By Shawn Dell Joyce

In our culture, it often seems that our children are much more progressive than many of us stodgy old-schoolers. Most kids can text, download MP3 files, and tell you what their carbon footprint is without missing a beat. The rest of us probably have a hard time doing even one of those things.

Michele Daly, a senior at Washingtonville High School, in Washingtonville, N.Y., has been trying to get a recycling program going in her school for years. She and her friends are incensed that recyclables are tossed into the trash cans in the cafeteria. Daly and her friends are working with a Syracuse University Project Advance public affairs class to set up a recycling program in her high school.

The school’s principal and staff have been supportive of the children’s efforts, however no funding has been made available for recycling bins. Daly and her friends have been turning in recyclable bottles and cans and saving the money to pay for bins. So far, they have collected almost $50. Daly plans to ask charitable organizations to help.

Teegan Kennedy is a fourth-grade teacher at Goshen Intermediate School, in Goshen, N.Y. She has worked with her class to establish a yearlong recycling program in the school. Using her own money, she purchased recycling bins, which her students decorated and placed outside the doors of their classroom and the teachers room. The students wrote a compelling letter to the teachers urging them to use the new recycling containers. Every Friday, her class collects and weighs the paper and plastic and then posts the numbers on the doors to encourage more recycling.

So far, the kids have recycled 2,203 plastic items, including water bottles and yogurt containers, and 244 pounds of paper. While that may seem like a lot, it is only one classroom’s worth of waste. “We’re trying to let other people see that if all nine of our fourth-grade classes recycled roughly the same amount during the year, we would have recycled approximately 19,827 items. If all the third- and fifth-grade classes also participated in recycling, our numbers would be around 36,054.
Paper weight would be over 2 tons,” Kennedy says.

Now multiply Kennedy’s figures by the number of elementary schools across the country and the need to set up school recycling programs really adds up. Kennedy’s class has been graphing their recycling progress and is working on a school newspaper to encourage other classes to adopt their recycling and composting program.

“I would love to share with others what they have done. I think we’re at a critical point with our environment where people are finally starting to listen, and if a room full of 10-year-olds can do it, so can anybody else!”

Want to start a school recycling program?

—Decide what can be recycled, e.g., paper, plastic, printer cartridges, batteries, clothing, etc.

—Set up a committee or club responsible for the program.

—Determine who will get the recyclables to the transfer station. It could be a custodian, parent, volunteer or trash company.

—Determine where recyclables can be stored until transport.

—Count how many classrooms, lounges and cafeteria recycling containers will be needed, and raise money for containers.

—Have committee or club members make presentations to each classroom about the importance of recycling.

—Weigh and measure recyclables, and post this information for the whole school to see to encourage more recycling.

—Hold contests and competitions among grade levels or classrooms to see who can recycle the most.

—Try to fund the whole program by collecting bottle return money and selling arts and crafts from reused bottles and paper.

—Let the young people lead the way, and try to keep up!

Go to http://www.KidsRecycle.org. It is a great resource for teaching materials on starting a school recycling program.

Shawn@zestoforange.com

By Michael Kaufman

This was supposed to be a celebratory year for the New York Mets as they marked the 40th anniversary of the team’s first World Series victory and began the season in a spanking new state-of-the-art ballpark. But Citi (aka Bailout) Field has been something of a disappointment, mainly due to some sightline flaws, and the injury-plagued team has performed more like the Original Mets than the 1969 unit, finding ever more creative ways to lose ballgames.

So why is it that those early Mets teams were fun to watch, whereas the current version is barely watchable as the regular season winds down? The answer is multifactorial, but I will focus on one closest to my heart. It has to do with characters. Not character, which abounds among the players, who strive to play well even as they fall short in the majority of games.  Certainly no one can say that Jerry Manuel is lacking in character as he manages the team in futile pursuit of victories.  Manuel and the players do the best they can…but they aren’t characters. 

(Note to Omar Minaya: If you are going to put a terrible team on the field, make sure you include a few characters.) Sure, the Original Mets lost more ballgames than any team had ever lost before in one season, but they had a bunch of characters. Admittedly it is unfair to compare Manuel to Casey Stengel, one of the great characters in the history of the game. But it would help if Manuel didn’t speak in a dull monotone, mumbling like a guy on high-dose thorazine, during his post-game press conferences. I guess I expected more from the man, perhaps because he has a goatee.

Stengel managed a bizarre collection composed mainly of over-the-hill veterans and untalented young players. Exceptions included Richie Ashburn, who still possessed most of the skills that earned him a place in the Hall of Fame, and Ron Hunt, a scrappy young second baseman who was the first Met to be elected to the National League All-Star team. Hunt is best remembered for his specialty as a batter. He led the league in getting hit by the pitch.

