n4_92Y_websiten4_92YTribeca_website
92Y Blog
Humanities

Friday, November 06, 2009
We Didn’t Quite Hear You, Can You Repeat That Please?

  • “Researchers found that exposure to subway noise levels for two hours or, at one 102.1-decibel-loud station, as little as two minutes a day could damage hearing."–L Magazine: Subway Noise is Making You Deaf.

  • “Noise is the number one complaint to the City’s 311 citizen service hotline, currently averaging nearly 1,000 calls a day."–CityMayors.com: New York Mayor in fight against noise pollution

  • The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Noise Abatement and Control was defunded in 1982. The Noise Control Act of 1972 and the Quiet Communities Act of 197: “...remain in effect today, although essentially unfunded."–EPA.gov

    Living in New York City is a privilege people all over the world fantasize about. It can also be challenging and stressful, particularly when dealing with the noise. Noise is not only a nuisance, as the information noted above shows. Studies have also shown it is a hazard to our physical and mental health.

    To learn more about these issues, and new strategies to preserve and improve hearing for life, join audiologist Craig A. Kasper on Nov 17 for Healthy Hearing, Healthy Life. Explore the link between healthy hearing and overall well-being. May Center Members will receive more than %50 off ticket prices when calling 212.415.5500 to purchase tickets.

    Upcoming events at 92Y:

  • The Healthy Power of Breath: Feb 23
  • Man to Man: An Afternoon Seminar: May 7

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



  • Thursday, November 05, 2009
    92Y Podcast: Ted Sorensen on John F. Kennedy

    Ted Sorensen, John F. Kennedy’s special counsel, speechwriter and close advisor, appeared at 92Y on May 6, 2008 to speak with foreign affairs expert Ralph Buultjens about his memoir, Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History and Kennedy’s legacy.You can listen to the full program above.

    Related: On Dec 10 at 92Y, Katie Couric will moderate a Special Celebration of the Life of Senator Edward M. Kennedy with Vicki Reggie Kennedy and Ted Kennedy Jr.

    You can also download the MP3. [27 MB]
    [Right-click and select "Save Target As:" or equivalent to download.]

    Subscribe with iTunes Subscribe with iTunes or add our podcast feed to your RSS news reader and have future 92nd Street Y podcasts delivered automatically.

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



    Jeff Corwin on Animal Extinction

    100 Heartbeats is the next premiere in MSNBC’s landmark Future Earth series. This 2-hour special, reported by famed naturalist and biologist Jeff Corwin, tells the story of the “Sixth Extinction” — an extinction of our planet’s wild species caused by people and which can only be stopped by people. The show is the basis for a book of the same name, 100 Heartbeats: A Journey to Meet Our Planet’s Endangered Animals and the Heroes Working to Save Them soon to be released

    To hear more from Corwin in person, you can visit 92Y this Sunday, Nov 8, where Corwin will talk about the effect humans have had on our planet’s inhabitants, many which are on the brink of extinction, and conservation efforts made for endangered species and ecosystems around the globe. Use discount code “COR” at checkout to purchase a ticket for only $10, and tell your friends who share concern in these matters. Jeff will be available for a book signing after the event.

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



    92Y Video: Frank Bruni with Mike Colameco


    As part of our series of Food Talks, last Sunday the New York Times‘ Frank Bruni—their recently departed restaurant critic—joined Mike Colameco, host and producer of Public Television’s Colameco’s Food Show, for a candid discussion about Bruni’s life and career thus far. We’ve recapped some highlights in the video above with a few bullet points: 

  • On calorie counting, Colameco asks Bruni, whose new book Born Round, documents his life-long battle with weight and unhealthy eating:

    “Do you keep track of calories? ...Especially as a critic, you’re obliged to eat...you’re supposed to eat food. And a lot of food. And taste everybody else’s food. And swallow. Well, calories.” Bruni playfully replied, “That almost sounded dirty.”

