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Above, a humpback whale breaks the surface of the water. Photo from Eleanor Heywood/National Marine Fisheries Service permit no. 21889

By Daniel Dunaief

The waters off the South Shore of Long Island have become a magnet, attracting everything from shipping vessels, recreational boaters, fishermen and women, potential future wind farms, and humpback whales.

While the commercial component of that activity can contribute to the local economy, the whale traffic has drawn the attention of scientists and conservationists. Whales don’t abide by the nautical rules that guide ships through channels and direct traffic along the New York Bight, a region from the southern shore of New Jersey to the east end of Long Island.

Left, Julia Stepanuk with a drone controller. Photo by Kim Lato

Julia Stepanuk, a PhD student at Stony Brook University in the laboratory of Lesley Thorne, Assistant Professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, is focusing her research efforts on monitoring the humpback whale’s use of this habitat.

“This can help us understand how we focus our energy for monitoring and conservation,” she explained in an email. If the whales are traveling, it helps to know where to minimize human impact.

Ultimately, the work Stepanuk, who also earned her Master’s degree at Stony Brook in 2017, does provides ecological context for how whales use the waters around New York and how old the whales are that are feeding in this area.

In her dissertation, Stepanuk is “looking at the biological and ecological drivers, the motivators of where the whales are, when they’re there, specifically, from the lens of how human activity might be putting whales at risk of injury or mortality.”

Each summer, whales typically arrive in the area around May and stay through the end of October.

When she ventures out on the water, Stepanuk uses drones to gather information about a whale’s length and width, which indicates the approximate age and health of each individual. Since 2018, she has been gathering information to monitor activity in the area to track it over time.

With the research and data collected, she hopes to help understand the ecology of these whales, which will inform future policy decisions to manage risk.

Stepanuk’s humpback whale work is part of a 10-year monitoring study funded by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which includes four principal investigators at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. The study looks at carbonate chemistry, physical oceanography, fish distribution, and top predator abundance, distribution and body condition, Thorne explained.

“My lab is leading the seabird and marine mammal aspect of this project,” said Thorne.

The grid over the whale demonstrates how members of Thorne’s lab measure the size of the whale from drone images. Photo by Julia Stepanuk

By documenting the ecological ranges of whales of different ages, Stepanuk may provide insight into the age groups that are most at risk. Many of the humpback whales that travel closer to shore are juveniles, measuring below about 38 feet.

Stepanuk has seen many of these whales, either directly or from the drones she flies overhead. She has also gathered information from events in which whales die after boats hit them.

Mortality events off the east coast have been increasing since 2016 as numerous whales have washed up along the coast. About half of the humpbacks in these mortality events have evidence of human interaction, either ship strike or entanglement, Stepanuk said.

“There have been many more strandings than usual of humpback whales along the east coast” in the last five years, Thorne explained.

Humpback whales likely have appeared in larger numbers in New York waterways due both to the return of menhaden in nearshore waters, which comes from changes in the management of this fish stock and from environmental management more broadly, and from an overall increase in the humpback whale population after 40 years of protection, Thorne suggested.

Ultimately, Stepanuk said she hopes to use the scientific inquiry she pursued during her PhD to help “bridge the gap between academic, policymakers, conservationists, interested parties and the public.” 

A part of Stony Brook’s STRIDE program, for science training and research to inform decisions, Stepanuk received training in science communication, how to present data in a visual and accessible way, and how to provide science-based information to policymakers.

For Thorne, this study and the analysis of the vessel strikes on humpback whales could be helpful for understanding similar dynamics with other cetaceans.

Julia Stepanuk and Matt Fuirst, a previous master’s student in Lesley Thorne’s lab, release a drone. Photo by Rachel Herman

“Understanding links between large whales and vessel traffic could provide important information for other studies, and could provide methods that would be useful for studies of other species,” said Thorne.

Stepanuk offers some basic advice for people on a boat in the New York Bight and elsewhere. She suggests driving more slowly if visibility is limited, as people would in a car in foggy weather. She also urges people to pay close attention to the water. Ripples near the surface could indicate a school of fish, which might attract whales.

“Slow down if you see dolphins, big fish schools and ripples,” she said. “There’s always a chance there could be a whale.”

If people see a whale, they shouldn’t turn off their engines: they should keep the engine in neutral and not approach the whale head on or cut them off. For most species, people can’t get closer than 300 feet. For North Atlantic right whales, which are critically endangered, the distance is 1,500 feet.

She suggests people “know the cues” and remember that whales are eagerly feeding.