Ashburn earned his place in the Hall of Fame as center fielder for the Phildelphia Phillies but when he was inducted in Cooperstown he couldn’t resist telling a few stories about his year with the Mets. He recalled that after several near collisions with Spanish-speaking shortstop Elio Chacon he realized that Chacon did not understand his shouts of, “I got it!” So he asked teammate Joe Christopher, who knew some Spanish, how to say it in Spanish and practiced until he had it memorized. Finally, on a fly ball to short left-center field he shouted, “Yo lo tengo!” and Chacon backed off. However, just as Ashburn was about to make the catch he was flattened by Frank (Big Donkey) Thomas, the burly left fielder, who did not understand Spanish.

Chacon, a weak hitter and not much of a fielder, either, nevertheless holds a special place in Mets lore. (For one thing, more than a few elderly Jewish fans believed the Mets had a Jewish guy on the team named Eliashu Cohen.) Chacon started the first triple play in Mets history on Memorial Day 1962 at the Polo Grounds. Willie Davis was the batter for the Dodgers and the play went Chacon to (second baseman) Felix Mantilla to Gil Hodges at first. 

Despite his .236 batting average, Chacon had an outstanding on-base percentage of .368 because he walked a lot (79 times in 449 at-bats). But he is probably best remembered for his part in a brawl at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays had spiked him sliding into second base on a pickoff play. The slightly built shortstop made the mistake of punching him in the head by way of retaliation. Mays picked him up and body slammed him a la Killer Kowalski.

Rod Kanehl was another early Met character of note. A weak hitter who could play any position in the field (not very well), he had a droll sense of humor. When the Mets were mathemematically eliminated from a chance to finish ninth in the 10-team National League, a sportswriter asked Kanehl how it would feel to play out the rest of the season knowing the team would finish in last place no matter what. “Takes the pressure off,” replied Kanehl.

Are you listening, Omar?

Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.

As summer draws to a close, mackerel skies hint of rain and autumn and the end of the growing season. Come to the Wallkill River School Gallery in Montgomery this month and see paintings from near and far, of summer and winter, by Carrie Jacobson and George Hayes. The show is open through Sept. 30; an artists’ reception takes place Saturday, Sept. 12, from 5-7 p.m. For information and directions, see the Wallkill River School site, in the list of links to the right.

Photography by Rich Gigli

Summer’s Passing

Waking up to the last day in spring, only to realize that summer would soon begin – budding leaves on the trees so bright, wallow in the full sunlight – fireflies shining in their merry flight, summoned the soul with heaven’s delight – now many long days of summer have past, only to welcome autumn’s colors at last.  (Gigli 2009) –  Photo was taken at Ringwood Manor State Park, N.J.

By Bob Gaydos

 If you still care about politics, if you still think that “the people” can make a difference in how this country is run and if you think that the proper way, the common-sense, decent, truly all-American way would be for politicians of all persuasions to work together as much as possible for the common good this has got to have been one of the worst summers of your life.
 
 The summer of the know-nothings and the yahoos. The summer of the shameless and the gutless.
 
 It began with the crowning of Pedro Espada Jr. as leader of the state Senate in Albany — by both parties at different times. A man under investigation for diversion of state funds, a man who defected not once, but twice, from the political party of the moment, wound up in charge of the supposed upper legislative body in Albany and had the gall to call it a reform movement. And no one in Albany had the guts to call it what it was — shameless political extortion — and no one was willing to work out a solution between Republicans and Democrats because no one wanted to lose control. Control of what I don’t know, because, clearly, Espada, with the most selfish of motives, was in control the whole time. If you, dear reader, can somehow hold out any hope for this group of senators to govern responsibly in the future, more power to you. I cannot. And if they do manage to surprise me it will be at least 20 years too late.
 
 But the really bad, really dumb, really outrageously idiotic stuff this summer has come on the national level from what used to be known as the Party of Lincoln. I have never registered in any political party, but I have friends who claim to be Republicans and I dare them now to publicly justify the hateful, spiteful, fiction-based attacks on our president that have followed any initiative he has proposed. They can’t, because there is no justification save the political one — the only way the GOP feels it can survive and regain strength is to attack Barack Obama on every front, to reject every overture from him to work together, even on worthy causes, but mostly to spread lies and fear among a distressingly large segment of the population that has proven to be as gullible as P.T. Barnum observed.
 
