondheim, Melissa Eririco is your gal,” Inkles said.

Returning on April 2 is Starry Nights. Directed by Colin Carr, Stony Brook University Department of Music musicians will perform chamber selections, including the works of Schubert, Schoenberg and Schulhoff.

On April 14, the Emerson Legacy Series will perform with former Emerson String Quartet member Paul Watkins. While known for being a cellist, Watkins will be playing piano in the April show, accompanying soprano Christine Goerke. The night will feature classical and cabaret styles and also include Eugene Drucker on violin and Larry Dutton on viola.

Make them laugh

The Staller Center will present two comedy productions this season. The Comedy of Errors by The Acting Comedy, in conjunction with the nonprofit Play on Shakespeare, takes place on Feb. 8. The comedy incorporates mistaken identities with whimsical adventures.

Brooklyn native Chris Distefano will perform his comedy show on March 8. Inkles described the comedian, known for his work on MTV’s Guy Code and Girl Code, as charming and having a growing fan base and said the act is a relatively clean show.

More fun for the family

The month of March will end with the classic Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf on March 30. The Staller Center Outreach Ensemble, which includes SBU music department students, allows audience members to learn how each instrument represents a character in the tale. The student-actors will also mingle with ticket holders after the show, where attendees can try the instruments. Inkles said the play is a way to introduce young people to the arts. In addition to the performance on March 30, the following day, children from a few of Suffolk County’s school districts will attend free of charge. During the year, the outreach ensemble also performs at schools, senior centers and hospitals.

Circus company The 7 Fingers will present Duel Reality on April 11 and 12. The company blends circus, theater and dance. Inkles said the storyline is loosely based on Romeo and Juliet with two feuding families and includes stunts and illusions.

In addition to the circus element, Inkles said, “I think the adults will enjoy the story that’s going on behind it.”

Dancing feet 

The Syncopated Ladies, known for fusing storytelling with tap dancing and winning the first dance crew battle of So You Think You Can Dance, will perform at the Staller Center on March 14. The all-female tap group is choreographed by Emmy Award-nominated choreographer Chloé Arnold, who collaborated with Beyoncé in the past.

“This is going to be a phenomenal night,” Inkles said. “It’s really great for young people, and people who love tap.”  

A week later, on March 21, audiences can enjoy Rhythm India: Bollywood & Beyond, which features traditional Indian dances from classical to Bollywood hits. Inkles said the production includes approximately 30 to 40 dancers.

Inkles said the Staller Center has partnered with Indu Kaur, owner of Curry Club at SaGhar in Port Jefferson, to bundle a ticket to the show and dinner at the restaurant for $95.

“I want to get the Indian community to our show, and I want the American community, too, because I want them to see the culture,” Inkles said. “I really want this amazing Indian community to make sure they come to this and get to see the culture and share with our audience.”

The last dance performance and show of the Staller Center’s spring season will be on May 3 with the Paul Taylor Dance Company. The modern dance group will perform classics and new works.

And, more

Inkles said in addition to the Staller Center’s spring season, the venue hosts the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra; and offers the Met Opera: Live in HD series on the Main Stage screen and art exhibitions in the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery.

Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts is located at 100 Nicolls Road, Stony Brook. To order tickets, call the box office at 631-632-2787 or visit stallercenter.com.

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Photo courtesy of The Jazz Loft

From celebrating Black History Month to jam sessions, intimate acoustic concerts and a special Valentine’s Day concert, The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook has something for everyone during the month of February.

 

February 2025 at the Jazz Loft

Wednesday, February 5, at 1p.m.

Young at Heart: Here’s to the Ladies

Tom Manuel and the Jazz Loft Trio will be playing tunes honoring the women of Jazz for Valentine’s Day for this month’s Young at Heart. Young at Heart is a monthly themed afternoon jazz concert series to help seniors enjoy and remember familiar tunes.

Tickets: $10

 

Wednesday, February 5

Jam Session at 7 p.m.

Jam Sessions are led by Keenan Zach and Jazz musicians of all ages are invited to play on stage with fellow jazz enthusiasts.

Tickets: $10, after 8 p.m. $5

 

Thursday, February 6 at 7 p.m.

Jazz Loft Big Band: Celebrates Black History Month

The 17-piece big band directed by Tom Manuel; the band will be presenting a program of all Black composers to celebrate Black History Month

Tickets: $30 Adult, $25 Senior, $20 Student, $15 Child

 

Friday, February 7 at 7 p.m.

Acoustic in the Living Room

Eli Yamin, piano in an intimate setting in the Jazz Loft’s living room.

Hosted by Tom Manuel, cornet, Laura Landor

$40 all, no discounts.

 

Saturday, February 8 at 7 p.m.

Acoustic in the Living Room

Laura Anglade, vocal w/ Ben Rosenblum, piano in an intimate setting in the Jazz Loft’s living room.

Hosted by Tom Manuel, cornet, Laura Landor

$40 all, no discounts.

 

Monday, February 10, at 7 p.m.