Stepanuk has been close enough to these marine mammals to smell their pungent, oily fish breath and, when they exhale, to receive a residue of oil around her camera lens or sunglasses. She can “loosely get an idea of what they’re feeding on in terms of how bad their breath is.”

When she was younger, Stepanuk, who saw her first whale at the age of eight, worked on a whale watching boat for six years in the Gulf of Maine. An adult female would sometimes leave her calf near the whale watching boat while she went off to hunt for food. The calf stayed near the boat for about 45 minutes. When the mother returned, she’d slap the water and the calf would race to her side.

“Experiences like that stuck with me and keep me excited about the work we do,” Stepanuk said.

Video: Humpback whale lunge feeding off the south shore of Long Island

 

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Sixth grader Katelyn Murray with Ramsey. Photo by Julianne Mosher

By Melissa Levine 

Suffolk County lawmakers last week unanimously approved a proposal by Presiding Officer Rob Calarco (D-Patchogue) to designate April 30 as “Pet Therapy Day” in Suffolk County. 

Nationally recognized as a day to celebrate therapy animals through the efforts of Pet Partners — the nation’s leading organization registering therapy animals for animal-assisted interventions — Calarco felt it was important to mark the day on the county level to recognize the local groups working to improve the health and well-being of Suffolk residents through animal-assisted therapy and activities.

Legislators approved his resolution to designate Pet Therapy Day in Suffolk County at their April 20 general meeting.

Photo by Julianne Mosher

“Therapy animals and their human companions bring joy and healing to people of all ages in many different settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, schools and funeral parlors,” he said. “Designating April 30 as Pet Therapy Day is our way of saying thank you and recognizing all the good these animals and their handlers do to bring moments of joy to people in need in our community, especially given the difficulties of the last year.”

A furry friend joins a middle school class 

Since the onset of the pandemic, Comsewogue School District’s staff and students have endured the same challenge that thousands of schools across the globe are facing recreating normalcy in a time of chaos. 

Comsewogue special education teacher and student character liaison Andrew Harris is no stranger to the many benefits that come with therapy dogs.   

“Normally we visit Stony Brook Hospital’s adolescent psychiatric unit on a weekly basis,” he said. “The kids get a great deal from our visits.”

Harris has been training dogs for over 20 years, so he has grown incredibly familiar with the contagious charm and health benefits that dogs like his dog, Ramsey — a licensed therapy pooch — can bring to people of all ages. 

“It’s funny because the nurses and doctors are always the ones who rush in and cuddle the dog before the kids. After all, they too might be having an especially stressful day,” said Harris.  

Once invited into a particular institution, the dog is able to comfort people in hospitals, nursing homes and schools. 

After a few months of careful planning, Harris devised a therapy-dog-based proposition for the visits at the district’s schools. It didn’t take long to convince the administration to let Ramsey in. 

Photo by Julianne Mosher

Ramsey proudly wears his Comsewogue picture ID and therapy dog bandana upon entering John F. Kennedy Middle School.

Harris said he has taken much time to develop this program for school visits. 

“We have several progressive and successive lessons each time we come into a class,” Harris sad. “On the first visit, it is more of a meet and greet and demonstration of what the dog is capable of.”  

When Harris was tasked with getting his therapy dog certification, he had no idea how elaborate it would be. He went on to describe how certain tasks tested the dog’s ability to remain calm in stressful situations — something Ramsey is great at when demonstrating for students of different abilities.

Harris takes ample time to show the students the difference between a therapy dog (they are for you) and a service dog (they are for the owner). He also demonstrates some typical things a service dog might do by performing tasks like dropping crutches and asking the dog to pick them up and bring them to him. 

The dogs are capable of accomplishing many other feats too, like assisting people up staircases when requested, or alerting someone to wake up who has sleep apnea. 

“When we visit a class for the second time, I have the students do more of the work, instead of the dog and I doing it all,” Harris said. “The students can start by introducing themselves or reading aloud to the dog. Then on our final visit, we sit the dog in the back of the room and have the students do full speeches or presentations.” 

Photo by Julianne Mosher

The most important thing for Harris is that the students enjoy and learn during the time they spend with Ramsey. 

Melissa Levine is a senior at Comsewogue High School

Additional reporting by Julianne Mosher

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Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stony Brook Medicine, Dr. Miguel Saldivar, wants residents to make vaccine decisions based on scientific information, rather than Internet speculation. Saldivar, who joined Stony Brook just months before the pandemic hit Long Island, sees improvement in the overall infection numbers, which have declined in recent weeks to about two to three percent from closer to five to six percent. In a wide-ranging interview (which can be seen online at tbrnewsmedia.com), Saldivar answered a host of questions.