  • About the expense of maintaining a food critic at a paper like the New York Times, Bruni explained: “I never had them reduce my dining out budget. I know they haven’t reduced it for my successor Sam Sifton. It’s one of the most expensive beats to maintain.” Maintaining this is important he argues, so the readers know they are getting: “...a considered opinion based on at least three restaurants visits, based on a thorough canvassing of the menu, and based on money spent by the paper.” According to Bruni, that might not always be the case with restaurant criticism elsewhere, particularly online, where arrangements might be clouding the reviews:

    “A lot of the stuff you see online, a lot of it’s lively, a lot of it’s great, some of it has a lot of integrity, “ he said, “but some of it, you have no idea. You’re reading it because that’s a restaurant in which the person writing it dines for free, frequently.

    ...You know at least when you read the Times, there’s utter economic independence of the critic.”

  • On restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow, who placed a full page ad in the New York Times attacking Bruni after receiving zero stars from the critic, both men verbally jabbed him: “I don’t know how you can write many flattering reviews of any of his restaurants,” Colameco opined. Bruni chuckled, and continued: “You might have to look long and hard in the archives to find a flattering review of a Jeffrey Chodorow restaurant.

  • On anonymity and how important it is, or isn’t, to the job. Bruni related stories he heard about the lengths some restaurants went to neutralize a surprise visit from a critic, including sentries posted on the street corners nearby, employees whose sole job is to stand in the restaurants lobby keeping an eye out, or chefs who will make two dishes of everything for a critics table, picking the best one to serve. So it is more important to make sure they don’t know you are coming, as opposed to staying anonymous once there, he argued. What they can’t do without a lengthy advance notice, is to rework the menu, change the staff, or make a new run to the market for fresher food. “You will still get a...fundamentally honest experience at the restaurant.”

  • The evening ended with Bruni and Colameco offering recommendations for various restaurants and bakeries, or more accurately, where they have been spending their money as of late. Peasant on Elizabeth Street in Manhattan was mentioned, Bruni said he was a “big fan.” Vinegar Hill House in Brooklyn was mentioned as a “nice experience for the money,” and Veloce Pizzeria in the East Village was called: “a very pleasant place.” Levain Bakery on 74th Street was held up as a place that does very limited things, but what they do, they do “really, really well.” Bouchon Bakery, the bakery at Petrossian, and any place Karen Demasco or Kate Zuckerman hang their hat at were also given mention as places and people deserving praise for their pastries.

    Upcoming food talks at 92Y:

  • Max Brenner: For the Love of Chocolate: Nov 15
  • Jews and Chinese Food: A Love Affair: Dec 20

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



  • Wednesday, November 04, 2009
    Ken Auletta with David Remnick: Google and Beyond

    imageI Want Media.com’s Patrick Phillips interviewed The New Yorker‘s media columnist Ken Auletta on his just published book, Google: The End of the World as We Know It.

    CEO Eric Schmidt told you that Google is poised to become the first $100 billion media company. So it’s official: Google now defines itself as a “media company”?

    Auletta: Yes, and the media companies that wail about Google’s power attest to this as well.

    Won’t such a definition offend Google’s content partners in traditional media?

    Auletta: Yes, that’s the delicate balancing act most companies must make in the new world. The word “frenemy” was invented to describe companies that are both collaborators and competitors.

    Google is a media company in terms of generating advertising revenues, not producing content. Is there any indication that Google could enter content production?

    Auletta: Google co-founder Larry Page and CEO Eric Schmidt told me that they had discussed buying the New York Times, but in the end decided that if they succeeded it would sabotage their identity as a neutral search engine. The reason they are interested in preserving the New York Times is that Google’s search engine depends on good information, and the Times is the world’s best newspaper.

    On the other hand, Google already produces content. It has made production deals to create content for YouTube. It established Knol, its effort to compete with Wikipedia. The tensions between remaining the Switzerland of search and pushing its own content will only grow.

    Battle lines, drawn? A very interesting interview, you can read the whole thing here. And on Nov 8, you can catch Ken with New Yorker editor David Remnick as they discuss the book and revelation’s contained within. Use code “KEN” at checkout to receive a 50% discount on your ticket price. A book signing will follow the event.

