Good News!

I belong to AFTRA, so based on Ken Howard's speech at the SAG awards, next year at this time when the unions merge... I will be a voting member of SAG. Good news!

Of course, my first union was the UFT!

Saturday Night

I trotted out to Aveda at The Shops at Columbus Circle to pick up my birthday gift. And then, a quick stop at Bouchon Bakery. And as I exited the mall, I was happy the snow flurries were light and it was not too cold.

The Brooklyn Museum

It was a bracingly cold day, and under a sunless grey sky... I headed off to the The Brooklyn Museum to see the exhibition, Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera. I arrived on Eastern Parkway, and the vista was stunning. I was glad I brought my camera.

Norman Rockwell (American, 1894–1978). The Dugout, 1948

The Jewish Film Festival

The Jewish Film Festival
details about The Jewish Film Festival

I went today to see SIXTY AND THE CITY, a film by Nili Tal.



Here is a clip from the film.

A Networking Event

Last night, I went to an excellent networking event at Sardi's. It was hosted by my TTN. During the mingle... I met Ellen, the Ellen of Ellen's Stardust Diner. She was also a Miss Subways, and you can view photos of her at the website. She is charming and a delight!

MEET MISS SUBWAYS, ELLEN HART STURM

The event honored empowered and active women, women who realize it is never too late to reinvent themselves after one successful career has ended. Look at me! After 35 years of teaching, I am retired from that career and I still pursue my hobby of stand-up comedy. And now I am a cartoonist. I am told my cartoons are whimsical and Thurberesque! Am I am the total Basquaiat of the cartoon world? The heavy traffic to my blog is making the toons an internet viral sensation! (I adore tongue-in-cheek self-effacing humor)

This is the interior of the private event room of Sardi's.



And here is Ellen in a photo taken last night. She looks incredible and she is as beautiful as the day she was named "Miss Subways."



This was the rainy night view from the window of Sardi's. You can see the marquee of the Broadhurst Theater, displaying Al Pacino starring in "Merchant of Venice."

A Tour of the New York Public Library

Yesterday, I went with my TTN on a private tour of the New York Public Library. The library is in a magnificent Beaux Arts landmark building and it is devoted entirely to research. We saw Astor Hall, which has a floor to ceiling marble interior, and Gottesman Hall, with a ceiling that is considered magnificent. Here are some photos I took along the way.




And the old pay phones in old wooden booths add just the right touch!

An Early... Headshot

I am digging that slight gap between the two front teeth... I had it widened in later years to give my face a bit more... character.

Say wah?

Take It Off, Take It All Off

From the Reno Sweeney days:

found photos

Your Mission

"Good evening, Super Fans, Fixated Fans, and Totally Obsessed Fans. Your mission fans, should you decide to accept, is to discuss these photos until the tips of your fingers turn blue. Discuss the played out and vile blue fox coat from 1975. We should all never wear fur! Discuss the blue satin marabou trimmed robe. It's equally obnoxious. But, as always, should you or any of your fellow snarkmeisters fail to join in and type like a mad wild person, the others will disavow any knowledge of your actions... because misery loves company and all snarkmeisters deserve each other."

And a P.S.
Honey, I dig the false eyelashes, but... did you ever hear of the word "blend?"

DISCUSS!

Club LV

Here I was dragging the de rigueur LV bag into some club.

OK, enough narisha zach.. gotta get to Bergdorf's.

It's time for another Prada, lol.

And some divine Jo Malone.

And maybe, just maybe... a Fendi watch.

I am tired of the Philip Stein.

On Overload

This is me in San Francisco in 1975. I am sporting another Louis Vuitton bag. Looks like I was on LV overload.

Struttin' Stuff

This is me and Bobbi F, circa 1976... at Dougie F's Bar Mitzvah.

I was into Louis Vuitton back then I see, such a trend setter, me.

Now I dig the Balenciagas.

DISCUSS!!

mamala and tatala.... DISCUSS!!!
Talk amongst yourselves!

So nu?

On the Street Where I Live

I have a gorgeous view of the Empire State Building and on that day, at dusk, it was lit in beautiful fall colors. I run with exciting people in the greatest city in the world.
Fans? Discuss!

