News From Fort Schuyler

April 5, 2002 - Volume 6, No. 13

THE GOVERNOR'S ISLAND - President Bush picked April Fool's Day to flummox New York politicians by fulfilling his predecessor's pledge to give Governors Island back to New York City for a nominal amount. According to an April 3 article in the New York Times, 'CUNY Campus on Governors Island: High Vision, Few Details,' (http://www.nytimes.com) the announced plan to use the island for the City University of New York "..appeared to catch CUNY officials by surprise. The university was first approached about it five days ago.." The article noted that the CUNY Chancellor was "...eager to work with other universities in developing the island. Officials at New York University and the State University of New York expressed interest." [Wouldn't Governors Island be a logical location for SUNY Maritime's prestigious Graduate School of International Transportation Management and the proposed Neil D. Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce ?]

Perhaps operating on the theory that just because the battle to use Governors Island for public purposes is apparently over, the war's not necessarily won, AL BUTZEL, an organizer of the People's Flotilla 2002, assures NFFS that "...yes, the Flotilla is definitely still on - bigger and better than ever."Another organizer, JOHN DOSWELL, adds: "Yes, the event is on, now more of a celebration. In the last two days several new boats have signed up. Suddenly Governors Island is on the map !" [Stay tuned for more details about this New York Harbor spectacular planned for 02 June.]

PENNYFIELD PIE MAN - Probably hundreds of Fort Schuyler alumni will relish the recent NY Times story about culinary artist, LOUIS PALLADINO. (http://www.nytimes.com) He has plied his pie-making expertise in Throgs Neck pizzerias for the past 59 years and is still going strong. According to the 2 April article, 'Secrets of the Dean of the Pie Men': "He was born on Pennyfield Avenue in a bungalow directly on Long Island Sound" and began tending the huge 18-pizza ovens at Amerigo's Restaurant when he was 14, later running several of his own pizzerias in the area. According to this 73-year old institution: "I must've made over a million pies and I put my heart into every one. I like to make my pies. I'm a pie man. That's what I am. I might be 90 years old, and if I can still make 'em, I'll make 'em." [Amen.]

NO DOZE-ING - This addition to Schuyler academic lore from FRED LONGO, Class of 1960: "One of FRED HESS's ploys to keep everyone awake during his lectures was, if he saw someone dozing off, he would start to lower his voice over a short period of time and then slam a book down onto his desk making that person jump about two feet off his seat. The funny thing is that when you heard his voice start to lower, you would immediately look to see who was dozing off to see the reaction to the book slam."

For readers in the NY region, Doc Hess's newest memoir, 'Some of my Favorite Memories from Childhood into the Twenty-First Century' is being added to the Luce Library collection. It should be on the shelves in a week or two. Check the catalog at http://www.sunymaritime.edu/CAMPUS_SERVICES/LIBRARY/library.asp [Thanks to cataloger, LISA LESCHINSKY, for this advanced notice.]

SUMMER FUN WITH KAREN AND KEN - Even though time is short, tell a school teacher who wants to take a summer seminar to consider "New York in the 20th Century: Transformation of American Metropolis" taught by the Chair of the Humanities Department at Maritime College, Dr. KAREN MARKOE, and her colleague from Columbia University, Kenneth T. Jackson. The sponsor of this July 21-27 teacher seminar, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, provides stipends, books, room and board to enrollees. The course is taught at Columbia University, enrolment is limited, and the price is right. For more information go to: http://www.gliah.uh.edu/seminars.html

Dr. Jackson, who also is the President of the New York Historical Society and the editor of the monumental Encyclopedia of New York City, will be joining Dr. Markoe and other maritime historians on the Slocum Centennial Committee to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of this maritime disaster in 2004.

UP FROM UNDER - The latest student underground publication, 'Maritime Screw Keeps Turning', turned up on Fort Schuyler doorsteps in March 2002 with a 3-page edition. What's on their minds ? "This is a student newspaper that airs out the administration and the same for anything that happens on campus." In this issue targets included such things as staff ("..why are so many of the upper administration staff related or childhood friends ?"), maintenance personnel ("Why plant flowers and then have the gardeners mow over them ?"), food ("The first food fight... of the millennium occurred the other night."), and the regiment ("Look out mugs, it's that time of year yet again. The uniform change to Khaki is on the second of April. Cure ???... There is none.") In other words, all the usual suspects are given the raspberry. [Conclusion: There is plenty of room for improvement. Grades: Intention - A, Grammar - D, Overall Execution - C.]

RIVER - The Hudson, from the New York Harbor north to its head waters, will be featured on a two-part PBS special on 23-24 April: 'America's First River: Bill Moyers on the Hudson.' According to a local PBS station program guide, 'Thirteen' "...Bill Moyers travels from New York Harbor to the Adirondack Forest to explore the dramatic history, complex ecology, profound natural beauty, and far-reaching legacy of the Hudson."