    Let’s watch the Epic 2015 and DARPA IXo Control Grid videos again just for haha’s.

    Upcoming lectures at 92Y:

  • Jeff Corwin on Animal Extinction: Nov 8
  • Bill Gates in Conversation with Matthew Bishop: The Business of Giving: Nov 11
  • An Exploration Of Adlerian Ideas: Understanding Dreams and Early Memories: An Adlerian Perspective: Nov 16

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



  • Amazon’s Best Books of 2009: Colum McCann’s “Let the Great World Spin: A Novel”

    image

    Amazon.com has unveiled their list of the best books of 2009. 22 selected works made the list, including novels by T.C. Boyle, Dave Eggers, and others. Via The Paris Review‘s Twitter page, we learned that 92Y Fiction Master Class teacher Colum McCann’s book, Let the Great World Spin: A Novel came in at No. 7. The Paris Review has an excerpt:

    Higher still, a helicopter executed a dipping turn over the Hudson—a curtsy to the fact that the summer day was going to be cloudy and cool anyway—and the rotors beat a rhythm over the warehouses of the West Side. At first the helicopter looked lopsided in its advance and a small side window was slid open as if the machine were looking for air. A lens appeared in the open window. It caught a brief flash of light. After a moment the helicopter corrected beautifully and spun across the expanse.

    Some cops on the West Side Highway switched on their misery lights and swerved fast off the exit ramps, making the morning all the more magnetic.

    A charge entered the air all around the watchers and—now that the day had been made official by sirens—there was a chatter among them, their balance set on edge, their calm fading, and they turned to each other and began to speculate: would he jump, would he fall, would he tiptoe along the ledge, did he work there, was he solitary, was he a decoy, was he wearing a uniform, did anyone have binoculars? Perfect strangers touched one another on the elbows. Swear words went between them, and whispers that there’d been a botched robbery, that he was some sort of cat burglar, that he’d taken hostages, he was an Arab, a Jew, a Cypriot, an IRA man, that he was really just a publicity stunt, a corporate scam: DRINK MORE COCA-COLA, EAT MORE FRITOS, SMOKE MORE PARLIAMENTS, SPRAY MORE LYSOL, LOVE MORE JESUS.

    McCann and fellow novelist John Banville (The Sea, The Infinities) will be here for a reading on Feb 24. You may purchase tickets here. For those 35 and under, tickets are $10.

    Browse all upcoming readings in the 92Y Poetry Center Main Reading Series.

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



    Tuesday, November 03, 2009
    92Y Video: Susie Essman with Joy Behar


    As part of our Funny People series, actress and comedian Susie Essman (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Joy Behar, a cohost of ABC’s The View, sat down to talk about careers, family, husbands, and lesbianism, among other topics. In the highlights above, hear why Susie used to pray for lesbianism to strike her, the relationship between Susie and her father, Joy Behar being parodied on SNL, and what Susie would tell Dick Cheney if given the chance.

    Upcoming lectures at 92Y:

  • Jewish Comedians: On Woody Allen: Nov 19
  • Raquel Welch With Leonard Lopate: Jan 12
  • All upcoming Lectures & Conversations

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



  • Monday, November 02, 2009
    92Y Video: Share Your Story™: Matt Bishop

    With the elections taking place tomorrow in New York City and around the country, we have a timely update to the Share Your Story™ series. In the video above, 27-year-old Matt Bishop, resident of Astoria, Queens, stepped in front of the camera at the Share Your Story™ booth during the 92Y Street Fest. Bishop told us he spends most of his time doing what he really believes in, public service. Being involved in local politics and policy, being involved in your community, Bishop argues, is the most effective way to change things:

    I hope that people will realize that they’re part of a community, and they’re part of something that is much bigger than themselves. And I hope people get involved in politics, whatever your politics are...because when we step out of this democratic process, you have all sorts all of special interests that step in.