TBR: Do you have any concerns about the number or percentage of people who are not lining up for vaccination?

Saldivar: In general, what we are more concerned about is the amount of misinformation that is out there. If you go on social media — if you go just on the internet, period — there’s a lot of people who are spreading lot of information that is really frankly inaccurate.

TBR: What are Stony Brook and others trying to do to counter misinformation?

Saldivar: There are a number of things we hear fairly frequently, probably the more common one I personally have heard, because Pfizer and Moderna are based on mRNA technology, everybody hears the term RNA and is worried that it’s going to change my genetic code and turn me into a mutant or cause a disease down the line. The first thing to understand about that, the way both of those vaccines work, it’s a set of instructions being given to the body cells, the moment it’s been delivered, the mRNA dissolves. It has no way of getting into the deeper part of the cells to change your genetic code.

TBR: Black and brown communities have a distrust of the federal government after some well known problems regarding Tuskegee Experiment and other issues. Is there broader acceptance now compared with a month or two ago?

Saldivar: Statistically, if you compare how this disease has affected minority communities, the risk of a severe outcome, hospitalization intubation and death is almost universally higher among minority communities. That has a number of factors, not just the disease itself. It’s also the fact that within those communities, it is more frequent to find some of the risk factors, meaning diabetes, obesity, preexisting pulmonary disease so on and so forth … What I have been personally involved with is reaching out to the community, we have found a lot of community centers have been very ready and willing to engage in a conversation. We have found places of worship to be wonderful places to have that conversation

TBR: What does the data tell you about the pandemic?

Saldivar: The last numbers I heard from the meeting this morning were between two to three percent positivity. We’ve been there for a week. Before that, we were staying pretty stable at like five to six percent or thereabouts. It looks like finally, this may be the effect of the vaccine, the numbers are finally starting to little by little trend their way down. We’ve been cautiously optimistic. There seems to be a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel.

TBR: You have a bachelor’s degree in classical guitar performance. How did you wind up in infectious disease?

Saldivar: Through the nonprofit circle, I landed a job with the medical center at UCLA. That’s where I met a very, very good friend and mentor. She was key to helping me shape the path. I feel incredibly lucky to be part of this profession.

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Attendees gather around Selah Strong's grave after the unveiling.
Assemblyman Steve Englebright says a few words at the ceremony
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine says a few words at the ceremony
Jack Strong says a few words at the ceremony
Above, from left, Supervisor Ed Romaine, Assemblyman Steve Englebright, historian Bev Tyler and Ray Strong III watch as Selah Strong's great-great-great grandson Jack Strong unveils the plaque
The new marker, courtesy of Tri-Spy Tours
Descendants of Selah Strong gather around the new plaque
Assemblyman Steve Englebright, members of the DAR and historian Bev Tyler
St. George's Manor Cemetery is a private cemetery still owned by the Strong family.

By Heidi Sutton

This past Saturday, members of the community gathered at St. George’s Manor Cemetery in Setauket to pay tribute to Judge Selah Strong with the unveiling of a commemorative graveside plaque. Margo Arceri, owner of Tri-Spy Tours, dedicated the bronze marker which honors the judge’s contributions to the local community, 205 years after his death.

“Strong was one of the first patriots in the community. He was best friends with Culper Spy Caleb Brewster … During the  Battle of Long Island, he was arrested by the British for assisting the Continental Army. After the war, he had a long and illustrious career in public service. The Strong family wanted him to be recognized for his efforts during the Revolutionary War and after. It was a great honor to place the marker for them,” said Arceri after the ceremony. “This is an important moment in our community’s history and for the Strong family.”

The event was attended by representatives of the Three Village Historical Society including President Steve Healy, Director of Education Donna Smith and historian Beverly C. Tyler; members of the Anna Smith Strong chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution; and several descendants of Selah Strong. Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine, New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright, and Brookhaven Town Historian Barbara M. Russell were also in attendance.

Selah Strong is buried in a family plot next to his first wife, Anna Smith Strong, the only female member of George Washington’s Culper Spy Ring, known for her famed clothesline.

“It’s always been a bit of a shame that not too many people payed attention to Selah because they were so interested in Anna and her story, but actually he did an awful lot,” said John (Jack) Temple Strong Jr., Selah Strong’s great-great-great grandson, who had the honor of unveiling the plaque.

