Thanks to everyone who came out to the Street Festival in October, and helped make it such a fantastic event! And a special thank you to all who stopped by the Share Your Story™ booth and related your personal stories. We had a blast, and are looking forward to seeing you all again next year. As Twitter user creativemf says: “@92Y is so hot right now.”
92Y Video: MindCapsules™ - One Life, One Lesson, One Minute with Susie Essman
For our next video in the MindCapsules™ series, Susie Essman offered some sage advice to the question, “What Advice Would You Give The Children in Your Life?”
In a nutshell, she said: pay attention. Almost verbatim, she offered the same advice we heard repeatedly from our own mother:
Pay attention. And I really believe that’s the key to life. If you pay attention, you’re not depressed. If you pay attention, you’re living your life, you’re not watching your life. And most important, pay attention to your own feelings.”
Watch the full video above, and check out past MindCapsules™ here.
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.”
We took to the streets this past Sunday for the 92Y Street Fest, and thanks to all who braved the morning rain to come out! Continuing the Share Your Story video series, we set up our video booth to capture your stories. Featured in the video above is Melissa, who attended class at 92Y as a child. She still has the trophy she was awarded for winning a relay race while a student here. Melissa, if you’re watching, we want to see that trophy!
As part of the 92Y Street Fest, we offered a coupon good for a 10% discount on classes and events. We would like to extend that offer to our blog readers through Oct 30, 2009. Use discount code FALL when ordering event tickets online or by phone. Please note: When purchasing classes, you must order by phone: 212.415.5500, to utilize the discount code. We can not accept the discount code for classes online.
Regular prices vary. Discount cannot be combined with any other offers and does not apply to prior sales. Not Applicable toward Health & Fitness memberships. Restrictions apply. Offer valid through 10.30.09. Discount is valid for first time enrollment only for the following 92nd Street Y programs: Noar Afterschool, Connect Jewish Afterschool, Private Music Instruction, 60+ membership or Parent Center Membership.
Offer is not valid for subscription tickets nor is it valid for Summer Camp, Flying Dolphins Swim Team or Gymnastics Team registrations.
10% discount not valid for online class registrations.
The 92nd Street Y Street Festival on Sunday, on Lexington Ave between 79th and 94th Street, is going to happen rain or shine – we’ll have our information booths and other activities out on the street, a farmer’s market, International Way, and lots more (barring an actual monsoon… or whiteout, depending on the temperature)! BUT… since we’re guessing there may be more “rain” than “shine,” we’re bringing our FREE ENTERTAINMENT indoors. So if you need a place to hide out or dry out, here’s the schedule:
For EVERYONE…now in our Kaufmann Concert Hall!
12:00 – Swiss Accordion Player Christoph Grieder
12:15 - Swing Dance with Myrna Caceras
12:40 – Social Dance with the Sandra Cameron Dancers
1:00 – Tango with Karina Romero & Dardo Galletto
1:15 - Adult Flamenco Class with JoDe “La Chispa” Romano & Students
1:40 - 92Y Dance 75th Anniversary Performance Highlights
2:00 – Rock duo featuring guitarist Chris Bergson
2:30 - Americana/Rock singer Ann Klein with Alison Cornell
3:00 – Salsa Dance with Jose Rosario & Yvonne Vasquez
3:30 - Middle Eastern dance with Blanca
3:45 – DJ Peter Borenstein
4:25 – Gregorio Uribe Big Band (Colombia)
FOR PARENTS AND KIDS…The WONDERPLAY Stage moves to Warburg Lounge (off the lobby) - Sponsored by Stonyfield
12 - Sing & Shout with Karina Zilberman
12:30 – SoundGarden demo by Jessie Murphy
12:50 – Musical IQ
1:20 - Sing & Shout with Karina Zilberman
1:45 - Hop on Stage and Dance with Mari Lopez
2:15 – Musical IQ
2:45 - Swiss Accordion Player Christoph Grieder
3:00 – DJ Peter Borenstein
3:40 - Sing & Shout with Karina Zilberman
4:10 - 92Y Teen Tap Team with Juli Greenberg
And don’t forget to take advantage of rain-or-shine Street Festival specials:
10% Off tickets and class registration from Sunday through Friday, Oct 23
$0 Down on May Center memberships – Sunday through Tuesday, Oct 20
New fitness, art, music and dance classes start in October and November at the May Center and School of the Arts (shorter, more economical sessions)!