Happy Belated Birthday, Muriel

from The New York Sun

Letter to the Editor, July 20, 2004

Letters to the Editor
July 20, 2004

After I read "Education By Smoke and Mirrors," I sadly concluded that a discussion of the problems in the New York City schools has "jumped the shark" [Andrew Wolf, Opinion, July 9, 2004].

In Region 9's "Third Grade Summer Success Academy," the teachers were given a manual that has been adapted from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project 2004.

The Balanced Literacy Program consists of a 95-minute Reading Workshop and a 55-minute Writing Workshop.

The components of the program include a read-aloud, independent reading, conferences, shared reading, guided reading, writing minilessons, independent writing, and word work.

The 2 1/2-hour block is so micromanaged that it includes prepared dialogue for the instruction of the children. When teachers help students choose a "just-right" nonfiction book, they are told what to say in order to model thinking:

"Hmm. Here's a book titled 'My Farm.' I've already read a lot about farms, and I don't want to learn more about farms right now. This is not a just-right book for me. It's not interesting."

Then, "Hmm. Here's a book called spiders. I've always been interested in spiders. Let me try reading a page. (Teacher reads page 10 fluently.) I'm used to reading a book with more words on a page and even some harder words. I think I won't learn enough. This is not a just-right book for me. It's too easy."

The teacher goes through a scripted process and then randomly distributes one nonfiction book to each student. She says, "Take a look at the book I just gave you. Decide if it is a just-right book for you by deciding if it's interesting, and checking a page to see that it's not too easy or too hard - a book you can make sense of while you're reading. Then turn and tell your partner what you were thinking.

At first glance, the lessons in the summer curriculum may be impressive and seem effectively crafted for successful results.

But, experienced traditional teachers would consider this learning model to be a major farce, where education has moved into the surreal world of "The Stepford Wives."

As more time passes, the articles on education seem to have deteriorated into redundant pieces "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." I shake my head in disbelief and I am glad I am retired.

MARJORIE J. LEVINE
Manhattan



Letter to the Editor, October 10, 2006

Letters to the Editor
October 10, 2006

‘The Spin Doctors'

Andrew Wolf states [Op-ed, "The Spin Doctors," September 29-October 1, 2006], "This prevalent teaching methodology is the common thread that directs our national march to mediocrity."

At almost the end of my thirty-four year long teaching career, I was directed to change the seating arrangement in my classroom from rows to groups, develop an atmosphere of "productive noise," and construct mini-lessons. The new "balanced literacy" model was filled with layered components and the classroom was mandated to be have visual and heady appeal.

A student shortly pleaded to "go back to the old way of learning," which was a more no-frills and basic textbook approach. I discussed this with my supervisor, and I was told it was my fault my students didn't like the new style. I had not properly motivated the students or successfully implemented the model. The whole system has become like scenes in "Alice Through the Looking Glass."

MARJORIE LEVINE
New York, N.Y.

In Boca

Here and There

Governors Island

Snug Harbor

Snug Harbor Cultural Center

A Rich and Rewarding Life

Here are some class photos of my long career as a proud teacher.

Jon Hamm, in Parade magazine: “I got into acting because my teachers kept nudging me into it,” says Hamm, who taught school himself for a few years after graduating from the University of Missouri with an English degree. “The power a teacher has to influence someone is so great. I can’t think of a profession I have more respect for.”
from: Parade magazine

I was a teacher in NYC for almost 35 years. I have close to 35 class pictures to help reflect on my long career. I had read in the UFT paper, "The New York Teacher," about the long career of Regina Sayres, who is now 100 years old. She was a teacher at PS 41M in 1968 during the time of that long teachers' strike. I was a teacher at PS 41M during that time when Ms. Sayres was there, and at a place when she was perhaps ending her career... mine was just beginning.
I looked through all the class photos in my collection, and I selected many for inclusion in this blog. They represent the four schools in which I taught... and the memories come flooding back. (please click on each photo to enlarge)







The year was 1973, and I was teaching grade 6 in a public school in the theater district of Manhattan. I entered my class in an essay contest sponsored by Bella Abzug and one of my students won. She went to Washington, DC to read her essay. I found this photo: Charity goes to Washington. And I also found the (now very wrinkled and faded) letter I received informing us that she won. That was over 35 years ago. It seems like so long ago. I guess it was.

