Home Times of Huntington-Northport

Between You and Me:Listen to this: ‘Reflective listening’ is a new kind of hearing

by Leah Dunaief - September 29, 2022

0 310

Modern senior couple spending time in the kitchen — METRO photo

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

Have you ever heard of reflective listening? While I like to think of myself as being a good listener, and really I should ask others who speak to me to make that determination, I came upon this new technique and thought I would share it with you.

Reflective listening is a communications strategy that involves two steps. The first is, if you are the listener, seeking to understand what the speaker is saying. So many times in our lives, we think we hear what the other person is saying, and it turns out we didn’t hear that person correctly at all. I think that is particularly true when on the phone or when reading a text or an email. We don’t have the benefit of seeing facial expressions or body language. And even when on Zoom, we don’t get a good look at the other person, nor do they have a good read of us.

Then the second step is to offer back the thought, and even the words of the speaker, to confirm that his or her idea was understood. Here is just a simple example between two people who sometimes quarrel that could be misunderstood.

“Do you want to go to a Yankee game with me Friday night for a change?” asks the speaker.

The listener hears, “Do you want to go to a Yankee game with me?” as opposed to with another person Friday night, and so reflects back the question accordingly by repeating, “Do I want to go to a Yankee game with you?”

The speaker can then clarify with, “Yes, do you want to go to a Yankee game Friday night instead of going bowling?”

By repeating the words, the listener has given the speaker a second chance at making his meaning clear. The listener then answers, “Yes, I would like to go to a Yankee game with you Friday night.”

This is probably an oversimplification of how a speaker might be misunderstood, but the essence of the reflective listening is to pay respectful attention to the content and the feelings expressed by the speaker. The listener hears and then understands what is being said and lets the speaker know that she has gotten the message.

This kind of “checking out” requires responding actively while keeping focused completely on the speaker. It’s a step beyond what is normally thought of as listening. It’s reflecting back accurately on both content and feeling levels.

Reflective listening offers a number of benefits. It lets the speaker know that they have been heard, understood, and perhaps, even cared for and supported, depending on the nature of the exchange. It gives the speaker feedback on what he or she said and how it was understood.

It allows the listener to check his or her own accuracy in hearing what the speaker said. It avoids the illusion of understanding. It helps prevent what has been termed the “mental vacation” in which the listener is inattentive during conversation. It can give the speaker a second chance to focus on self, vent, sort out issues, express feelings and deal more effectively with emotions.

It allows the speaker to move to deeper levels of expression at his or her own pace. It can help the speaker to articulate more clearly. It may help the speaker to arrive at a solution to a problem being voiced. It helps the listener clarify what is expected of him or her. It helps the listener to deal effectively with the issue, problem or needs the speaker raised.

In a confrontational exchange, it gives a couple of seconds pause, which might enable a cooling down.

In a social situation, it can create a climate of warmth between speaker and listener. In another situation, directions can be clarified by the listener. And as a technique in leading a group discussion, effective hearing, then repeating all points of view, is certainly required.

I hope you can see why I thought this one communication technique was worth sharing.

Northport Tigers blank Huntington Devils

by TBR Staff - September 28, 2022

0 1118

1 of 10

By Steven Zaitz

The Huntington Lady Blue Devils traveled to Northport last Friday and were beaten by the Lady Tigers, 6-0, in a battle of League I teams.

Northport’s Alexa Meinen scored two early goals as the Lady Tigers put on a clinic of passing and dribbling to coast to victory.

Huntington goalkeeper Reese Rinaldi played well despite the score, making 15 saves against a relentless Northport attack. She kept her team in the game, making four difficult saves in the first 10 minutes, but the inevitable floodgates cracked open when Meinen scored her first in the 12th minute off of a scramble in front of Rinaldi. Meinen had a carbon copy goal four minutes later and the rout was on.

Mairead Gayer, Marryn Gruhn, Lili Romano and Sarah Winnegar also scored for Northport. Lady Tiger goalkeeper Anneliese Burg had two saves in her sixth win of the year.