The nursery school students at 92Y beautifully decorated the 92Y Sukkah, photographed above, which is on display in our lobby. Thanks kids, we love it!
View all 92Y Jewish Life events, and subscribe to the Jewish Life & Culture email list and save 15% on events.
Are You Ready for Life (Part 2)? Phil Donahue, Evan Handler, Gail Sheehy and others
The new season of Life (Part 2) is coming to PBS soon! The first episode will air on Sep 16. Life (Part 2) offers lively conversation from an eclectic mix of writers, thinkers, performers, and ordinary people, on how they can overcome the obstacles that come with aging to live a vibrant and fulfilling second part of life. In the clip above, PBS hit the streets to find out what annoys Baby Boomers about twenty somethings and vice versa.
And on Oct 7, join us at 92Y with some of the guests featured in the series and others, such as as Phil Donahue, Evan Handler, Gail Sheehy, Robert A.F. Thurman, Faye Wattleton, and Robert Lipsyte as moderator as they discuss the issues and questions raised in the series.
If you have questions for the panelists, leave it here in the comments, with your name and age, and we might use it on stage!
Life Cycle Ceremonies – Baby Naming Ceremonies with Karina Zilberman
Wendy M., a parent who, daughter in tow, attends Karina Zilberman’s Tot Shabbat on Friday mornings. After having another child, She recalled the “sweetness and joy” of Karina, and her presence that emanated to the children who enjoyed the class so much. “I wanted that feeling and sentiment for my daughter’s baby naming,” said, and knowing the 92nd Street Y offers Life Cycle Celebrations at the 92nd Street Y: Baby Naming Ceremonies, she decided to call Karina. Wendy sent 92Y a note about her experience that day:
Karina was very kind and helpful in every aspect of the planning. She was especially understanding and respectful of my own, unique, personal circumstances. She helped me personalize the ceremony, suggested some prayers and poems and helped me choose my daughter’s Hebrew name.
The ceremony was held in the 92nd Street Y [Weill Art Gallery] and everything went perfectly. The room was set-up on time and someone from the Jewish Life staff helped oversee the logistics. When we were ready, Karina started singing a negun which set the tone for the ceremony to begin.
There were many tears that day, but they were all tears of joy. My friends and family thought the ceremony was very meaningful and remarked that it was a special day for them. For me, it was one of the most special days of my life.
Thanks Karina and thanks to everyone at the 92nd Street Y for such a memorable day.
Thanks to you as well, Wendy. We’re glad to have been able to be of service on such an important day for you and your daughter.
Wonderplay and Wonderplay Too Books Now Available on Amazon’s Kindle
Wonderplay, the popular parent’s guide to active child’s play and Wonderplay, Too, the follow-up book by Fretta Reitzes, director of the 92nd Street Y’s Lillian & Sol Goldman Family Center for Youth & Family, and Beth Teitelman, former director of the Parenting Center, are now both available for Amazon’s Kindle Reader. You can continue to purchase them in book form here on our website as well.
The book has received enthusiastic reviews from an impressive lineup of experts, such as Tiki Barber (former NFL star player for the New York Giants), Michael Thompson, PhD (psychologist, lecturer, author of New York Times best-seller Raising Cain), and Gail Saltz, MD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry, New York Presbyterian Hospital and NBC TODAY show contributor).
When teens come to the Y, there is a teen lounge outfitted with a television, computers, air hockey, video games, magazines and a stereo for teens to hand and meet new people.
Yes, air hockey and video games. Read the full article here.
We were happy to report (via Twitter, of course!) on our class montage video created for the launch of our fall season class schedule— and some people were excited to see it. So watch the video above and see away! If you’re feeling adventurous, leave a comment and tell us your thoughts.
