The Comsewogue Warriors hosted the Newfield in their home opener but struggled to gain traction in the nonleague matchup falling to the Wolverines 4-0 Friday Sept 1.
Newfield’s Jaidyn Schuman led the way for the Wolverines with a pair of goals along with teammates Audrianna Scott and Emily Wall who each scored a goal apiece. Adrianna Francese had six saves for the Wolverines and Comsewogue’s Grace Peyton stopped 10.
– Photos by Bill Landon
By Daniel Dunaief
Mother-in-law. Those three words could come with their own Darth Vader or Jaws soundtrack.
Mothers-in-law present the kind of material that creates both great drama and comedy.
This week, I lost my mother-in-law Judy. She was both a force of nature and fiercely loyal.
Sure, there were comedic elements to our interactions. She seemed unsure of what to ask me to call her. I’d pick up the phone and she’d stutter, “Hi, Dan, this is your … I mean, this is … Judy.”
It was a huge relief for both of us when my wife and I had kids, not only because she wanted more grandchildren and I wanted children, but it also gave both of a us an easy way to refer to her, even when the children weren’t around: “grandma” or, at times, “Grandma Judy.”
A small and slender woman, Judy was all about getting things done. Whenever she had something either on a physical or mental list, she wouldn’t stop until she could check it off.
“Did you bring the water upstairs yet?” she’d ask.
“Not yet, but I will,” I’d reply.
“Okay, good, so what else is new?” she’d continue.
“I had an interesting week of work. I interviewed the CEO of one of the biggest banks in the country, I met a former Knick player, and I spoke with several government officials about an ongoing sovereign debt renegotiation.”
“Wow, how wonderful,” she’d offer, grinning broadly. “Just don’t forget about the water.”
When you were in the circle with Judy, she was a strong and determined advocate and supporter. At a buffet, even at one of her own events, she’d take a plate full of food she knew I could eat and stash it somewhere, in case I wasn’t ready to eat.
When my wife and I got married, I messed up. Judy, who ascribed to certain rituals, waited as long as she could for me to ask her to dance. When I didn’t oblige, she brought the photographer over.
“Come,” she said, “let’s pretend to dance so that we can get a picture.”
She was the ringmaster of a law practice for her husband and son. Everything flowed through her. She handled almost every administrative duty, including typing. She made sure everyone was where they were supposed to be, and that they were on time.
Allergic to lemon, Judy traveled with my wife, our children and me to Paris. She was terrified that she wouldn’t be able to share her food concerns, bringing with her a sheet with words written phonetically. My French isn’t particularly strong, but I was able to let everyone know of our food issues, to her tremendous relief.
While Judy didn’t and wouldn’t stab me in the back figuratively, she did use her long, bony, shockingly strong fingers to move me along while we were in line at the airport or heading towards the elevator at the Eiffel Tower.
Perhaps all the bones she gnawed on when she ate steak went directly to those incredibly strong and pointed fingers? Eventually, I was able to outmaneuver her need to jab me in the back.
Judy was incredibly devoted to her children, grandchildren, and extended family. She also had a passion for cats and fish. Even when she wasn’t particularly mobile, becoming something of a human question mark as she bent over to make sure she didn’t trip, she brought fish food to all her finned friends and cat food to her favorite felines.
I will miss the way she locked eyes and smiled at me each time we got together, and the way she described everything around her as “crazy.”
She’d often start sentences with, “You want me to tell you somethin’?”
And, Judy, I’m sorry I didn’t ask you to dance at my wedding. I tried to make up for it on numerous other occasions. You’d pretend to be surprised and I’d try to be gallant. Thanks for everything, including and especially making it possible to enjoy a lifetime with your spectacular daughter. We will both miss you and will cherish the memories.
By Anthony Palumbo
A recent Siena College poll shows that 82% of New Yorkers view the wave of migrants flooding our nation and state as a serious problem. Compounding the issue has been Washington and Albany’s lack of action and a clear plan to address the humanitarian crisis their policies helped create.