North Shore school districts embrace English language learners

by Rita J. Egan - September 23, 2022

0 593

Signs-language — In the fall of 2021, ENL students attending Accompsett Middle School in Smithtown, above, created welcome signs in their native languages. Photo from Smithtown Central School District

School districts across the North Shore have experienced an increase in English language learners over the last several years.

English language learner refers to a student who is age 5 or older and who is learning English as a New Language — formerly known as English as a Second Language. This is an approach in which students who are not native English speakers are mainly taught in English. The respective abbreviated current terms are ELL and ENL.

Students tackling English

The number of English language learners varies from district to district along the North Shore of Western Suffolk County. For example, In the Middle Country school district, a spokesperson said 639 were enrolled in the ENL program this year out of the 8,534 students attending. Smaller districts such as Cold Spring Harbor had 15 students learning English, with 1,585 students overall in 2020-21. Port Jefferson had 38 ELL students with an overall enrollment of 962, according to the New York State Education Department website, during the same school year.

While some districts have seen an increase in ELL students, some have seen a decrease or have remained steady. According to a district spokesperson for the Northport-East Northport school district, the number of ELL students has remained stable. Currently, out of the 4,533 students enrolled in the district, 167 are ELL students, which is approximately 3.7% of the student population.

A spokesperson for Harborfields and Elwood school districts said Harborfields has experienced a modest decrease from 3.8% of the student population being ELL students last year to 3.6% this year. In Elwood, the percentage has increased slightly from 6.1% at the end of June to approximately 6.3% at the beginning of this academic year.

According to administrators from local districts, while the majority of students enrolled as English language learners are Spanish speaking, other languages spoken are Chinese dialects, Portuguese, Korean, Turkish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Ukrainian and Urdu, the official language of Pakistan. A smaller percentage speak Russian, Haitian Creole, Arabic, languages from India such as Tamil and Telugu and the Iranian Pashto, according to NYSED.

Kerri Golini, Three Village school district’s director of World Language and English as a New Language, said the ENL population in the district has increased by 21% in the past year. Currently, these students represent 2% of the district’s overall population.

While 13 different languages are spoken in the Three Village program, the majority of students speak Spanish and Chinese dialects.

New York State guidelines require ELL students to have integrated and stand-alone classes depending on comprehension level. In addition to instruction, there are also opportunities for parents to partake in activities.

“All families go through an orientation when their students are screened,” Golini said. “In the fall we host a parent academy to help families navigate the website, use email to communicate, complete forms requested by the district, [submit] applications for free and reduced lunch, and access the parent portal.”

Golini said it’s the district’s “goal to increase parent engagement.”

“Student success increases when there is someone at home who is involved in the child’s education,” she said.

Vicenza Graham, director of World Languages, ENL and Library Media Services in the Smithtown school district, said, families in the district also receive an orientation with translation services “in order to help acclimate our newcomers to their new school environment.”

As for studies, Graham said, “Students receive modified work based on their proficiency levels and lesson plans include scaffolded materials with both content and language objectives.”

Nicole Waldbauer, director of humanities at Shoreham-Wading River school district, said during her five-year tenure as director, the number of students has grown steadily by a few each year. Last year, she said there were 27 students throughout the district, and this year 29. The students represent less than 1.5% of the student population.

When she started with the district, she said there was one ENL teacher, who would travel to the different school buildings as the students are spread out throughout the grades and schools. Now there are three instructors, plus additional hours for them to work. When the hours are combined, they are the equivalent of a part-time position for the district.

Depending on their levels, determined by an assessment, the students are either in a co-taught class or general education class where the ENL teacher will be available for support. Children who are less proficient in English will have a stand-alone period for one-on-one with a teacher.

“The way that the state regulations work, their level dictates how many minutes of one-to-one or small group instruction they get strictly in ENL versus how many minutes they get of integrated co-teaching,” Waldbauer said. “They’re not separated from the general population. That was a change over time that the state ed department had made to make sure that there was more inclusivity.”