There is, literally, something for everyone. Enrollment is now open, and some of those classes fill up very quickly, so browse the list and make your choice.
Another week has passed. With that, we have another cheat sheet of highlights on the blog this week:
Pianist Jenny Lin was featured on WNYC’s blog, Soundcheck, two days after we reminded you that she offers private piano lessons here at 92Y.
Again in sync with WNYC, (hey good culture is good culture!) there was a post on The Newman Lecture: Richard Dawkins with Robert Krulwich on Evolution.
Park Slope and bloggers across New York City were intoxicated with the news that Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker might have bought a home in the Slope. Then the New York Times came and spolied everyone’s fun.
Christian Tetzlaff, the long distant runner of classical violinists will be playing a marathon performance this fall of Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas
How-To Write a Blog Post About How-To Make How-To’s
Via Twitter we asked: “...if we made a how-to video, what would you like to see? How-to what? ‘How to be Anna Wintour?’ ‘How to swim laps?’”
Our followers, who we LOVE, responded with awesome ideas. @greenpointmom suggested a how-to live like Anna Wintour on a budget, how-to blow dry your own hair, tennis lessons, and how-to “make a Starbucks triple venti latte in your work pantry.” @Jawsh_E chimed in with: “how to make a how to video on making a how to video.” And @Chriz10 from the Netherlands suggested: “How to....lay on the grass in Central Park...”
We really want to make these videos. In the meantime...let’s see what we have here in our little box of keepsakes under the desk that might be similar.
Here’s Anna Wintour talking about what she looks for in employees. Beauty tid-bits from Why Smart Women Still Care About Their Looks. Our Maycenter Health and Fitness page has a video, and though we’ve no tennis courts here, we do have everything else under the sun, including handball, which is like tennis, right?
A “How-to make a latte” video might be right up food historian and author Francine Segan’s alley, who is a frequent guest here and has discussed the topic of coffee before. The “How-to make a how-to make a video” will be a fun one to make. As you may or may not know, we like to make videos.
Lastly, there was our favorite suggestion for a video on “How to....lay on the grass in Central Park...enjoying the view, the joggers and the people eating their lunch out of brown paper bags.” Again, a superb idea. We enjoy Central Park as much as the next person, and have some upcoming classed and events there. Such as a Watercolor in Central Park class, Gouache Painting in Central Park, and the Central Park in the Dark—Nocturnal Creature Tour. Clearly we will need to bring the camera along next time and do a quick how-to lay in the park video.
An article in the Associated Press by Ann Levin explores the subject of adult learning, by “so called life-learners.” The U.S. Department of Education estimates that about 20% of adults takes classes taught at colleges, community centers, libraries and other venues, such as here at the 92nd Street Y. Adults such as Kumar Shah who has taken writing classes at 92Y since semi-retiring from his career in corporate finance, where he earned a reputation for a “pretty decent way with words.”
92Y the AP notes, has: ”more than 4,000 classes, some taught by leading scholars and writers such as Frank McCourt and Margaret Atwood.”
“You get a lot of value in taking a course,” said Sean Gallagher, program director and senior analyst at Eduventures, a higher education research and consulting firm. “If you take a course for $200 and it meets weekly for eight weeks, that’s a lot of value compared to some other activities.”
Have you clicked around our interactive camps map yet? Go ahead and click it above, and check out the fire truck that has been converted into a play structure, the pool, amphitheater, and dozens more attraction and activities at 92Y Camps. That fire truck, by the way, is wildly popular, as anyone familiar with Ivan Ulz’s famous song can tell you.
If you want your kids to be exposed to everything under the sun this summer, send them down to Camp Yomi. Campers are encouraged to participate in every activity offered, which include a mix of sports, music, jewelry making, cartooning, cooking, filmmaking, nature and much more. Kids also get their feet wet twice daily through both instructional and free swim programs.
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Karina was very kind and helpful in every aspect of the planning. She was especially understanding and respectful of my own, unique, personal circumstances. She helped me personalize the ceremony, suggested some prayers and poems and helped me choose my daughter’s Hebrew name.