This failure of leadership can be seen daily in the news — migrants sleeping on the streets, shuttled to hotels throughout the state and haphazard plans complete with no-bid contracts to house these individuals and families in tent cities or on college campuses.
While New York City and Albany lock horns, cast blame and piece together last-minute plans to address a problem that has been a long time coming, we need to ensure that Long Island is shielded, not from migrants, but from the failed leadership and policies that created this man-made disaster.
That shield is local control.
During this year’s legislative session, I joined my colleagues calling for policies to block the use of New York’s ill-suited college campuses for migrant housing and proposed plans to bus them to our small communities without local input and approval.
We also requested that the governor’s office share with us the plan and the amount of New York tax dollars being used to house, transport and care for these individuals.
Additionally, we requested the state comptroller provides a fully transparent accounting of all tax dollars being spent and make that information available via a searchable, public database. This information is critical as the state faces severe financial challenges and we work to stop additional burdens being placed on local governments, schools and, most importantly, taxpayers.
Recent history, from the pandemic to the governor’s failed housing proposals, has shown that the top-down, Albany-centric approach fails because it doesn’t consider the diverse and unique communities that are the foundation of the Empire State.
In light of Gov. Hochul’s [D] previously ill-conceived plan of housing migrants at Stony Brook University’s main and Southampton campuses, and other sites across Long Island, our local communities and officials must all be included in the discussion before any decisions are made.
County and town officials are our partners and need to be treated as such. Strong local control, community input and funding from state and federal partners must be the first step toward crafting a plan to address the migrant crisis.
New Yorkers are a welcoming people, and their change in mood is not one of the heart but in their lack of faith in the leadership of our state and nation. Midnight bus runs to motels and pop-up tent cities in suburban neighborhoods with inadequate services are not the answer.
The only solution comes with funding and proper planning. Plans where input from residents and approval from the town and local officials are required. Building consensus is not always easy, but it is the only way the New York State government will be able to solve this immediate humanitarian crisis and address the long-term impacts of uncontrolled migration until someone in Washington finds the courage to fix the crisis at our southern border.
Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) is a New York State senator representing the 1st District.
In mid-August, Suffolk County recorded its first death in seven years from vibrio vulnificus, often referred to as “flesh-eating bacteria.”
A man over the age of 55 who had underlying health conditions was admitted to a local hospital with a leg wound and chest pain in July. He died the following month due to a bacterial infection.
“People that are at risk should be more aware” of an infection they can get from raw shellfish or brackish water, said Dr. Susan Donelan, medical director of health care epidemiology at Stony Brook Medicine. That includes people who have liver disease, poorly controlled diabetes, are considered immune suppressed because of a condition or are taking medication that can cause immune suppression.
At the same time, Connecticut reported that three people died from contracting the potentially deadly bacteria. Two of them died from wound infections, the third contracting the bacteria from handling raw oysters.
To be sure, most people are not vulnerable to contracting the disease or from its effects.
“The general public is not at an increased risk,” said Donelan. “In most cases, [infections] are mild or moderate.”
Those who might be vulnerable to vibrio can avoid it by not handling or eating raw or undercooked shellfish, staying away from shellfish juices, covering up wounds or not swimming in brackish waters.
People can shuck shellfish with gloves to minimize any injuries to their hands and can wash their hands before and after coming in contact with raw shellfish.
“Some people like putting raw oyster juice into different drinks,” Donelan said. “You want to avoid doing that.”
Area doctors and health officials urged people with wounds — which could include cuts, new body piercings or tattoos — to avoid swimming in brackish or salt water.
“The bacteria thrives in brackish water, where fresh water meets ocean water,” Dr. Gregson Pigott, Suffolk County health commissioner, said in an email. “It would be best to avoid those waters if you have an open wound or a chronic health condition.”
Donelan also suggested that people who go in the water with such wounds cover them up with a waterproof bandage.
Symptoms
People who contract vibrio typically develop a host of symptoms.
These can include “diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea and vomiting,” Pigott explained.