Fun ways to learn

Educators have found various ways to help children learn the English language, acclimate to life on Long Island and sometimes include the parents in leisure activities.

Golini said in the Three Village distinct a social event is held for all ELL families in the spring “to provide them with an opportunity to connect with each other and feel a part of the community.”

With COVID-19 restrictions lifted, Golini said the hope is to plan more evening events for the families. She has also worked with teachers to help increase ELL students’ participation in extracurricular activities and sports.

“We had more ELLs involved in the 3V community this past year than ever before,” she said.

Other activities in the district included elementary students visiting the library and high school students touring the Suffolk County Community College campus.

Toward the end of the 2021-22 school year, Harborfields High School’s English language learners visited Stony Brook University where they toured the buildings, lecture halls, student center and library, according to a district press release. The trip allowed students to explore post-secondary education options. While on campus, the high school students also interviewed an SBU student.

In the same district, at the end of last school year, Oldfield Middle School students went on a field trip to the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City to learn about aviation and aerospace history on Long Island.

In the Smithtown school district, in the fall of 2021, Accompsett Middle School students created welcome signs in their native languages. In addition to English, the signs were written in Hebrew, Hungarian, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian.

Waldbauer said with grant money, the Shoreham-Wading River district was able to have an after-school tutoring program for ENL students from K to 8. Last year there was also a Saturday enrichment program that included field trips for the students and their families who along with the teachers and Waldbauer, visited places such as Quogue Wildlife Refuge and the Long Island Aquarium.

“The goal of that was to get the families all together and to have them make connections, but then also giving them a safe space and place to integrate into the community with people there,” she said.

Teachers

While the increase of English language learners hasn’t been drastic, districts at times compete with neighboring communities to secure ENL teachers as the number of teachers certified in the field hasn’t kept up with the increase of students.

Waldbauer said ENL teachers are special and unique people who ensure students are receiving a proper education and any services they need, plus are in touch with parents regularly answering any questions they may have: “They go above and beyond with just instructing the kids.”

D. None of the Above: Twilight Zones in which a clock pushes us into doctor’s offices

by Daniel Dunaief - September 22, 2022

0 343

optical-ilusion-g8e81939fe_1920 — Twilight Zone. Pixabay photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Conversations with friends, relatives and neighbors have taken a turn into “The Twilight Zone” episodes recently.

Decades ago, when I spoke with my friends, we discussed our activities, ambitions and plans. We might have complained about our bosses, described a business trip, shared an encounter with a stranger on a plane or train, or described our frustrations with our favorite sports teams.

Sure, we still do that, but, as the years pass, the discussions drift. This is where I’d cue the music.

In Episode One, we have two college friends who shared a room for several years, who sweated through a spectacularly hot summer in Boston with no air conditioning, and who, over the decades, visited each other’s homes with and without our wives and children.

So, these two friends recently started catching up.

“I can’t stand the hair that’s coming out of my ears,” I offered. “It makes it harder to hear and to be taken seriously by anyone looking at me.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty unwelcome,” my friend laughed. “My back is killing me. I wake up every morning and it takes me a while to feel comfortable enough to stand and shuffle to the bathroom.”

“My hip has been a problem,” I reply.

“I also don’t see particularly well. I don’t like driving when it’s dark,” he added.

“My knee is sore,” I added, “but I think that’s from compensating for my hip.”

And so it went, for about 10 minutes, until we broke the description of all that ails us and transitioned to a discussion of all that inspires, and worries, us about our college-age children.

“I hope you feel better soon,” I offered as we got off the phone.

“At this point, I’d just take not feeling worse,” he said.

Okay, so that wasn’t too terrifying, right? Two 50-ish guys chatted and shared personal details about the aging vessels that carry us through life.

That takes us to Episode Two. Imagine, if you will, a group of older adults, representing the 50ish and the 80ish generation, chatting in person together.

“Have you been to the doctor recently?” one of the people asked.

“Which one? For what?” a second one replied.

“How many doctors do you have?” a third one asked.