 The Birthers and the Death Squad people and the “he’s a Socialist,” “he’s a Nazi” people — and the politicians who allow them to get away with it — have not only sullied the name of the Grand Old Party, they have sold its soul. And, if you stop and think about it (which they don’t), they have rendered a harsh indictment on the education system of this country.
 
 What kind of  nation, after all, turns out so many people who are willing to take hateful fictitious charges — leveled at their newly elected president, no less — at face value? And, backed with nothing but fear and anger, to spread it? What kind of nation allows discussions about serious issues such as health care to be hijacked by lying attack dogs supported by the industry that stands to lose the most profits — the insurance industry? What kind of nation cringes when the yahoos unleash a storm of protest because their president — a man who inspired generations with his story of success against great odds — wants to deliver a non-political pep talk to American students returning to school?
 
 A once-proud nation that has lost its way, I fear.
 
 But wait. Oh, wait. Do my ears deceive me? Just when I have about given up all hope that Republicans will ever be able to comport themselves with some modicum of sanity again, comes a Republican behaving with, of all things, dignity.
 
 Bless you, Laura Bush. Bless you, bless you,  bless you.
 
 In the midst of all the Fox-led flame-throwing about the president’s speech to schoolchildren, the former first lady, in an interview with CNN in Paris, said, “I think there is a place for the President of the United States to talk to schoolchildren and encourage schoolchildren and I think there are a lot of people who should do the same and that is encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dream they have.”
 
 Shocking. By the way, that’s pretty much what Obama said.
 
 Mrs. Bush, a former teacher, also said that, with the redrawing of election districts into safe congressional seats where candidates with narrow ideological views can be elected and reelected repeatedly has come an increasing political polarization, with fewer people willing to work for compromise solutions. She said her husband, George W. Bush, found this when he moved from the Texas governor’s mansion to the White House. It was one of  his “real disappointments,” she said, and she said Obama was probably also surprised by the intensity of it.
 
 “I think it’s … really important for everyone to respect the President of the United States,” Mrs. Bush said, adding that she felt criticism of him as a socialist was unfair.
 
 “Do you think he is doing a good job?” she was asked.
  
 “I think he is,” she replied without a hint of worry of political repercussion from GOP attack dogs. “I think he has got a lot on his plate and he has tackled a lot to start with and that has probably made it more difficult.”
 
 Good grief, a reasonable statement by a well-known Republican about a Democrat. Some will note that Mrs. Bush, of course, is not seeking election to any office; nor is her husband. But neither is Dick Cheney. Asked about the former vice president’s non-stop attacks on Obama, Mrs. Bush said Cheney had “every right to speak out” and she appreciated that he was defending her husband’s administration. But she also noted that “George, as a former president, chose not to speak out. … He thinks the president deserves the respect and the no second-guessing on the part of the former president.”
 
 So Republicans are not wholly without dignity after all. It’s been a long time since the Bushes were their party’s saving grace, but they certainly provided the Republicans’ best moment all summer. Now, if they were only listening. 

Bob can be reached at bob@zestoforange.com.

By Beth Quinn

For the American Far Right, being nuts is clearly a pre-existing condition (and one that’s apparently not covered under the current health-insurance system).

I was reminded of this Tuesday when the nuts came completely unglued and kept their kids home from school rather than allow them to hear Barack Obama’s speech on the importance of … going to school.

The speech was broadcast in our nation’s schools, directly to the American children. As it was optional (this being America and all), some entire school districts in the more addled sectors of the country chose not to show it.

Good Lord, we wouldn’t want THAT (black) guy – what’s his title? oh, the (black) president – speaking directly to our kids. Heaven forbid some (black) guy who went to Harvard and has accomplished a thing or two in his lifetime be allowed to influence young minds. Yikes! He might encourage them to study hard and respect their teachers or something.

In fact, this is just Obama’s tricky way of passing on his socialist agenda to our kids, or so sayeth the nuts. What gall that (black) president guy has! And it’s not because he’s (black) that we hate him, of course; it’s just that he’s a socialist. Whatever that is.

These nuts have somehow managed to get a stranglehold on the entire Republican Party. (Motto: Just Say No To Everything The President Suggests!) A lot of people are actually listening to the nuts and their Crazy Like A Fox News commentators, who have hijacked common sense and replaced it with fear-mongering lies.

Among the Fox News Nutwork and other Far Right comments about Obama’s education speech:

“Just when you think this administration can’t get any more surreal and Orwellian, here they come to indoctrinate our kids … This is what Chairman Mao did.” – Monica Crowley, Fox News commentator

 “This is something you’d expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.” – Oklahoma state Sen. Steve Russell, a – surprise! – Republican

“As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology.” – Jim Greer, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida

“Hitler came after the YOUTH too. Coincidence?? Maybe not.” – Some guy named TexasFred, a blogger on a pro-gun site called Traction Control

As you all know, stupidity has gone viral.