Symptoms from consuming raw shellfish can start within 24 hours of a meal. A person exposed through their skin can develop a blistering skin or soft tissue infection.
Pigott urged residents to seek help for gastrointestinal symptoms or a worsening skin infection.
Those who are unable to drink enough fluids to counterbalance the losses through the gastrointestinal tract could become dehydrated, doctors warned.
Lightheadedness and hypotensive appearances can be a warning sign that residents should seek medical help.
Wounds may become red, hot and tender with streaky marks leading away from them. These are “all concerning things” that might signal an infection, Donelan said.
People generally know how quickly cuts heal. A cut that gets visibly worse quickly, which could include blistering of the skin with a bolus that looks like murky fluid or blood beneath it should be “very concerning signs,” Donelan added.
Knowing that the bacteria is present in Long Island Sound and being aware of it could help people prevent exposure or react early to an infection.
This summer, area hospitals have not reported an unusual number of infections, according to Donelan.
Doctors said the bacteria typically lives in waters between 50 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, which means that the longer the waters remain warm amid a hot summer and warming climate, the more likely the bacteria will be prevalent in waters around the Island.
Illness and travel
At this time of year, residents return from their seasonal travels. They sometimes bring unwanted microorganisms such as viruses or bacteria with them.
Health care professionals urged residents to notify their doctors about their travels prior to getting sick, so doctors can get an idea of where and how they might have contracted an illness.
When people return from cruises, plane trips or other travel, they should “help the emergency departments become aware of where they’ve been,” Donelan said.
The Suffolk County Department of Economic Development and Planning recently released a survey asking respondents to share their thoughts and opinions on the potential modernization of the Port Jefferson Branch of the Long Island Rail Road.
“Community input underpins all aspects of our approach to economic development in Suffolk County,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) in a statement. “We look forward to hearing from all stakeholders on the opportunities presented by modernization to allow for a single-seat ride from Port Jefferson to both Grand Central and Penn Station for our communities along the North Shore.”
The survey asks questions regarding the frequency of public transportation and LIRR ridership, the purpose of railway trips, specific and preferred branch use, among other questions.
Currently, the North Shore line offers limited direct train service to Penn Station with no direct service to Grand Central Madison. The decades-old proposal to modernize the line calls for electrification, double tracking and other rail yard improvements and modifications.
If the project were approved, the Port Jefferson Branch could provide faster and more direct service options to Manhattan and more frequent service overall.
Electrification of the Port Jefferson Branch was originally planned in the 1980s but stalled as the Ronkonkoma Branch took precedence. Critics and transit analysts regard the existing dual-mode diesel service as unreliable, inconsistent and environmentally hazardous. [See story, “Port Jeff Branch riders face potentially decades more electrification woes,” Feb. 9, 2023, TBR News Media website.]
“It is vitally important that we electrify the Port Jefferson Branch to protect our environment from the polluting diesel trains, enhance service for our residents and create jobs for our hardworking men and women of union labor,” New York State Sen. Mario Mattera (R-St. James) said. “Our residents and our workers deserve to benefit from the funding provided to the MTA.”
A key objective of the electrification initiative is to mitigate the need for transfer services for those traveling to New York City. By eliminating transfer services, advocates for the project aim to increase ridership while promoting further development around each LIRR station.
Updates could alleviate vehicular traffic congestion across the Island, according to New York State Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk), as commuters who regularly travel to alternate lines would have more local transit options.
Electrification would “alleviate traffic congestion, foster economic development and will help to achieve our climate goals,” the state senator said. “Clean, reliable and expanded transportation services are essential to meet Long Island’s growing population.”
The survey received nearly 2,500 responses in its opening week, according to the Department of Economic Development and Planning statement. Bellone encouraged all North Shore residents to complete the questionnaire, which takes an average of 5-10 minutes.
“I encourage everyone, including residents, businesses and students on the North Shore, to take the survey and demonstrate how important the modernization of the Port Jefferson Branch is to Suffolk County,” Bellone said.