And that is where the conversation became a competition. Each person, slowly and deliberately, shared the number of doctors he or she visits.

“I’ve had kidney stones, so I have a urologist,” I offered, as if I were recounting trophies on a shelf or comparing the number of friends I have with someone else in fourth grade rather than recalling a specialist who helped me deal with excruciating agony.

“Do you have an ENT doctor? I have one,” someone else said.

My competitive spirit again got the best of me.

“I have the best GI guy, who gave me a great colonoscopy. I had such a nice rest while I was under anesthesia,” I said.

I pictured a younger version of me, sitting with the group, staring, open-mouthed at the enthusiasm with which all of us, me included, counted our doctors and the reason we needed them.

In Episode Three, a man in his 30s walked his dog, limping along with a supportive black boot on his leg. Another man (me) appeared, pulled along by his oversized dog.

“Not to get too personal,” I said, “but your shoes don’t match.”

The good-natured man smiled and said he thought he had shin splints from running, but discovered he had a hairline fracture that required several weeks of rest in a boot.

“I went to my parents’ house in New Hampshire and ran over five miles on an uneven road. The next day, I could barely move. I have to rest it for six weeks,” he said.

I nodded and wished him a speedy recovery.

“Well, maybe it hurts just because I’m older,” he offered.

You have no idea, I thought, as I could feel the urge to hold back a clock that pushes each of us forward through time.

Cue the music.

Between You and Me: The COVID that made me sick must not have heard the pandemic is over

by Leah Dunaief - September 22, 2022

0 323

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

COVID caught me. After two and a half years of bobbing and weaving, trying to elude the virus, I finally have been felled. It’s like being shot on the last day of the war.

I did all the right things. I avoided crowds, driving back from my South Carolina vacation at the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020 instead of using my return plane ticket. I stopped going to the opera and to Broadway shows in New York City. I didn’t eat in restaurants, even after they reopened, for fear of who might be harboring pathogens at the next table. We closed the office to all but those with appointments. We ordered masks for the staff by the dozens and hand sanitizer by the gallon. We practiced social distancing at the bank, that is, before the bank closed its doors and moved away. We stopped holding events, such as “People of the Year” and “Cooks, Books and Corks” and “Reader’s Choice” that might turn into superspreaders. My family and I zoomed rather than visited. Our family holiday celebrations and vacations were suspended. And we took to our computers, to the extent we were able, for everything from classroom learning to shopping for toilet paper.

Remember all that?

Well, as much as we would like to declare the pandemic over, as President Joe Biden (D) recently did, the virus is still with us. I stopped social distancing, then recently became casual about wearing my mask. I started getting together, first with family, then with close friends, then with business colleagues. Recently, I have been eating inside a couple of restaurants. I stopped asking every repairman to please wear a mask in my house. I pushed COVID phobia way down in my consciousness.

Then I got it.

There are, of course, some differences between catching COVID early on and now. The health care professionals know so much more now about treating the disease. Hospitalizations are fewer but still some 32,000 daily, intubations are less common. But people are still dying, some 400-500 a day, to put numbers on it. Through Sept. 19, Suffolk County reported more than one death per day for the month, according to the Suffolk County Department of Health.

“We’ve had two million cases reported over the last 28 days, and we know underreporting is substantial,” Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Minnesota, was quoted in the Tuesday edition of The New York Times. He continued that COVID-19 was the No. 4 cause of death in the country.

Many of us were feeling what Biden was expressing. Yes, we have vaccines and medicines now that successfully hold the pathogen at bay, and most people have every expectation of recovering. Nonetheless, it has been a dreaded disease, especially for those of a certain age or with underlying conditions. With me, it started as a little dry cough throughout the afternoon, hardly noticeable. By nightfall, the cough had deepened and a headache began. The next day, the miserable irritation at the back of the throat started. By the end of the day, my temperature began to climb, eventually four degrees, and my body ached.