Supervisor Romaine agreed. “Born on Christmas Day, 1737, died on the Fourth of July, 1815, he packed into his life things … we see of a man who was dedicated to his community, someone that at the tender age of 26 was elected Town Trustee and would wind up spending 35 years in office, most of them, certainly from 1780 on, as President of the Trustees, which is the equivalent of Supervisor,” he said.

Selah Strong also served as Suffolk County Treasurer, judge for the Court of Common Pleas, and was a New York State Senator for four years. “This is a man who served his community … I am here to pay my respects to someone that paved the way because as we look around today, a lot of what we have over the last 200 years would not be here if not for men of this caliber,” added Supervisor Romaine.

“When we think about patriotism we think about Selah Strong, Anna Smith Strong and the personal sacrifice, the amount of risks that they took for their country — true patriots,” said Raymond Brewster Strong III, Selah Strong’s 6th generation grandson who made the trip from Houston, Texas, to attend the ceremony. “[George] Washington’s motto was ‘deeds, not words’ and when you think about Selah Strong’s [accomplishments], those are true deeds, not words.”

“The Strong family continues as tradition bearers, and Tri-Spy Tours and the Three Village Historical Society are also important parts of passing to the next generation a sense of place and a sense of continuum,” said Assemblyman Englebright. “I am just honored to be here to bear witness to this wonderful occasion. This is altogether a respectful moment that should be remembered, as Selah Strong should be remembered.”

*Editors note — St. George’s Manor Cemetery is a private cemetery still owned by the Strong family.

All photos by Heidi Sutton

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Lulu the Coatimundi
Superintendent of Highways Daniel P. Losquadro with the Ecology Site Animal Preserve's resident American Buffalo
Finn the hybrid fox peers out of his glass enclosure.
Holtsville Ecology Site Director April Perry with a Nubian goat
The resident bobcat
A new goat house built by an Eagle Scout
Holtsville Ecology Site Director April Perry with a Nubian goat
A Nubian goat
Protocols are in place at the Ecology Site.

By Heidi Sutton

When my daughter was little, one of her favorite places to go was the Town of Brookhaven’s Holtsville Ecology Site Animal Preserve or “The Little Zoo” as we liked to call it. She would run through the open gates to say hi to the Nubian goats with their long floppy ears as I retrieved feed from the 25-cent vending machine. She would marvel at the buffalo, see if any birds were in the large birdhouses, and then off to see the ducks, rabbits, fox and Rascal the coatimundi. A quick stop to see the eagles and hawks and then down the inviting path (overflowing with beautiful flowers grown in the attached greenhouse) to Honey and Pooh Bear’s enclosure, the preserve’s resident black bears. 

Sometimes we would stay for an hour, sometimes I would pack a lunch and we would head over to the picnic tables by the playground and grab an ice cream from the ice cream truck waiting in the parking lot. Before we left, we always had to head over to the koi pond behind the greenhouse to see the turtles. It was a ritual many town residents have enjoyed spring through fall since the park opened in 1979. Best of all, it was always free, except the ice cream! It is a special place.

Last March the animal preserve was closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic, briefly reopened in September but then shut its doors again. Now there is a spring awakening. Brookhaven Town Highway Superintendent Daniel P. Losquadro recently announced that the preserve will partially reopen to the public, albeit with a few changes, on Saturday, May 1. 

The preserve will be open Thursday through Monday with limited spring hours from May 1 to 28; reservations can be made every 15 minutes from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Beginning Memorial Day weekend, on May 29, reservations will expand from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Only Town of Brookhaven residents with reservations and proof of residency will be permitted to enter the animal preserve. Reservations to book a visit must be made online at www.BrookhavenNY.gov/Ecology.

“Until we see exactly what the demand is, we’re going to limit admission to only Brookhaven Town residents. We’re hoping by the summer to have the entire facility back open as it was before and just using normal social distancing protocols,” said Superintendent Losquadro during a tour on April 9.

There has been a silver lining, however. While the preserve remained closed, the town took the opportunity to fix up and enhance the animal enclosures. “We really embarked on some infrastructure improvement projects that otherwise would’ve been very difficult for us,” said Losquadro. Retaining walls, gates and railings have been rebuilt, metal fencing has been installed, new concrete has been poured, the eagle house has received a complete makeover, and the large bird cages have been replaced. 

The animal preserve has also continued to be the recipient of several Eagle Scout projects, including new houses for the goats and ducks, hutches for the rabbits and enrichment projects by the Boys and Girl Scouts to keep the animals busy and active during the day. 

“We  were very fortunate throughout this entire process that we’ve been able to continue to make improvements and prepare for reopening the facility for our residents,” said Losquadro.