The survey will remain open until Monday, Sept. 4. To fill it out, click on the link: https://theresearchsandbox.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bHJ093hEpvg5zmK
Prostate cancer awareness: Take it personally
September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
Many readers may have either had the disease, know someone who’s had it or tragically know a man who’s lost his life to it. Having touched all three of those bases, I’d like to address this subject from a personal standpoint.
For me, it began with the insistence of my “old school family doctor” and friend to begin carefully monitoring an incrementally rising, but not especially high, PSA score. “Dr. John” felt it was important to establish a “baseline” number and then watch for increases based on the percentage of any jumps.
After almost a decade of “watching,” John recommended I see a urologist, who urged having a biopsy done. That’s when the idea of having cancer in my early 50s suddenly became a real possibility. How could that be when I had no overt symptoms? I went for the test, and another one a few years later. Both came back showing nothing growing. The third time, however, was not a charm.
Plans needed to be made going forward. My wife and I carefully studied all the treatment options and chose laparoscopic surgery, to be done at Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital in New York City.
When everything was confirmed we sat down with our children to go over the arrangements. It was a tough conversation, but she and I had confidence in my terrific surgeon and our decision. The operation was a complete success followed by a full recovery.
Having read articles on the possibility of this type of cancer running in some families, I brought male cousins into the loop. The emphasis was on following PSA results with a focus on the percentage of increase from previous scores. Shortly thereafter, two were diagnosed and very successfully treated for the disease.
A stunning, heartbreaking, little known statistic regarding this oft-times silent killer is how it has an especially outsized, negative impact on African Americans, who die at about two times the rate of their white peers.
Given advancements in testing, diagnosis and treatment, this disease is beatable. Have frank conversations with your wives, loved ones, doctors and men you’ve known who’ve had prostate cancer. If you’re a Black man, you need to be especially vigilant.
The trick is to not let this illness get too far ahead of you. Be proactive! September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. All men should take it seriously and personally.
Jim Soviero
East Setauket
Electrification survey a likely dud
The online survey being conducted by the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development and Planning to understand the extent of public support for electrification of Long Island Rail Road’s Port Jefferson Branch is nothing new.
It is available on the Village of Port Jefferson website. The idea has been periodically advocated since the 1960s by generations of elected officials with no success. In 1970, electrification was extended from Mineola to Huntington. In the 1980s, discussions took place between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, LIRR, Suffolk County and elected officials over which branch should be electrified first.
The Ronkonkoma Branch was selected over the Port Jefferson Branch. It took 35 years before completion of full double track-electrification between Hicksville and Ronkonkoma. The estimated cost to extend electrification east beyond Huntington today is $3.6 billion. This will increase over time.
Billions are necessary to pay for planning, design and engineering, environmental review, land acquisition for construction of power substations, expansion of commuter parking, relocation and/or consolidation of existing stations, new stations and platforms, new electric multiple-unit car storage yard, double tracking, third rail, signals and construction management.
From start to finish could require 15-20 years. For the project to proceed, it must be included within the MTA’s upcoming 2025-2044 Needs Assessment plan, due to be released in October.
To pay for future construction, the project would require a Federal Transit Administration Full Funding Grant Agreement under the national competitive discretionary Capital Investments Grant Core Capacity New Starts program. It would have to be matched by $2 billion or more of local MTA sources.
Even if the project is given a green light, based upon my past experiences on other FTA-MTA-LIRR projects, Port Jefferson Branch electrification will not be completed until 2040 or later.
Supporters should lobby Gov. Kathy Hochul [D], MTA Chairman Janno Lieber and LIRR President Catherine Rinaldi if you ever want to see this project get underway within your lifetime.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
Beyond nuclear deterrence
Joseph Levine’s letter [“Context for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” Aug. 24] suggests that mutual assured destruction, or nuclear deterrence, will keep superpowers from launching preemptive nuclear strikes because of the prospect of devastating retaliation. This view reflects current U.S. policy and is held by many thoughtful persons, but there is a risk associated with this policy that deserves discussion.