Bright Moments Series

Moshe Elmakias, piano, DMA Recital, Presenting some of the newest upcoming voices in the Jazz scene

$10 general admission, $5 seniors & students, SBU Faculty/Staff FREE with ID

 

Wednesday, February 12

Jam Session at 7 p.m.

Jam Sessions are led by Keenan Zach and Jazz musicians of all ages are invited to play on stage with fellow jazz enthusiasts.

Tickets: $10, after 8 p.m. $5

 

Friday, February 14, at 7 p.m.

Here’s to the Ladies, a Valentine’s Day special concert

The Jazz Loft All-Stars playing tunes honoring the women of Jazz  

$50, includes a glass of champagne and chocolate

 

Tuesday, February 18 at 7 p.m.

Bright Moments Series

Alejandro Espinosa, trombone DMA Recital, Presenting some of the newest upcoming voices in the Jazz scene

$10 general admission, $5 seniors & students, SBU Faculty/Staff FREE with ID

 

Wednesday, February 19

Jam Session at 7 p.m.

Jam Sessions are led by Keenan Zach and Jazz musicians of all ages are invited to play on stage with fellow jazz enthusiasts.

Tickets: $10, after 8 p.m. $5

 

Thursday, February 20 at 7 p.m. 

The Bad Little Big Band

The 12-member Bad Little Big Band led by pianist Rich Iacona, and vocalist Madeline Kole accompanies the band. Iacona has added to the band’s repertoire with fresh and new arrangements that are performed at the Jazz Loft.

Tickets: $30 Adult, $25 Senior, $20 Student, $15 Child

 

Friday, February 21 at 7 p.m.

Acoustic in the Living Room

Nicole Zuraitis

Nicole Zuraitis, Grammy Award Winner, will perform in an intimate setting in the Jazz Loft’s Living Room.

$40 all, no discounts

 

Saturday, February 22 at 7 p.m.

Acoustic in the Living Room

Corina Sabbas, on vocals, with accompaniment, will perform in an intimate setting in the Jazz Loft’s Living Room.

$40 all, no discounts

 

Wednesday, February 26 at 7 p.m.

Jam Session

Jam Sessions are led by Keenan Zach Jazz and musicians of all ages are invited to play on stage along with fellow Jazz enthusiasts.

Tickets: $10, after 8 p.m. $5

 

Thursday, February 27 at 7 p.m.

Interplay Jazz Orchestra

Interplay Jazz Orchestra, 17-piece big band co-directed by Joe Devassy, trombone & Gary Henderson, trumpet performs original compositions and arrangements written by band members.

Tickets: $30 Adult, $25 Senior, $20 Student, $15 Child

 

The Jazz Loft is located at 275 Christian Avenue in Stony Brook. To order tickets, visit www.thejazzloft.org. For more information, call 631-751-1895.

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Pixabay photo

The Long Island Sound has attracted many residents to the area. While walking across the beach and appreciating waters that change with the tides and weather, the beauty of a landscape we share with seagulls calling to each other and fiddler crabs racing in and out of the surf provides a comforting setting for our busy lives.

While the Long Island Sound seems resilient and constant, it faces an ongoing threat. After decades of existing adjacent to population-dense Long Island, its chemical makeup has suffered. 

About 9 million people live in the Long Island Sound watershed, which extends almost to Canada, with 1.5 million of those people residing in Suffolk County. The large population puts pressure on the sewer systems, which if ineffective, affect water quality. 

Ineffective wastewater management not only impacts drinking water, but also has profound and noticeable impacts on the Long Island Sound where the toxic runoff often ends up. Wastewater is adding nitrogen to the water, contributing to the growth of harmful algae blooms that overwhelm the surrounding ecosystem and cause beach closures.

Since we live on a watershed, how we use our water has the potential to erode the quality of the beaches we adore. To maintain the natural havens like Cedar Beach, Long Beach, and Sunken Meadow State Park we need a capable sewer system and modern septic tanks. 

Our area poses a unique threat to the Sound: Long Island is highly developed, containing paved roads and concrete essentially leading straight to the beach. The lack of undeveloped land to absorb the excess water causes it to flow into the Sound, with all the contaminants it picks up on the way. 

Our communities, too, will inevitably be impacted, unless we can make the proper preparations and implement mitigation techniques. Without improved sewage systems our community will not be able to cope with the escalating effects of climate change. Rising temperatures lead to more rainfall and more treacherous storm surges. We need to make sure our infrastructure can handle the strain to avoid flooding our towns. 

Last year, the Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act was a step in the right direction. Passed on Nov. 5, the bill will provide the county with $4 billion to upgrade our water infrastructure. 

As the temperature rises, year by year, understanding how the qualities of Long Island interact with the changing climate can help us know what is at stake and how to protect it. 

We need to keep the momentum going.We must learn how to protect what we have. This may mean reducing our use of fertilizer to minimize contaminated runoff from entering the water. Or it may mean doing the best we can to encourage others to protect the shared treasure that is the Long Island Sound .

Fortunately, the portion of the Long Island Sound in our coverage area is relatively healthy; but we must take steps now to become informed and protect a valuable resource we can appreciate and enjoy.