Of course, my doctor was on vacation that week, but the backup staff responded valiantly. They called me in for THE test, and when it was positive, they gave me three options. I could go to the Emergency Room and get an infusion of monoclonal antibodies, which would take an hour (not including the inevitable wait.) They could phone in a prescription for paxlovid, and I could take three pills in the morning, then three at night, for five days. They spelled out the side effects of both treatments, which didn’t sound too cheerful. Or I could just monitor the situation, drinking plenty of liquids, taking some Tylenol and see how it goes.

I chose the paxlovid.

Yes, it causes a metallic taste after it’s ingested. But it seems to have worked.

Will I be as cavalier about relaxing precautions? No, I don’t think so. It is possible to get it again, and I REALLY don’t want it again. I will get the next booster when I am eligible, I will continue to wear a mask regardless of what those around me are doing, and I will limit my dining, to the extent possible, to the great outdoors.

Whale sightings on the rise in Long Island waters

by TBR Staff - September 22, 2022

0 2248

Video by Bill Doherty

By Donna Deedy

While boating alone just outside of Port Jefferson Harbor over the Labor Day holiday, South Setauket resident Bill Doherty had what he called a once-in-a-lifetime thrill. First, a big splash caught his eye. Then, another.

Humpbacks, above, devour sea life during a recent whale watching expedition. Researchers attribute more whale sightings to a thriving menhaden or bunker fish population. Photo by Artie Raslich/Gotham Whale

“I kept my eye on the water thinking it could be a boat accident or something,” he said. “I undid the anchor to get a little closer — but not too close — and realized it was a whale.”

For 15 to 20 minutes, Doherty watched in amazement as the whale put on a show spouting and breaching in the water about a mile off Old Field Point. He recorded it on a cellphone video just so he could prove to his friends this was no joke.

A big yacht and another passing boat, he said, cut their engines nearby so the passengers could enjoy the spectacle.

Whale sightings, as unlikely as it might seem, are becoming more regular events in the New York area, including the Long Island Sound.

Barrett Christie is director of animal husbandry at The Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, Conn. His team has been tracking whale activity in the Sound since the museum opened in 1988.

Almost every year since 2009, Christie said, more and more yachters and fishermen are seeing marine mammals in local waters.

Since 2015 whale counts, predominantly humpbacks but also minke whales, have been ramping up. The aquarium’s annual whale counts range from no sightings at all, to one per year, up to as many as a half dozen or more.

The aquarium’s observations, he noted, are consistent with the findings of other researchers. A Staten Island-based research organization Gotham Whale, for instance, documented in 2011 three whales and five sightings. Recently, the number was up to more than 260. The whale population has become so bountiful around the mouth of New York Harbor, Gotham Whale now coordinates research expeditions with the public in conjunction with five commercial whale watching vessels.

Healthier ecosystems

Scientists praise the Clean Water Act for improving water quality to protect marine habitats. The landmark environmental law, passed in 1972, regulates pollutants from agriculture, industry and wastewater to prevent or limit discharges into waterways.

“It’s taken fish populations more than 30 and up to 50 years to rebound,” Christie said. “We’re seeing not only more whales, but also more Atlantic white-sided dolphin, more seals, more sharks and further down the food chain more sand eels and herring.”

After a long history of decline, Christie explained that forage fish such as menhaden or bunker and alewife, both in the herring family, have returned to spawn in the many freshwater tributaries that flow into the Sound.

“The turnaround is miraculous,” Christie said.

Maxine Montello is a wildlife ecologist and the rescue program director at the New York Marine Rescue Center. She teaches a marine mammal and sea turtle course at Stony Brook University.

After viewing Doherty’s cellphone video, she quickly identified that whale as a humpback. It’s huge pectoral fins, visible as the creature leaped out of the sea, made it easy to distinguish.

Humpbacks, she said, are baleen whales — they have no teeth. To capture its prey, it swallows and strains seawater through the long and narrow strips of fingernail-like material called baleen that grows out of its jaw. Through this feeding process, it consumes krill, plankton and small fish, such as menhaden.

