Urban CNY August 2010

In this issue:

Serving Upstate urban communities since 1989.

In partnership with:

EaglENEwspapErs

FowlerSix months in

We sit down for a mid-year review with Syracuse Chief of Police Frank Fowler

See page 4

Editorial

The Fox Views ChannelThe “fair and balanced” Fox News channel has been doing a hatchet job on the NAACP lately.

See page 3

The Hall Monitor

A Mid Summer’s Night DreamThe Hall Monitor pictures a utopian step forward for Syracuse.

See page 3

CNYurbanFREE

Celebrating urban life since 1989 August 2010 ● urbancny.com

The Constitution

New laws to establish level playing fieldPaterson signs laws supporting minority and women-owned business enterprises

Governor David A. Paterson today signed four ground-breaking bills into law, including legislation that will establish a level playing field for Minority and Wom-en-Owned Business Enterprises in New York State. Three of bills were Governor’s

Program Bills.“With these pieces of legislation, our

State is building on its proud history of opening the door to success for any New Yorker who has the talent, drive and pas-sion for their business to succeed,” Gover-nor Paterson said. “But there is still much work to be done to correct disparities in government contracting. By improving equity in the State procurement process and facilitating greater access for Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises, we help businesses thrive, and we will help our State recover from recession.”

In June 2008, Governor Paterson issued Executive Order No. 10, which established the Task Force on Minority and Women Business Enterprises. As a result of the Executive Order and the work of the Task Force, MWBE participation quadrupled. The firms that are involved with investment banking and the issuance of debt went from 4.2 percent MWBE in 2007 to 23.9 percent now. Under Governor Paterson’s leadership, minority and women firms have yielded an increase of $162 million in revenue from prior year levels. With re-gard to transportation, thirteen percent of stimulus transportation projects have gone to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises – for a total of $146 million dollars and an estimated 3,500 jobs created or saved.

The following MWBE bills were signed into law:

Governor’s Program Bill No. 297 (S.8312/ A.11525): Raises the cap on discretionary purchases that a State agency can award to MWBEs or small businesses from $100,000 to $200,000, subject to the agency’s internal controls, but not based on full-blown competi-tive procurement procedures.

Governor’s Program Bill No. 298 (S.8313/ A.11526): Expands contracting practices of public authorities granting increased opportunities for MWBE par-ticipation. Additionally, requires that the procurement guidelines for each State public authority include the designation of one or more senior staff to oversee the authority’s MWBE program and re-quires that procurements be conducted to achieve the authority’s MWBE goals to the maximum feasible extent.

Governor’s Program Bill No. 299 (S.8314/A.11527): Expands and strengthens the State’s program for MWBE contracting, and authorizes a new and more thorough disparity study before the provisions relating to the MWBE program expires in 2014, includ-ing in-depth review of contractors’ hiring and promotional practices. This legislation will also create the position

of Chief Diversity Officer to oversee the MWBE program and diversity issues in the workforce from within the Executive Chamber.

Emerging Investment Managers Bill (S.6888/ A.9976): Addresses entities that are not executive agencies, and that control large pools of money for investment: the Comptroller, the State Insurance Fund and the Deferred Com-pensation Board. This legislation will provide emerging investment managers the ability to invest with MWBE financial institutions and to adopt a strategy that motivates investments in underserved regions of the State.

These measures address MWBE dispari-ties in government contracting that were outlined in a comprehensive multi-year study and report commissioned by the New York State Department of Economic Development and released in April 2010 – “The State of Minority and Woman Owned Business Enterprise: Evidence from NY.” In March 2010, following a thorough examination of State procurement pro-cesses, the Task Force delivered a series of recommendations designed to provide MWBEs with an opportunity to compete for contracts. The Governor incorporated those recommendations into his Program Bills, which were submitted to the Legisla-ture on April 14, 2010.

Southwest Showcase Sunday Show cancelled

Jubilee Homes of Syracuse regrettably had to cancel its Southwest Showcase Sunday show schedule for Sunday July 18 due to the governor vetoing the state budget.

Scheduled to perform was Ronnie Leigh & The Mixx, who were also scheduled to perform at the Aug. 1 Showcase Sunday show with Brownskin Band. The Aug. 1 Showcase Sunday is sponsored by Say Yes to Education.

For more information on how you can contribute to future Southwest Showcase Sundays, contact Reggie Seigler at 479-9620 or Walter Dixie at 428-0070. Event organizers apologized for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to seeing attendees at the next Southwest Showcase.

The 2010 Citizens Academy class begins Sept. 15 for Onondaga County interested in becoming more involved in the community and its governance. The application deadline is Aug. 6.

The free, interactive, eight-week educational program encourages citizen involvement in the community to help improve quality of life for present and future generations. All county residents age 18 or older are eligible and the class is free, but class size is limited to 30 members.

Participants will attend eight Wednesday evening sessions held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. from Sept. 15 through Nov. 3. Session topics include local government, budget and funding, health and safety core services, family pro-grams and partnerships, schools and education, law enforcement and judicial systems, transportation and land use, and regional economic development. Each session is held at a different public or community facility. A light dinner will be provided.

Interested? Fill out an application, available on the Citizens Academy page at citizensacademycny.org, by calling 448-8732 or e-mailing [email protected].