The technological complexity of the current system of command and control of thousands of nuclear weapons on high alert capable of being launched within minutes leaves us vulnerable to disaster. A history of close calls involving accidents, computer failure, false alarms and human misjudgment shows the system is vulnerable and that its failure could lead to an accidental nuclear war.
In a world without nuclear weapons our nation, possessing overwhelming military superiority, could not be held at risk by an impoverished North Korea led by a dictator. The U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has not been signed by the U.S. and other nations that possess nuclear weapons, but it is a step in the right direction toward a safer world.
Lester Paldy
South Setauket
Editor’s note: The writer is a distinguished service professor emeritus at Stony Brook University and a former Marine officer, who served as a member of the U.S. nuclear weapon negotiating delegations with the Soviet Union in Geneva, Switzerland, and at the U.N
WRITE TO US … AND KEEP IT LOCAL
We welcome your letters, especially those responding to our local coverage, replying to other letter writers’ comments and speaking mainly to local themes. Letters should be no longer than 400 words and may be edited for length, libel, style, good taste and uncivil language. They will also be published on our website. We do not publish anonymous letters. Please include an address and phone number for confirmation. Scan the QR code above or email letters to [email protected] or mail them to TBR News Media, P.O. Box 707, Setauket, NY 11733
New York State is preparing to distribute $4.2 billion to communities statewide, and Long Islanders must begin to make an aggressive push for that money.
Voters statewide approved the 2022 Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act by a more than 2:1 margin. Here in Suffolk County, our residents approved the referendum 64-36%.
During a listening tour event on Thursday, Aug. 24, state officials outlined their plans for dispersing the funds. Qualifying projects include flood mitigation, marshland restoration, stormwater infrastructure, farmland protection, open space preservation and much more.
Here in Suffolk County, we are experiencing all of these issues.
Vulnerable waterfront properties along the North Shore are increasingly at risk from harmful erosion at our bluffs. Low-lying areas are at ever-greater risk of flooding, compounded by more frequent and intense precipitation events and outdated stormwater infrastructure.
Too often, commercial corridors are developed with little or no community giveback. Consequently, communities along major state routes — such as 25 and 347 — are suffocated by overcommercialized lots with limited access to parks or recreation space.
Meanwhile, the few remaining farmlands and open spaces are in constant danger of deforestation, development and displacement.
This $4.2 billion state bond package represents a much-needed pool of cash that can help offset these regional trends. And while the state has committed to directing 35-40% of the pot to disadvantaged communities, competition for the remaining chunk of the pie will be even fiercer.
Residents and officials across Long Island have grown increasingly frustrated and alienated by our state government in Albany. Getting our hands on some of these funds could begin the path toward reconciliation.
Throughout the Aug. 24 meeting, the state officials present emphasized the collection of public input as a necessary component for identifying new projects. That is why we must all take the time to scan the code above and share the climate challenges we face. The survey remains open until Sept. 13.
Whether our particular hamlet or village is experiencing worsening flooding, heightened coastal erosion, limited open space or any other environmental hardship, we must take the time to alert the state and request funding.
The potential to tap into $4.2 billion doesn’t come around often. This money represents a generational opportunity to remediate some longstanding issues and counteract our regional decline. We cannot afford to squander this moment.
Let’s scan this code and share the extent of our challenges here at home. Let’s scan the code and tell our state government how desperately our community cares about and needs this funding.
Let’s all scan this code because our community’s future welfare and prosperity depend on how we act today. From the North Shore to Albany, may the voices of our people ring loudly.
Suffolk County has taken another step forward in appropriating roughly $200 million in opioid settlement funds.
County officials gathered at the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge on Friday, Aug. 25, announcing the opening of a second application portal for $20 million in additional funds. The first round of $25 million in settlement payments had concluded earlier this year. [See story, “County picks groups to receive $25M for first round in opioid settlement,” Jan. 20, 2023, TBR News Media website.]