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Former Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sharon R. Soderstrom, his former chief of staff. Photo courtesy of Sen. McConnell’s website

By D. Bruce Lockerbie

Just before its Christmas recess, the U.S. Senate met for an unusual ceremony, the retirement of an employee who, after 43 years on the job, had become known as one of “the most powerful” women in Washington (The Atlantic, May 20, 2015) and, according to former Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), even the 101st Senator. Her name is Sharon R. Soderstrom, former chief of staff for  McConnell.

Few ordinary citizens understand the inner workings of our national government; in particular, the “sausage-making process” of passing bills into law to fulfill the policy expectations of voters who sent politicians to high offices. 

Sharon R. Soderstrom

The U.S. Senate describes how a senator’s hired staff functions: “Senators depend on the assistance of staff on Senate committees and in their individual offices, both in Washington, D.C., and in their home states. Senate committee staff include clerks, staff directors, staff assistants, legal counsel, researchers, policy analysts, press assistants, and archivists. Most senators’ offices include a chief of staff to manage the office, legislative correspondents to communicate with constituents, and legislative directors and assistants to help develop legislation, as well as schedulers, communications and press staff, and other administrative assistants.”

Sharon Soderstrom filled the role of senior adviser for three Republican majority leaders: Trent Lott (R-MS), William Frist (R-TN) and McConnell.

Soderstrom’s father Karl E. Soderstrom was the head of The Stony Brook School; her brother Mark Soderstrom is a senior captain on the Port Jefferson/Bridgeport Ferry. With their younger sister Cheryl, they all attended North Country Elementary School through sixth grade, then enrolled at The Stony Brook School. 

She was valedictorian of the class of 1978 before going on to the University of Virginia, where she majored in English; her intended graduate studies were interrupted by an opportunity to work in the Washington, D.C., office of then Senator Paul Trible (R-VA). 

“I thought I’d work there for a year or two before I found my real job,” Soderstrom said. “I started answering phones but soon moved into a role that I found stimulating — learning about policy issues and thinking about how to strategically advance causes through the legislative process.”

The Hill, a widely-circulated insider publication, acclaims her as “an expert on Senate rules and procedure” and “well regarded for the counsel she provides to McConnell and members on Senate strategy. . . . Former aides in the office say that she constantly has her finger on the pulse of the [Republican] conference and the full trust of the longest-serving leader in Senate history.” (Sept. 12, 2023)

McConnell’s spoken tribute began, “For several months now, I’ve been calling the Senate’s attention to the extraordinary people who have me, this institution, and our nation so well — and for so long — in the Republican Leader’s office. Today, I’ve reached the end of the list. My one remaining task is to prepare our colleagues for a Senate without Sharon Soderstrom.” 

McConnell ended his tribute by stating, “Come January, the Senate will convene again. The 119th Congress will bring us a new slate of weighty business, new moments of minor crisis, and new opportunities to better serve the nation we all love. But in the most trying moments — and the most triumphant ones — a great many of us will feel like something is missing. We will miss Sharon — the 101st Senator. Sharon, you have served the Senate with honor. You are the greatest at what you do.”

As for her own retrospective, Soderstrom says, “One of the joys of my work through the years has been the opportunities to mentor public-spirited young people. The role placed me at the intersection of operating between the White House, the House leadership and Senate Republican leaders. Among the many things I’m proud of is despite the stresses on our institutions, in moments of crisis I have been part of national leaders who led during 9/11 and 1/6/24 — two different evacuations of the Capitol, two different Republican leaders, and one imperative: Return to the Capitol the same day and demonstrate national resolve for the country and for the world.”

When asked to cite both high and low points in her career, she replied, “I have also been grateful at different moments in time to drive agendas that have been consequential in the moment. After Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, I was with Leader McConnell in Finland, then Sweden, the day they voted to join NATO. We then were part of the legislative team to drive early U.S. ratification of the treaty, and met again with the Prime Minister the day he presented the accession papers to the State Department to make it official.” 

“I did ask on behalf of my Norwegian grandparents what took them so long,” she added.

“I credit my upbringing at The Stony Brook School for modeling lessons that helped me in this role. At the end of his life, my Dad told me of his deep satisfaction in doing purposeful work with talented colleagues, many of whom became lifelong friends. I too was able to work with the best and brightest, and as a team we were each better than our individual parts. Building and managing a team that maintained our reputation for excellence and high morale through the tenure of the longest serving leader in Senate history was a great good gift.”

“But I think my greatest disappointment through the years has been watching politics become more performative among each party’s base, making progress more difficult. Mark Shields once said, ‘There are two types of political parties like there are two kinds of churches: those who seek converts and those who root out heretics.’ I hope that we can return to a moment when we try to persuade through the weight of a winsome argument rather than shutting down dissent and vilifying fellow citizens.”

For the first time in more than four decades, Sharon Soderstrom’s daily routine is no longer at the behest of 100 men and women who live their lives in six-year cycles and count to 51 (or 60), depending on the nature of the case before them. She plans to take a well-earned break from Senate arithmetic.

D. Bruce Lockerbie is a longtime resident of the Three Villages.

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