While Pooh Bear and Rascal have passed away from old age, over 100 injured or non-releasable wild animals and farm animals call the preserve home including a new coatimundi named Lulu, Phantom the arctic fox and two hybrid wolves, Drax and Thanos. All have a story. Many, including the coatamundi, were kept as pets illegally and were confiscated by the SPCA, the DEC, etc.; some were hit by cars and were not able to be released back into the wild. But for all, the Ecology Center is a sanctuary with a caring staff led by director April Perry who is excited to reopen the preserve. 

“It’s going to be a soft opening,” said Perry who explained that when the facility reopens May 1, only a portion will be accessible, from the main entrance up to the eagle exhibit. Animals available for viewing at this time include the Arctic fox, alpaca, bald eagle, bobcat, Boer goats, buffalo, coatimundi, hybrid fox, the hybrid wolves, llama, mini pigs, nubian goats, pine martin, prairie dogs, rabbits, red fox, red tail hawk, and skunk.

Although the animal preserve is always free, Perry would like to remind people that a donation box is situated at the entrance. “When people donate, that money goes directly to feeding the animals and vet care,” she said. 

“Unfortunately (because of the pandemic) those efforts had slowed down a bit and the town actually absorbed all of that cost to make sure that we weren’t lacking for care of the animals or feed. Now all those donations go directly to offset those costs,” added Losquadro.

“I don’t think we would have survived without the town’s help,” said Perry. “I have been here 34 years and I am so impressed how much Dan has put into the Ecology Site and how much we are growing and moving forward. It makes my heart happy. This place means a lot to me — it’s like my second home.”

Perry also attributes the preserve’s continuing success to her staff. “I have incredible employees — they care. They are here seven days a week making sure the animals have water, have feed, that they are clean and safe and everyone steps up to the plate and they do it.”

COVID-19 safety protocols will be strictly enforced with precautions — including mandatory masks, limited admissions, and social distancing — to help ensure the safety of all visitors and staff. In addition, the Information Center and Greenhouses will not be open but access to restrooms will be available. 

“If it were up to me we would be fully open but we have to do things carefully, we don’t want to create an environment that is hazardous,” explained Losquadro. “We are all very excited — we are looking forward to May 1. The preserve is here so people can come visit the animals and learn and experience it — it’s not to keep them hidden away. We’re anxious to get this incredible place back open.”

The Town of Brookhaven Ecology Site and Animal Preserve is located at 249 Buckley Road, Holtsville. For more information, please call 631-758-9664.

All photos by Heidi Sutton

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Photo by Julianne Mosher

A new law will now keep bicyclists safe on the roadways with its 3-foot rule.

On Tuesday, April 27, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) joined Deputy Presiding Officer Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) and members of the biking community at Stony Brook’s Stony Brookside Bed & Bike Inn to sign it in officially. 

Bellone said the legislation will help ensure the safety of bicyclists while out on the roadways requiring drivers to pass on the left and provide the riders with at least 3 feet of space. Violations of this law are punishable by a fine of $225 for the first offense, $325 for the second offense and $425 for any subsequent offenses. 

It is the first of its kind in New York state.

“For us in Suffolk County, where we love the outdoors, many of the reasons why people choose to live here is because of our incredible natural resources: our parks, our open space and the beauty that we have here,” he said. “Bicycles are such a big part of that. We are committed to, and we have to be committed to, making sure that cycling can be done safely, and people are protected as much as possible.”

He added that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, bike sales have “skyrocketed.” People want to be outside more. 

“We’ve obviously been working on these issues for some time,” he said. “But the pandemic has only made it even clearer how important this is to people’s lives — and quite frankly, to all of us, even if you never get on a bike.”

Hahn added that Stony Brookside Bed & Bike Inn attracts bicyclists from around the world who come and enjoy the area’s paths, roads and trails.

“Our roads are going to be safer now,” she said. “But there is tremendous synergy between our environment and our economy, between what we have here to enjoy where we live. And who we attract to come here as visitors, who we attract to come here as businesses, and people — especially after the pandemic — are looking for places to live, places to visit where they can recreation safely.”

Bellone noted, though, that Long Island roads can often be dangerous, and he is committed to keeping the streets safe.

“We know that bicycling on certain roads in the county can be dangerous, but we’ve been working on that issue,” he said. “We’ve taken a number of significant steps to educate drivers and improve infrastructure to create a safer environment for bicycles on the road. So, today, our efforts go one step further.”

Attorney and board member of the New York Bicycling Coalition Daniel Flanzig said that currently only 33 states have this law.