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) referred to this new round of funding as a “significant milestone in our battle and our fight against the opioid epidemic,” coming from a projected $200 million settlement between Suffolk County and various opioid manufacturers, distributors, retailers and other entities that contributed to the scourge of addiction throughout the county.
Bellone affirmed the county’s “unwavering commitment to address the opioid crisis head-on as well as to provide vital support to combat addiction.”
The county executive added, “All of us working on this issue understand that it is critical that we spend these dollars as effectively and efficiently as possible, that we are stewards of these dollars.”
Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst), presiding officer of the county Legislature, reinforced this messaging, noting how the funds received through the settlement are significant in their purpose.
“This money didn’t come at a small cost,” he said. “This is not our money. This belongs to the victims and the families that were affected by this opioid crisis,” adding, “We need to make sure when we make these decisions that we keep in mind that all this money that we are distributing … is used judiciously because it did come at a very high price.”
Minority Leader Jason Richberg (D-West Babylon) encouraged all interested, qualifying organizations to apply for these funds.
“The monies that we’re talking about here will change the lives of families and help put people in the right direction,” he contended. “To any of those organizations that are listening to this conversation — please, please apply.”
County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai), chair of the county’s Addiction Advisory Council, outlined the various causes to which these funds will soon be directed, from drug prevention to education services to rehabilitation, among other resource providers.
“All those entities — that are really under the county’s purview — are ready and willing to do more,” she said. “The main word here is ‘resources,’ and that’s pretty much what our panel focuses on — resources that our residents need to fight and combat the epidemic.”
Rebecca Sanin, president and CEO of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, emphasized the conditions and trends currently happening on the ground throughout the area. She highlighted the collateral damage opioids produce for communities and societies.
“Those losses that addiction accumulates emotionally bankrupts and destroys individual lives, destroys families, destroys communities and leaves vacant unmet potential in a society that is nostalgic and hungry for progress,” Sanin said. “This announcement will mean that lives are saved. It will mean that hope is levied.”
Sharon Richmond, whose son Vincent died from an overdose at 25, described her son as sensitive, funny and intelligent — an aspiring lawyer who sought to stand up for those who couldn’t defend themselves.
“However, once oxycodone became his drug of choice, his dreams and hopes were shattered along with ours,” she said. “No family should ever have to face the tragedy mine had to endure.”
She continued, “No amount of money can ever bring back my son Vincent or the 107,000 human lives lost just last year. However, with these opioid settlement funds, I see hope, and I see life for so many thousands of loved ones.”
The application portal for the $20 million is currently live. It will remain open until close of business on Friday, Sept. 29.
To apply, please click the following link: www.suffolkcountyny.gov and search under “Opioid Grant Application.”
New York State officials capped off a statewide listening tour on Thursday, Aug. 24, at Suffolk County Community College to inform the public on expenditures related to the $4.2 billion New York State Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, passed last year.
Voters statewide passed the Environmental Bond Act via public referendum by 68-32%. Suffolk County residents had upvoted the ballot measure 64-36%.
Community members and public officials from the state to the local levels attended Thursday’s event as senior NYS administrators outlined their plans for dispersing the funds.
Basil Seggos, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, offered recent historical context surrounding the bond act money.
The listening tour concludes “amid one of the most impactful summers ever when it comes to climate change,” he said. “I’m old enough in this job to remember when we had an incident or two a season. Now we’re seeing incredible impacts.”
From Canadian wildfire smoke impairing local air quality to rising temperatures to heightened and more intense precipitation events, Seggos maintained the pressing need to use bond act funding to remediate these challenges.
The bond act funds will focus on four primary categories: climate change mitigation, restoration and fund risk, open space preservation and water quality improvement.
While state agencies are still refining eligibility guidelines, Seggos said the state government aims to direct at least 35%, with a goal of 40% of the funds, to disadvantaged communities.
However, “every community in New York state is eligible” for bond act subsidization, he added.
Suzanna Randall, chief resilience officer at NYSDEC, noted that a significant portion of the bond act funds would support restoration and flood risk, marsh restoration, municipal stormwater infrastructure and other related water infrastructure improvements.