A flourishing menhaden population in the food chain, researchers are noticing, attracts whales.

In fact, researchers from the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, when conducting aerial surveys, track whales by following menhaden movement.

Some 15 years ago, they saw few clusters or bait balls of menhaden along Long Island’s southern coastline. Today, Rob DiGiovanni, the society’s chief scientist, said a continuous stream of bunker stretches from Montauk to the New York Bight. Consequently, whales are more abundant there and traveling closer to shore and staying in the area longer.

Montello and DiGiovanni also praise the Clean Water Act for improving marine habitats. But, with humpbacks near extinction in 1972, another bold act of Congress that year also deserves credit for reviving the whale population.

“I would say that the Marine Mammal Protection Act has really changed the game for marine mammals,” Montello said. “This act has provided great protection and awareness of these charismatic species.”

This law prohibits hunting, capturing, collecting, harassing or killing marine mammals such as whales, dolphins, seals and manatees.

Whaling once was one of Long Island’s most important commercial industries, according to the Cold Spring Harbor-based Whaling Museum with Cold Spring Harbor, Greenport and Sag Harbor serving as the Island’s three whaling ports.

Today, people are armed with cameras and spreadsheets instead of harpoons, and more interested in spearheading marine restoration projects that aim to protect rather than slaughter these giant marine mammals.

If you are lucky enough to spot a whale, scientists want to hear from you with photos. Like human fingerprints, whales bear distinct characteristics on their tails. Gotham Whale has an extensive and growing archive of these tail shots. Through such photos, researchers there have been able to identify and track the activities of 269 individual whales, according to Paul Sieswerda, Gotham Whale’s executive director.

“It would be interesting to find out if whales — our New York City whales — are the same ones traveling through the Sound,” he said.

To report whale sightings, contact: Atlantic Marine Conservation Society at www.amseas.org/reportsighting; Gotham Whale at www.gothamwhale.org/citizen-science; The Maritime Aquarium, Norwalk at 203-852-0700.

Northport Tigers battle Thunderbirds to the end

by TBR Staff - September 21, 2022

0 1095

1 of 18

By Steven Zaitz

Once again, it was a picture-perfect Cow Harbor weekend in Northport.

The sun was out, the racers raced, and there was a joyous festival-like feeling in the village and throughout the town, with one notable exception — Tiger Football Stadium.

The Half Hollow Hills East Thunderbirds waltzed into Northport on Sept. 17, took advantage of every Tiger mistake, and by the end of the third quarter, had three touchdowns and a field goal against the vaunted Northport defense. It was 22-0 and the building was library quiet.

“We weren’t prepared and lacked focus in the first half of the game,” said Northport head coach Pat Campbell. “We made a lot of boneheaded plays.”

Campbell, never one to give excuses, is not playing with a full deck of cards when it comes to his coaching staff. His brother and offensive coordinator Dan “Boomer” Campbell is on family leave to start the year, and Dave Wilson, who coaches both the offensive and defensive lines, was called away on Saturday and could not be at the game, leaving Pat Campbell short-staffed. He wouldn’t say so, but these factors have put him and his team at a competitive disadvantage from a preparedness standpoint.

“Football is about adjustments,” Pat Campbell said. “As a team, we need to anticipate situations and adapt to adversity. We didn’t do any of those things to start the game, but in the end, I liked the way we battled.”

Battle they did. After Hills East junior quarterback Jordan Heyman hit Max Futter over the middle for an 8-yard touchdown with a minute to go in the third quarter, there was a mini exodus of Tiger fans headed for the parking lot as Hills East went up by 22. They would have been wise to stay in their seats.

Tiger running back Michael Raio broke free down the middle and took a 61-yard pass from Northport quarterback Owen Johansen on the last play of the third quarter. A Raio of hope?

“I think that play was a good spark for us,” said Raio, whose big play got Northport to the T-bird 5-yard line. “We had that same play called in the first half, but I ran the wrong route. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.”

Johansen punched it in with a quarterback sneak on the first play of the fourth quarter and it was 22-7.