“[NY] Vehicle & Traffic Law 1122-A currently exists, but only requires a motorist to pass a cyclist at a safe distance,” he said. “What a safe distance is to me is different to you.”

Flanzig said that the new law of a 3-foot distance is a tangible, recognizable number.

“I think 3-foot distance actually makes it easier to enforce,” Hahn said. “Now there’s a set difference. Previously, the law said drivers must pass cyclists at a safe distance and that wasn’t defined.”

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Supervisor Ed Romaine and Councilwoman Jane Bonner joined members of the Relic team at Cedar Beach on Earth Day. Photo by Julianne Mosher

To celebrate Earth Day April 22, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) and Councilwoman Jane Bonner (R-Rocky Point) announced a new initiative that will keep local beaches clean.

Photo by Julianne Mosher

The elected officials gathered at Cedar Beach in Mount Sinai that morning to unveil its new beach cleanup baskets, in which the town has partnered with Long Island-based nonprofit Relic Sustainability.

The group, from Remsenburg on the South Shore, collaborated with the town due to Relic’s Coastal Collaborative project, which encompasses seven preexisting stations across Long Island. 

“Our goal is to collaborate the town, businesses and community members to collaborate in combating beach pollution that is a growing issue on the coast line of Long Island,” said Alex Kravitz, COO of Relic.

The stations give beachgoers the opportunity to take a basket on the beach, pick up trash and deposit it into a trash receptacle.

“What better way to celebrate Earth Day?” Romaine said. “The baskets are 100% recycled plastics. You pick one up, walk along the beach, pick up some garbage and put the baskets back. … We want this in all of our town beaches and we want to keep them clean.”

While Relic Sustainability has seven stations, Cedar Beach is the first in the Town of Brookhaven to utilize its concept. 

Aiden Kravitz, CEO of the nonprofit, said the goal is to reach even more beaches.

Councilwoman Jane Bonner with the Relic crew. Photo by Julianne Mosher

“By the end of the summer, we’re hoping to have a bigger partnership with the county with 40 to 50 stations,” he said. “The goal of the program is to help relieve the pressure of trash on the beaches by stimulating voluntary trash pickup from the community. We view the heart of the program as a collaborative between the town, ourselves, local businesses and the community members — everybody plays a role.”

Bonner said she was excited for the new initiative because of the “tremendous garbage problem, not only on Long Island, but in the United States.”

“I cannot think of a better way to celebrate Earth Day than to launch a program that addresses the litter that plagues all of our beaches,” she said. “I encourage people who come to Cedar Beach to use one of the baskets and pick up litter before they leave for home. It’s something we can all do to advocate for a better environment.”

Relic also sells organic apparel that gives back to local waters. For every T-shirt sold, they plant five oysters back into Moriches Bay. 

The clothing items are available at relic-design.com.

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Photo by Pixabay

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

I have two friends whose sons are contemplating important choices. The first son, Matt, is trying to decide where to attend college.

He has gained admission to two elite schools. He can’t go wrong, as his parents have told him repeatedly, with either choice. Making this decision in a normal year would be hard. In a pandemic year, it’s almost impossible.

Matt can’t stay over at each school for a weekend or even attend a few classes. He can’t get much of a feeling for the “vibe” of the school because he can’t go into most of the buildings, even with a mask and with his letter of admission.

He can compare the national rankings from U.S. News and World Report, check college guides, talk with his guidance counselor, chat with graduates from his high school who attend each school and stroll around each campus. 

He can’t, however, fully try on the school, the way he might a tailored suit. Masks cover the faces of most of the people at each school, which makes it impossible to search for smiles on the faces of his potential future classmates.

He recently found himself leaning toward school A. The same day, his father spoke with a friend of his whose daughter was attending school B.

His father showed a picture of his friend’s daughter to Matt. The friend’s attractive daughter caused Matt to rethink his tentative decision.

That brings me to my other friend’s son, Eric. In his mid-20s, Eric has been caught in the same social world that has limited the options for everyone else.

Eric has been dating a woman for over two years and is considering the future of the relationship. He is not sure whether it’s the appropriate time to consider living together or getting married.

Eric is incredibly attached to his girlfriend, who has been one of the few people he sees regularly in real life during the pandemic.

Eric is not sure how long this altered reality, in which he works from home, speaks with family and friends virtually most of the time, and sees his girlfriend during his limited social hours, will last. In the meantime, he’d like something in his life to move forward.

Matt and Eric are weighing their options. For Matt, the choice of college may well come down to the last picture of another student he sees before he pushes a button.