    See all the videos currently in the series, here.

    Previously:

  • Share Your Story: Martha
  • Share Your Story: Melissa
  • Share Your Story: Vail Barrett

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



  • This Week at 92Y

    image
    Clockwise from top left: Harkness Dance Center 75th Anniversary Gala, Mitch Albom, Gaetano Pesce

      Fri, Nov 6
    • Shababa Bakery: Squish, roll and braid your very own challah and take it home to bake.

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



    Friday, October 30, 2009
    92Y Video: MindCapsules™ - One Life, One Lesson, One Minute with Anthony DeCurtis


    Anthony DeCurtis sits in front of the camera for the 92Y MindCapsules™ video series, and offers one life lesson learned that is very helpful: “Don’t take it personally.”

    I think that when I was younger certainly, that was something that tripped me up a lot. I mean, I tended to kind of respond in a very personal way to situations that was either, innapropriate, or beside the point. You know, I think the more you can distant yourself, and have a little bit of perspective...”

    Wise, wise words from a wise, wise man. This brings back so many cringe-inducing memories when we did not practice this advice. View previous MindCapsules™ with Malcolm Gladwell and Lewis Black.

    Upcoming events at 92Y:

  • Gail Collins with Nora Ephron: Women Come of Age: Jan 12
  • Revitalizing and Reinventing Your Life: Jan 31
  • Wallace Shawn With Anthony Arnove: Thoughts On Creativity: Feb 1

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



  • Special Offer: Receive 50% Off for Mitch Albom on Nov 4

    imageWe recently invited our Twitter followers to submit questions for writer and broadcaster Mitch Albom in advance of his appearance Nov 4. Albom will discuss his new book, Have a Little Faith: A True Story, and the characters contained within, Albert Lewis, rabbi of Albom’s childhood synagogue in Cherry Hill, N.J.  and Rev. Henry Covington of Detroit. Mercury News.com writes:

    Covington is doing good work through his I Am My Brother’s Keeper ministry, using the church to provide food, clothing and shelter to the city’s homeless — more than 100 on some nights. At the same time, Covington isn’t able to heat the expansive old building or repair the hole in the roof that allows wind, rain and snow to enter the 1,200-seat sanctuary.

    Albom learns of Covington’s plight and writes about it in his column in the Detroit Free Press. He donates time and money to get the heat turned back on in time for Christmas Eve services last year.

    “That was just disgusting,” Albom says one recent night while visiting the church. “It’s unforgivable. I know this is a poor city, but nobody needs to be that poor if they’re trying to be faithful.”

    We would like to extend a special offer for our blog readers who would like to attend Albom’s event Nov 4. Purchase tickets for Mitch Albom and use code MCF9 at checkout to receive 50% off the ticket price.

    Upcoming events at 92Y:

  • Howie Mandel: Dec 2
  • Jim Cramer: Wall Street Confidential: Dec 3
  • Raquel Welch With Leonard Lopate: Jan 12

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



  • New York Times Looks at “Exotic Bets” in Financial Markets

    “When the global markets plummeted after Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in September last year,” the New York Times reports, “a handful of alternative investments remained stable or even made money for investors.” Among that handful were managed futures.

    imageDavid M. Darst, chief investment strategist of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, calls managed futures “financial Tylenol.” “Managed futures tend to do well during periods of great market volatility,” he said.

    By way of example, Mr. Darst pointed to the period from the beginning of 2000 until the end of 2002, when the technology bubble burst and the economy was last in a recession. During that three-year period, managed futures gained about 22 percent on average, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell roughly 38 percent, he said.

    More recently, from September 2007 until the present, managed futures have gained around 20 percent on average, while the S.& P. 500 index has lost about 30 percent, according to Lipper, the fund tracking firm.

    Mr. Darst said that one advantage managed futures had over hedge funds was liquidity. Some managed futures funds allow investors to take their money out monthly, while hedge funds typically have quarterly or annual redemptions. Mr. Darst said that managed futures funds could do this because the futures traded on public exchanges, while hedge funds often owned illiquid assets.