This Tiger touchdown not only changed the scoreboard, but it ushered in a palpable swing in momentum. The tremendous body of work and the good fortune that Hills East enjoyed for the first 36 minutes started to melt in the mid-afternoon sun.

Andrew Miller, who was his usual presence on both sides of the ball, engulfed Heyman for a 10-yard sack on the ensuing drive. This sequence of events turned out to be a 25-yard loss for Hills East, as they committed a personal foul penalty on the play.

After a T-bird punt, Johansen, who finished 10 for 22 for 140 yards passing, hit wide receiver Nick Valenti on a 10-yard square-out, scrambled for 10 himself, and handed it to Raio for another 10, and the Tigers were again at the goal line. Johansen calmly took a quick snap and plunged into the end zone for the Tigers second touchdown. A smidgen over three minutes remained, it was suddenly a one score game, and the Cow Harbor Comeback was officially on.

“We were on point and won the second half of that game,” said senior defensive lineman Justin Macke, who along with Johansen, Miller, Mason Hecht, Matt Diaz, Thomas Kraus and Tim Cleary applied pressure on Heyman throughout the game. The defense had four sacks, three tackles for loss, and numerous quarterback pressures. Macke addressed the team at halftime.

“I told them that we didn’t work hard in practice all week for nothing,” Macke recounted. “I said that we needed to pick our heads up, get rolling and get back into this game and that’s exactly what we did.”

Despite the two quick scores, there was still the matter of the home team trailing by eight with a clock that was not exactly Tiger-friendly. Hills East head coach Alex Marcelin knew the tide had swirled against the T-birds and tried to steady his ship.

“Northport is the number two ranked team in the conference for a reason,” Marcelin said. “I knew we weren’t going to be able to run right over them and in that fourth quarter, we started to make mistakes and those mistakes started to roll up into a major problem. I did my best to calm my guys down and told them to make a play. Just make a play.”

But the next big play would come from Johansen to Miller. As he’s done time and time again throughout his Tiger career, the West Point-bound senior would slant across the middle of the field and raise his right hand to signal to his quarterback that he was open. Johansen found him at the T-bird 25-yard line and Miller rumbled toward the left corner of the end zone. He was knocked out of bounds at the pylon by Hills East defensive back Morgan Taliefero.

With a minute remaining, Johansen cashed in the touchdown on the next play with his third sneak of the game. It was now 22-20 with the two-point try coming and Tiger Nation in a state of jubilant disbelief.

As Johansen had demonstrated all afternoon, he was a threat to smash through the line of scrimmage for the two yards needed to tie the game. This, however, was not the play call.

With three receivers split to the left, Miller was inside and cut underneath Diaz and Valenti and was open at the goal line. Johansen fired and the ball was slightly high for the 6 foot 3 inches tight end who was only able to get the fingertips of his right hand on the ball. It fell incomplete.

Hills East was able to recover the onsides kick and run out the clock.

“I should have gotten that ball on him (Miller) and given him a chance to make a play,” said a disappointed Johansen.

Campbell does not second-guess his decision.

“We ran that play in practice a bunch of times and we had it down pat,” Campbell said. “We worked on it over and over for just that situation, but we just didn’t execute it on gameday.”

Marcelin was proud that his team was able to finish.

“We told our corners to watch the quick slant on that play,” Marcelin said. “We stacked the box and even though they were on an island, the corners stayed disciplined and had great coverage. There wasn’t a lot for him (Johansen) to throw to because we executed that defense very well.”

Hills East has now beaten Northport twice in a row, and Campbell hopes there is another meeting in November, which of course would be in the postseason.

“I’d like to play them again,” he said. “If we do get that chance, we can’t wait around until the fourth quarter. We need to play smart football from the opening kickoff until the end of the game.”

USATF champs among Great Cow Harbor 10K runners in Northport

by TBR Staff - September 21, 2022

0 973

1 of 21

The Great Cow Harbor 10k Run took place Sept. 17. The event was sold out with 5,000 runners registered.