So, with such a brain trust taking issue with a president urging kids to work hard in school, I thought I’d take a look at Obama’s anti-American speech to see if I could find evidence of indoctrination and evil-doing.

And I found it! You betcha! Below are direct quotes from Obama’s education speech with me explaining how he’s clearly trying to steal the youth of America for his own purposes:

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. (Yikes! Straight from the socialism handbook – From each all that he can give.)

Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team. (Holy cow! He wants to turn the student governments in our schools socialist, too!)

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math … to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. (See that! He wants to turn our children against oil companies and into tree huggers.)

If you quit on school you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country. (Good grief! He thinks kids belong to the government!)

I was raised by a single mother. (He’s so TOTALLY against fathers! He hates normal, American two-parent families!)

My wife’s family didn’t have much, but they worked hard, and she worked hard so that she could go to the best schools in this country. (Straight out of an Orwellian nightmare! That horse Boxer in Animal Farm was ALWAYS vowing to work harder.)

I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot. (Jeez Louise! Now he’s telling kids that their parents don’t even keep them clean enough.)

Find an adult you trust … and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. (That’s it! Now he’s completely undermining parental authority.)

If you’d like to read Obama’s entire rant to our school children, go to whitehouse.gov. You’ll be shocked and outraged, I tell you.

Listen. I know I’m preaching to the choir here. I know that people who read ZestofOrange aren’t the nuts. (Our readers even understand sarcasm.) I’d love to be able to reach the crowd that isn’t attracted to common sense, but I don’t know how, do you? I just can’t imagine how to successfully fight ignorance of that magnitude.

But maybe … just maybe … President Obama reached a few of the nuts’ children on Tuesday, the ones who actually showed up for school despite the terrible (black) president’s speech. Maybe Obama DID manage to spread a little propaganda – the kind that inspires kids to think clearly despite how dumb their parents are.

I know from personal experience that a charismatic president can have a direct influence on a kid. I was in junior high school when President Kennedy, who was white (but Catholic), spoke directly to me and millions of other American school kids about the importance of exercise.

He gave us the President’s Challenge on Physical Fitness, and he seemed to personally care whether I could walk the balance beam, do a sit-up, climb a rope and run fast. I loved it. I felt so important, and I wanted to do well for him.

And I did. I didn’t quite reach the stars but, because of Kennedy, I eventually managed to climb a rope all the way to the gym ceiling. A small part of me believed that our president read my physical fitness scores when they were sent to the White House. I can’t tell you how good that felt.

So maybe … just maybe … some kid wants to climb a rope to the stars today to please his president. Or hers. Let’s cross our fingers and hope.

Beth can be reached at beth@ZestofOrange.com.

By Jeffrey Page

No one except political candidates takes endorsements seriously anymore. Are you going to be swayed because Bill Clinton flies into town to say nice things about some Democrat or because George W. Bush arrives on behalf of the Republican? Maybe years ago, but nowadays? I don’t think so.

Still, politicians seek out celebrities to bolster their campaigns, but sometimes fail to understand that certain endorsements are liabilities. The perfect example of this occurred last year when Barack Obama won the ringing endorsement of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Why anyone in his right mind would voluntarily acknowledge the backing of a minister whose most notable quote was “God damn America” is beyond comprehension.

Various Obama detractors – and supporters – raised a huge stink. It took Obama a little time but he finally broke with Wright and found a new church.

And so, we come to a little item in last week’s edition of The Warwick Advertiser about a campaign appearance in Warwick by Assemblyman Greg Ball. Ball is seeking the Republican nomination to oppose Rep. John Hall, D-19 in 2010.

And in the audience to lend support were none other than Rep. Peter King, the Long Island Republican who is the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Bernard Kerik.

That Bernard Kerik?

The same. Kerik is the former New York City police commissioner who President Bush nominated in 2004 to be his Secretary of Homeland Security. One week later Kerik, citing a potential problem regarding the immigration status of a woman who had worked in his home, withdrew himself from consideration. Later he would be indicted for failing to mention the nanny matter to White House officials conducting the vetting process on his nomination.

And, oh yeah, there was an allegation about a little matter of Kerik’s receiving $255,000 worth of renovations to his apartment from a contractor wishing to do business with the city. Apparently he forgot to mention that, too.  

Kerik would have more substantial problems. Later, he was charged with conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, and for lying to the Internal Revenue Service by forgetting to report the $255,000 as income.