This was my fourth grade class at PS 33 in 1986. The next year, when they were in the fifth grade, these students were chosen by Eugene M. Lang for his "I Have a Dream" college scholarship program. Over twenty years later... I am wondering: "Where are they now?"


And most bittersweet:



The year was 1974. I was teaching at a small school on West 45th Street. I had a wonderful 6th grade class. The students were bright, creative, and they had a real sense of humor. The school was on the same block as the Actor's Studio, the Manhattan Plaza had just been completed, and on nice days I could walk home. I loved going to work.
One day, a student named Christopher came to school a little bit late. I asked him the reason for his tardiness, and he told me that the night before he had attended an opening of a movie in which his father had a role. I asked him the name of the film, and he replied, "Godfather 2." "Oh," I said. I asked, "What part did your father have in the movie?" He replied, "Frankie Five Angels." I did know that Christopher's father was the playwright who had written "Hatful of Rain." But, I did not know that he was in the film, "Godfather II." So! Christopher's father was "Frankie Pentangeli;" interesting... Godfather II, was released and it opened at a Loew's theater on Broadway. It received phenomenal reviews and I couldn't wait to see it.
Soon thereafter were parent-teacher conferences. I am lucky Christopher was an excellent student. I do not think I would have had a comfort level sitting across from that father and giving a bad report. Mr. Gazzo had written a note to me during that school year asking permission for his son to be excused early on an October day and I saved the note. It was not just a signed note, it was an autograph.
A few months later, the Gazzo family moved to Los Angeles. Christopher kept in touch with all of us through letters he sent to the school addressed to me. In one letter, Christopher asked me if I was still singing because I was awful. I was a teacher who sang while she taught? He said he was going to a school 20 times better but he would rather be going to our school because he missed all of us.
I think about all of the students I had in so many classes over the years. Eddie, who died of a drug overdose. David, who fell off the roof of his building one hot summer day when he was up there with his brothers playing ball. Debbie, who was crossing 9th Avenue and was hit by a car. Brenda, whose mother we saved.
Larry David was asked why he still works. He clearly does not need to work. He said his mother had told him many years ago that we all need to always wake up in the morning and have a place to go. I had a place to go.



Didn't Mr. E's secretary leave out the 's' in comprehension in #4? He should have proofread that letter!

a contest entry

Include the following words:

Paris
Kids
Cullen
Loathing
Temple

2007: It was a contest in the Kube Hotel that was similar to the Kevin Bacon game.

I was nervously up at bat. I was one of the kids who was a huge fan of Shirley Temple and I adored Bill Cullen. I wore nostalgia better than Lady Gaga wore red meat.

I referenced a super bowl game, an old movie, and the quiz show host who loved trivia. But, I was eliminated because I referenced the wrong "Heidi."

Years later, I wrote about the weekend in a book called, "Fear and Loathing in Paris." The experience was one big knock-off.

Open House New York

I visited the residence of the architects Fairfax and Sammons, located at 183-185 West 4th St near 7th Ave South. These are two carriage houses that are fused together.

Open House New York

A View from the Street

This is a view of the street, looking south, in front of Lincoln Center. My pool is on the top floor of the building on the left. The views all the way up there of the Hudson River are amazing and the sunsets are glorious.

The New York Film Festival

I went today to The New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall to see, "Translating Edwin Honig: A Poet's Alzheimer's," a short documentary film by Alan Berliner. It is an excellent, remarkable, and very touching and moving film.

"Remember how to forget. No more."

Edwin Honig: eight poems

Did They?

Did they just insult anonymous internet posters on Glee? How rude! LMAO

Where's my anonymous commenter? Come out, come out, wherever you are!

Beyond COLOR: Color in American Photography 1950-1970

Today, I went to the Bruce Silverstein Gallery to view:
Beyond COLOR: Color in American Photography 1950-1970.

Eliot Porter (1901 - 1990)



Marie Cosindas



Pete Turner (b. 1934)



Ruth Orkin (1921 - 1985)



Ernst Hass (1921 - 1986)



Harry Callahan (1912 - 1999)



Inge Morath (1923 - 2002)