According to the Great Cow Harbor 10K Run Facebook page, more than 60 participants were elite athletes from all over the country running to be the USA Track & Field National Champion.

According to USATF, Abbabiya Simbassa was the winner in the men’s division, crossing the finish line in 28 minutes and 12 seconds, a new course record.

Stephanie Bruce came in first in the women’s division. She completed the course in 31 minutes, 52 seconds.

New exhibit, ‘Preserving Eagle’s Nest,’ opens at the Vanderbilt Museum

by Press Release - September 16, 2022

0 490

Above, the Vanderbilt Marine Museum. Vanderbilt Museum Archives photo

Why should we care about historic houses that have been turned into museums? How can these inert structures speak to us and how, a century or two later, might their histories and the lives of their famous inhabitants be relevant to contemporary life, and to museum visitors?

These are a few of the questions raised by Preserving Eagle’s Nest: Labor and the Aesthetics of Stasis, the newest exhibition at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum, which opens to the public on Sunday, September 18, in the Lancaster Gallery. The presentation explores the preservation of Eagle’s Nest, the summer estate of William K. Vanderbilt II (1878-1944) one of the heirs to a powerful railroad and shipping empire.

Paul Rubery, the Vanderbilt Museum’s Director of Curatorial Affairs, created the exhibition after considering the purpose and future of historic house museums and examining hundreds of artifacts and documents, as well as the century-old buildings under his care.

Vanderbilt curator Santo Vitale, circa 1980. Vanderbilt Museum Archives photo

Preserving Eagle’s Nest explores the architectural significance of the estate and considers the skill, labor, expertise, and care invested in maintaining the appearance of the property and emphasizes the processes and outcomes of preservation initiatives.

“If historic house museums hope to communicate their value to contemporary society,” Rubery said, “they must develop a new language to describe their activities.

“Specifically, these institutions must articulate how, in remaining static, the buildings under their stewardship convey something essential about the historical process. To do so, they must direct their attention to the basic unit of historical experience and understanding: time.”

Questions about temporality present conceptual issues for the interpretation of house museums. In the mid-twentieth century, many private estates were converted into museums when social historians popularized a historiographic method centered on the role places played in forming the biographies of “great individuals,” Rubery said.

These scholars believed that, if the public was presented with the life of a person at a specific moment in time, they would form an intimate connection with the past in a way that supports the development of character and virtue. Today, our fondness for explaining historic events through biography has largely waned — and with that, the school of social history — leaving behind countless mummified homes, farmsteads, and other structures that no longer serve their intended purpose.

Preserving Eagle’s Nest explores this theme through artifacts and documents. It examines the historic house museum’s language of time by concentrating on the broken, damaged, and decayed aspects of the Vanderbilt Museum’s collections and grounds. The exhibit also examines the time and labor invested in preserving the historic appearance of the Museum and finds value in the multigenerational care and expertise given to the project.

By focusing on the tension that develops between degradation and preservation, Preserving Eagle’s Nest directs our collective interest toward questions of temporality, effort, and historical stasis, Rubery said.

This exhibition is made possible by the generosity of Eric and Laura Gerde, Milcon Construction Corporation, Farrell Fritz, P.C.; People’s United Bank; PFM Asset Management; and H2M Architects + Engineers.

The Suffolk Cound Vanderbilt Museum, 180 Little Neck Road, Centerport presents Preserving Eagle’s Nest through Dec. 4.

Viewing hours for the fall are Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 631-854-5579 or visit www.vanderbiltmuseum.org.

Despite rain, 9/11 ceremony goes on in East Northport

by TBR Staff - September 16, 2022

0 363

1 of 15

It began to ran the evening of Sept. 11, but that didn’t stop the East Northport community from gathering to remember those whose lives were lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

The East Northport Fire Department hosted a memorial service the morning of Sept. 11. In the evening, despite the rain, a candlelight vigil was held. The department members invited neighboring firefighters and community members to honor the victims with them.

Prev 1...164165166...533 Next

Page 165 of 533