Choosing a college can, and likely should, involve more significant factors. Then again, both of the colleges line up so well that he is likely to have a similar experience, albeit with different people around him, at each school.

Eric’s decision, however, isn’t so interchangeable. It involves a leap of faith that those of us who are married have made that relies on our own criteria. We can consult family, friends, and counselors as we weigh the pros and cons, but, ultimately, the responsibility and opportunity rest with us.

Coming up with his own questions and his own scale to evaluate the relationship is challenging, particularly when everything seems somewhere between good and great right now. He can’t possibly know what life will look like in two, five, 10 or 20 years from now.

I don’t envy either Matt or Eric as they contemplate these decisions. I do, however, agree with Matt’s parents: he can’t go wrong. For Eric, the decision has more significant longer-term ramifications and likely reflects variables that are difficult to imagine, particularly amid the uncertainty of the present.

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METRO photo
Leah Dunaief

By Leah S. Dunaief

Would you like to be different? Would you like to change your personality? Perhaps you would like to be more extroverted. Or more open to new experiences. Or even just more organized. Well, thanks to the pandemic, here is your chance. 

People can and do successfully change their personalities even as adults. Now we are about to emerge from the isolation of lockdown and quarantine and rejoin the larger world. The stage is set for a new you. But this transformation will take work. To start, one could embrace the “As If Principle,” proposed by Richard Wiseman, a psychology professor at the University of Hertfordshire in England. This would require one to behave as if one were already that different person, and after a time, the new behavior and the person would sync. Famously, that is the story the debonair Cary Grant told of his early life, which started on the Bristol docks as Archie Leach and wound up at the pinnacle in Hollywood. “I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person. Or he became me,” Grant said, according to the British newspaper, The Guardian.

An article in the April 11 issue of The New York Times took up this subject. Headlined, “You Can Be a New You After the Pandemic,” written by Olga Khazan, the story states the following. “Researchers have found that adults can change the five traits that make up personality — extroversion, openness to experience, emotional stability, agreeableness and conscientiousness — within just a few months.” 

Another psychology professor, this one at Columbia University, asserts a similar theme. Geraldine Downey, who studies social rejection, has found that “socially excluded people who want to become part of a group are better off if they assume that other people will like them. They should behave as if they are the popular kid. Getting into social interactions expecting the worst, as many socially anxious people do, tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.” In another example of change, “people were able to become more extroverted or conscientious in four months just by listing the ways they’d like to change and what steps they would take to get there,” according to the NYT article. If one wants to be more outgoing, one can make a list of upcoming events in which to interact or persons to call for lunches, and after enough such efforts, the act becomes natural.

It can help in this transformation to see a therapist, research recommends. One such example described a person with neuroticism, “a trait responsible for anxiety and rumination.” After a short burst of therapy, in which the “warm, comforting presence” of a therapist encouraged the idea that the client is a valued person, neuroticism receded, and the studies showed the effect lasted for at least a year.

But not everyone can afford a therapist. Mirjam Stieger, a postdoctoral researcher at Brandeis University, and her colleagues developed an app that “reminded people to perform small tasks to help tweak their personalities, like “talk to a stranger when you go grocery shopping,” to prompt extroversion. The app then asks them if they had done that. According to the study, after three months, the change had stuck.

Agreeableness, by the way, involves “greater empathy and concern for others.” And so, being agreeable after this pandemic could mean being gentler toward one another. We now know, for example, how much essential workers sacrificed during the pandemic, many even their lives. That would suggest greater kindness and patience toward someone who, during the pre-pandemic, might just have been dismissed as annoying. We don’t know what exactly has been that person’s recent experience. At least that can be a conscious thought to modify behavior in what otherwise might have been a contentious situation.

For those who wish to change or live differently, as the NYT article says, “your personality is more like a sand dune than a stone.”

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'Nomadland' is TBR News Media's movie reviewer's pick for Best Picture this year.

By Jeffrey Sanzel

On Sunday, April 25, the 93rd Academy Awards will be held at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center. The show will air live on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. Producer Steven Soderbergh has promised this year’s presentation to be completely different. With no live audience, COVID restrictions, and a host of other challenges, he promises an experience like no other Oscars. Okay. Sure. Whatever. But it still comes down to who wins and who loses.