New York State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid outlined how bond act funding would help support and promote Long Island’s parkland and open space. Funding areas include open space conservation, farmland protection and easements, fish hatcheries and other projects.
Public feedback needed‘Please, please, please use the survey to give us your ideas, to give us your thoughts on how these dollars should be appropriated.’
— Suzanna Randall
Throughout the event, Randall stressed the need for public input on projects that may qualify for bond act funds. “Please, please, please use the survey to give us your ideas, to give us your thoughts on how these dollars should be appropriated,” she said.
Kulleseid also emphasized the importance of public feedback, noting the limited timeframe to gather public comment as the survey expires on Wednesday, Sept. 13.
“We have an online survey tool that will allow you to share ideas and information about projects you may have or the types of projects that we should fund in general,” the NYS park commissioner said. “It’s not an application or a request for proposal but a way to help us learn about the universal projects local governments, community organizations and the public” may require.
To complete the survey of initial project ideas, scan the QR code below. To learn more about the Environmental Bond Act, please visit www.ny.gov/bondact.
By Daniel Dunaief
How come we never see superheroes in regular moments? To that end, I wanted to share a host of images that I hope might brighten your day (if you need it).
Superman picking his nose. Okay, let’s just get this one out of the way first. Sure, he leaps tall buildings in a single bound, fights crime everywhere, and stands for truth, justice and the American way, but what about the urge to clean out the dried super boogers in his nose? And, if he did, what would happen to them? Would they decay the way ours presumably do, or would they be like rocks trickling through our plumbing or remaining forever on the floor, impenetrable even to a speeding bullet?
Okay, backing off from the incredibly crude, let’s go to Superman’s fingernails. I’m guessing he can’t clip them with an average clipper. When he does trim then, are they so strong that it’d hurt to step on them?
How about Batman? Is there room in that suit for hiccups? What happens when he’s driving his super fast car or flying bat mobile and he gets the hiccups? I know my hiccups, which are loud enough to cause Superman’s super fingernails to bend, are so distracting that it’d be tough to fight crime, or even navigate at incredible speeds, when my diaphragm is spasming.
And then there’s Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter, if you’re old enough, and Gal Gadot, for the more modern fan, are both incredible fighters who save the day, rescuing mere mortals like Steve Trevor. But do they have the kind of arguments with their mothers that I’ve seen other women (no one in my family, of course) have with their mothers? Are they tempted to take out their truth lasso and demand that their mother say what she really thinks or share what she really did? Can you imagine Wonder Woman in a shouting match with her mother, reaching a point where she wraps the rope around her mom’s wrist and demands to know, “What do you really think of my new boyfriend” or even “you mean to tell me you never acted out against your own parents?”
How about Aquaman? Not to be too obsessed about the nose here, but does he ever get water up his nose, the way the rest of us do when we’re diving or doing awkward flips into the pool? Given the speed at which he swims, I would imagine such water in his nose might cause even more agony for him than it does for the rest of us, who find the dense medium of water difficult to traverse rapidly.
What about the Flash?
I haven’t seen the recent multiverse movie with him, but I would imagine his shoes, which withstand the incredible force of him tearing around town, are a vital piece of equipment that could be enormously problematic if they tear or have holes.And, unlike me, as I sit here with the tongue of my right sneaker hanging off, I would imagine he couldn’t wait any length of time to replace the shoes that glide over the ground at speeds that, if my interpretation of the recent movie trailers suggest, exceed the speed of light and can, to borrow from the singing superhero Cher, “turn back time.”
Sorry if you’ve now got that song ricocheting around your head. Come up with a better song and you’ll be fine or maybe just count backwards from 20 in French or any foreign language, if you know how to do that.
And what about Spider-Man? Does he ever eat something that totally disagrees with his system, making it impossible to leave the house until he’s taken a super dose of an antacid? Sure, super heroes inspire us with their incredible deeds, but I’d like to know how they manage through the kinds of everyday issues, challenges, and regular stuff in our lives.
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