In 2006, he pleaded guilty to illegally accepting that remodeling of his apartment from a contractor which, the city believed, had links with organized crime.

His withdrawal from consideration as Homeland Security Secretary was a great embarrassment to the Bush Administration, courtesy of Kerik himself, who was subsequently indicted for lying to White House investigators, and courtesy also of Rudolph Giuliani, who had pressed Bush to appoint Kerik to Homeland Security, and was Kerik’s biggest cheerleader.

There have been other bumps in Kerik’s road. Last winter, for example, The New York Times reported he had been indicted for allegedly failing to report $500,000 in income in 1999.

Something to bear in mind: As obnoxious as Wright’s comments were, he wasn’t indicted for anything and hasn’t pleaded guilty to anything.

What was Ball thinking when he accepted Kerik’s support? That the voters won’t notice the company he keeps?

Message to Greg Ball: They’re smarter than you think.

Jeffrey can be reached at jeffrey@zestoforange.com.

By Carrie Jacobson

Chapter 13

The story so far:

Zoe, a mostly blind lhasa apso, ended up at the Pike County shelter when her owner lost his job. Kaja, a big red dog, has helped Zoe leave the shelter and set out toward Middletown, looking for her home. On the way, they have encountered Samantha and Ashton Morrone, who live in Barryville, and whose parents own a hotel there. Sam and Ash have prevailed on their parents to let the dogs in for the night, but in the morning, Pete Morrone, their father, made the dogs leave.

Zoe and Kaja walk along the riverbank in the crisp morning air. Spending the night in the children’s house has made Zoe a little sad. It’s made her remember the life she used to have, and remember how much she had loved it. She had had a house with rugs, and a soft sofa, and a fenced-in yard. She had had fresh water, and food on a schedule, and dog cookies pretty much whenever she wanted.

She longs for her home and her humans, and so she trots quickly beside Kaja, following the river along.

It’s not a good day in the Morrone house.

Samantha comes downstairs first.

“Where’s Foxy? Where’s Peanut? Mom, where ARE they?” Samantha wails, looking under the table, out the door, everywhere.

Ashton is there, too, suddenly, howling and crying.

Angie looks at Pete, and he can tell she’s angry. She’s as angry as he’s seen her, and he knows then, knows somehow deep inside, that this was a mistake, making the dogs go. It was wrong, and he feels it in his heart. He looks at Angie, pleads with his eyes.

“Kids,” he says, “I told your mother the dogs had to go.”

“NO!” Samantha shouts, crying, too, like her heart’s breaking. He bets it is. His is.

“Honey, we really can’t have two dogs. We have a -”

“Hotel to run here!” she wails. “I know. I know. But we have a family, too, and those dogs were our family, they were. They WERE our family! And now they’re GONE!”

She is out of control now, and Pete knows he should shut this down, but he can’t. Guilt sears him, and he tries to pull her close and shush her, but she pushes him away and runs to Angie, who drops to a crouch and hugs Sam, and then Ashton is with them, and he’s crying, too, and Pete is just standing there in the kitchen, feeling as bad as a father can feel.

“Kids,” he says, “I made a mistake. I should have let you keep those dogs.” Even as he’s saying this, even as he knows it’s right, he can’t believe he’s hearing his own voice say the words. What will this mean for the hotel? How will he handle it with the state? He doesn’t know. All he knows is that kids need dogs, and those dogs were sent here for his kids, he’s sure of it, as sure as he can be – and he sent those dogs away.

“Kids, I was wrong. Come on, now. Those dogs haven’t been gone long. I bet we can find them.”

And so, they pile out the door, and start walking, calling for “Foxy” and “Peanut.”

They search the front yard and the back. Nothing. They scramble down the bank to the Delaware. Nothing.

They walk up to Route 97, and carefully, carefully, walk up the shoulder of the southbound lane, then cross and walk the shoulder of the northbound lane, passing the hotel, then crossing again and walking back.

Nothing. No dogs, no tracks, even.

In the kitchen, the mood is muted. Sad. Pete heats the coffee. He and Angie pour cups for themselves, and Angie makes toast and gets cereal for the kids. They eat a mournful, silent breakfast.

Afterwards, Pete pushes the chair back.

“Come on, kids. We’re going to get in the car and go look,” he says, and they nearly race out the door. Angie says she will stay, clean up, deal with guests. And maybe, she thinks, the dogs will come back.

“I’m sorry, Ange,” Pete says. “I’m sorry.”

“Get going,” she says, and though her words are harsh, her voice is not. She sees his anguish, his contrition. “Get going. Find them.”

Carrie can be reached at carrie@zestoforange.com