Whether you’ve seen one or most or (the unicorn of movie-watching) all of the nominees, you have an opinion. Often, it’s the negative: “I can’t believe [insert title/actor/director/costume designer here] was nominated! That was the worst [movie/acting/direction/costume design].” “Did you see it?” you will ask. “Well, no. But I heard it was …” 

Heated discussions, office pools, gatherings, and myriad Facebook posts consume the battleground. And, of course, everything comes down to personal taste. (I have a weakness for large manor houses where they iron the newspapers. Thank you, Downton Abbey.) Here is a very personal assessment. And while I don’t know if it will find agreement, hopefully there won’t be too much gnashing of teeth.

It is a tight race for Best Actor in a Leading Role, with five worthy candidates. Riz Ahmed has one of those visceral roles as a drummer losing his hearing in Sound of Metal. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Steven Yeun’s young father in Minari; it is a small, quiet performance of deep nuance with a delicate mix of pain and hope in every moment. Anthony Hopkins hits all the right notes as a contrasting patriarch in The Father. Hopkins presents a devastating look at the torments of dementia. While there are glimpses of kindness — particularly in the final moments — it is a colder performance. Gary Oldman is exceptional in all he does; he is a true chameleon. But he won in 2018 for his Winston Churchill. Screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz in Mank, working on Citizen Kane, while engaging, doesn’t compare in gravitas. Chadwick Boseman’s musician Levee in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was extraordinary, building up to one of the finest performed monologues in cinematic history. The award — sadly posthumous — is his — and rightfully so.

Best Actress in a Leading Role offers a range of possibilities. Viola Davis is mesmerizing as Ma Rainey; her performance is jaw-dropping in scope, fire, and nuance, and she is almost unrecognizable. That makes for a winning combination. What might cancel out Davis is Andra Day’s competing performance as another musical icon in The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Both Vanessa Kirby and Frances McDormand (always a favorite) give powerful performances that dominated their films — Pieces of a Woman and Nomadland, respectively. Carey Mulligan — also seen giving a completely different performance in The Dig — is both harrowing and enigmatic in her portrait of revenge in Promising Young Woman; while not the kind of role that usually attracts high-profile awards, she could challenge Davis. But McDormand is still in the running with her multi-dimensional turn. This category is truly anyone’s game.

Equally hard to predict is Best Actor in a Supporting Role. While voters love a comedic actor in a serious role, Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7) is the least likely to win. As Sound of Metal didn’t get the viewers, this would also put Paul Raci at the back of the pack. With the remaining three — Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield in Judas and the Black Messiah and Leslie Odom, Jr. in One Night in Miami — it is Kaluuya as Black Panther leader Fred Hampton who will most likely take the trophy. There is always the possibility of a split vote with Stanfield, which could move Odom, Jr. or even Raci’s Viet Nam vet to the front.

As for the Best Actress in a Supporting Role nominees, Amanda Seyfried brings a hint of complexity to Mank’s Marion Davies, but it gets lost in the overall clutter of the film. And while Maria Bakalova has garnered accolades for Borat 2, the movie has divided audiences. Olivia Colman is beautifully measured as the daughter in The Father and, in another season, might have won. The oft-nominated Glenn Close does some of her best work in Hillbilly Elegy; like Oldman, she is unrecognizable. However, the film itself had so much political backlash that unfortunately makes a win very unlikely. I predict Youn Yuh-jung is going to receive the Oscar. Her grandmother in Minari is a wealth of surprises, eschews every expectation, and is the film’s heartbeat.

I am reluctant to pick a winner for Best Director as I have always felt the award is tied to the Best Picture (or perhaps should be). Unlikely are Thomas Vinterberg for Another Round and David Fincher for Mank. Lee Isaac Chung’s work might be too subtle in Minari, lacking in grand strokes. Emerald Fennell has done an exceptional job shaping Promising Young Woman, but I think the award will go to Chloé Zhao for the heartfelt guidance she has given to Nomadland.

Of the eight nominees for Best Picture, The Father is least likely to win. While memorable, its stage roots show. Sound of Metal has not gotten the traction that it needs to move up in the ranks. Mank is probably too much of an insider’s look into the film business. Promising Young Woman’s black comedy edge may be too much for much of its audience. The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Judas and the Black Messiah overlap in their portrayal of a time of political turmoil and intersect with portrayals of the murdered Black Panther Hampton. They are both historical and yet very timely, with the latter film being a stronger possibility. But it is the devastating, universal Nomadland (recipient of the Golden Globe for Best Drama) that will most likely take this year’s crown.

And that ends a very narrow, biased, wholly random assessment of a few of the upcoming Academy Award categories. Time — and Sunday night — will tell.

(Oh, and while there are some very fine works nominated for Best Animated Feature, my money is completely on Soul.)

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