    This Monday, Nov 2, learn more from David at 92Y when he speaks about asset allocation in challenging times, part of our subscription series: Investment Strategies for the Individual Investor.

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



    Tuesday, October 27, 2009
    92Y Video: Vivian Gussin Paley at 92Y Wonderplay Conference 2008

    In the video clip above, early childhood education researcher and recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship Vivian Gussin Paley speaks at last years Wonderplay Early Childhood Learning Conference, an all-day conference for early childhood educators. She touches on the importance of imagination and play in childrens’ development, as well as suggesting the most important aspect between a teacher and child:

    You, one on one, can be kind to each child. You need no permission from anyone to look every child in the eye and make the child understand how you respect him and her and how you want to carry on this conversation, and how much you love the child’s play and talk, and everything about the child…

    ...You will never do a more important thing in your life. This is the great gift we give to each child everyday.”

    Registrations for this year’s 92Y Wonderplay Early Childhood Learning Conference are being accepted now. Forms are online here.

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



    Monday, October 26, 2009
    On Orhan Pamuk and Vladimir Nabokov

    image
    Photo: Orhan Pamuk and Vladimir Nabokov

    For this month’s Fiction Podcast in The New Yorker with fiction editor Deborah Treisman, novelist Orhan Pamuk reads from Vladimir Nabokov’s My Russian Education. We found the podcast quite interesting, particularly Pamuk’s choice to read Nabokov.

    Pamuk will make his first appearance at 92Y on Nov 9, when he reads from his novel, The Museum of Innocence. And on Nov 16, the Poetry Center presents: A Celebration of Vladimir Nabokov with Martin Amis, Brian Boyd, Chip Kidd and others. This will be a notable event where The Original of Laura is read and discussed, which only exists because the manuscript was saved against Nabokov’s dying wishes.

    Tickets to Orhan Pamuk and A Celebration of Vladimir Nabokov are on sale now, and are just $10 for those 35 and under.

    [92Y Main Reading Series]

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



    Pitch a Question to Mitch

    image

    Do you follow us on Twitter? If not, we would invite you to do so. We have a good time over there. For instance, as seen in the screengrab above, we are soliciting questions from our Twitter audience for the Mitch Albom event on Nov 4.

    Head over to Twitter, @reply us with your question for Mitch, and if used in the Q&A that evening you will win tickets to an upcoming lecture of your choice, subject to availability.

    [92Y Twitter]

    » Follow us on imageFacebook and imageTwitter. Join our imageeNews



      Next Page

    Page 1 of 68 pages
    Highlights from the
    92nd Street Y and 92YTribeca universe.
    About the 92nd Street Y
    About 92YTribeca
    Contact Us
    Support Us

    Sort By:
    92nd Street Y Topics:
    92nd Street Y News
    The Arts
    Humanities
    Jewish Life
    Family
    Fitness
    Interviews
    Podcasts
    Tell Me Why
    92YTribeca Topics:
    Music
    Film
    Theater
    Comedy
    Jewish Programs
    Talks
    Family Programs
    Cafe
    Tribeca Podcasts
    Search 92Y Blog

    Advanced Search
    Archives
    <   November 2009   >
    s m t w t f s
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7
    8 9 10 11 12 13 14
    15 16 17 18 19 20 21
    22 23 24 25 26 27 28
    29 30

    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    Recent Entries
    Next Week at 92YTribeca
    Places of Interest When You Visit 92Y
    We Didn’t Quite Hear You, Can You Repeat That Please?
    Appetite City: A Journey Through the History of New York’s Restaurants
    92Y Podcast: Ted Sorensen on John F. Kennedy
    Subscribe
    RSS Feed
    Mobile Version
    Email

    UJA Federation of New York

    Contact Us | Privacy Statement | Policies | Site Map | Help | Press Resources
    © 2008 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association
    All Rights Reserved. Click here for directions
    Web Accessibility and the 92nd Street Y