Citizens Academy seeks applicants

� August 2010 CNYurbanEaglENEwspapErs

Published monthly by:URBAN CNY

Send mail c/o Eagle Media5910 Firestone Drive, Syracuse, NY

13206

For advertising and editorial:(315) 422-7778

(315) 434-8883 -- [email protected]

Kenneth Jackson – Editor and Publisher

Doug Campbell – Designer

Walt Shepperd – Senior Editor

Marjory W. Wilkins – Contributing Photographer

Printed by:Community Media Group LLC

5910 Firestone DriveSyracuse, NY 13206

No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission. The

opinions expressed herein are not necessarily the opinions of Community Media Group

LLC or Eagle Newspapers.

News

Once upon a time in a city far- far away there was a center that served the population on a troubled side of town. When South Wind Community Center was constructed there were no homes for blocks, the com-mercial district had deteriorated into vacant grass-covered lots.

Fueled by federal funds the center was built of-fering space for events, a pool, recreational facilities, a senior center, satellite library and played host to programs designed to assist women and children.

A church led group was formed to build houses where there were once vacant lots. Not only did they build houses they reconstructed hope that there was something positive that could be developed in that hollowed out section of this city.

Three decades later more than 80 new homes were built; dozens more were brought back to life through rehabilitation. A major drug store established shop at the re-birthed neighborhoods entrance this was the beginning of the new area called South Creek Village.

South Creek, as it was rebranded then, did the impossible, they reconfigured their dream. In a major move that upset the entrenched and empowered the South Wind Community Center was closed.

“Oh no, what will we do?” were the cries from people who fed from the trough of governmental colonization of services for the poor.

The plan was simple since the neighborhood goal of residential stabilization had been met it was time to declare victory and move on.

The South Wind Community Center was reconfig-ured into a state of the art YMCA by partnering with the city which pours money into the center for recre-ation programming and upkeep. Funds previous used to support recreational functions at the facility were re-purposed to fi-nance the partnership and renovation costs of the property.

Membership dues are based on income so that exercise and fit-ness are within reach of all neighborhood residents.

Instead of providing “programs,” the facility gener-ated jobs. The services previously provided by the Center were spun out into the streetscape.

On the new streetscape they constructed a new library and a senior center. They also hosted commu-nity festivals.

Health and women infant and children programs were moved several blocks away in a cluster anchored by the areas Community Health Center.

Grants were then given to entrepreneurs and inves-tors to start new or re-locate in this new community providing much needed goods and services.

As a wet sensation suddenly wiped across my cheek I woke up to the nudge of my dog’s nose... this was just a dream, a mid summer’s night dream.

With increasing frequency, our televisions tip to the right when The Fox News Channel is selected from your cable or satel-lite provider.

Have you also noticed the hatchet job the self-crowned “Fair and Balanced” News channel has done on the NAACP? Fox’s coverage of Shirley Sherrod was second only to the slap and chop slicer-dicer knife infomercials on late night television.

US Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod was summarily fired by Department Secretary Tom Vilsack after a tape filmed at an NAACP event reportedly showed Ms. Sherrod making “racist” comments before an approving NAACP audi-ence.

From Bill O’Reilly to Sean Hannity to the combustible Glen Beck, these so-called news people have repeatedly taken minori-ties out of context in an effort to stir tension between the races. Like a spring robin feasting on a fattened worm, Fox News pounced and took the severely edited tape provided by a blogger, aired it, and made Ms. Sharrod appear to be “racist,” in their words.

It is well-documented that the comments were taken out of context and once the mistake was discovered the White House called and apologized, and she was even offered another job with the administration. (I think it’s at this point you’d want to tell someone what part of your anatomy to kiss.)

Glen Beck appears to be on a crusade to make people think the Obama Administration is something that should be tossed out, as if there wasn’t an election.

Observe Beck during one of his segments when he foams at the mouth over his claims that “this” is not what the founding fathers intended and how Barak Obama and the Democrats are ignoring the intentions of these great men. He’s so fired up you could imagine his head literally exploding. His rants fall short of telling people to take arms against those he’s identified as social-ists who, are in his words, “destroying our country.”

Many of you, especially if you’re over 50, grew up watching real newsmen on television. Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather -- you know, the old school news guys who simply told you the news. Ever since an alien space craft created this faux news organization called Fox, “news” has never been the same.

We’ve watched as they’ve tried every tactic possible to appeal to those in this country who want to believe in the worst of us. Fox appeals to those who go to bed thinking that some minority Boogey Man is going to take their job.

Media Mogul Rupert Murdock, (a non-American), and his cronies have created a cable television success story by knocking the established news organizations, undermining the foundation of American journalism, and reducing debate and reportage into a series of Brady Bunch squares on a T.V. screen with cosmetic caked experts yelling at each other.

That rumbling sound you hear is Walter Cronkite rolling over in his grave.

Ken Jackson

The Hall Monitor

The Fox Views Channel Editorial A Mid Summer’s Night Dream

Shepperd becomes Senior Editor at Urban CNY

Longtime writer and columnist Walt Shepperd has joined the staff of Urban CNY he will serve as our Senior Editor.

A three-time Writer of the Year for the New York State Press Association, Walt Shepperd served for 35 years starting in 1971 as columnist, feature writer and senior editor of the Syracuse New Times. From 1965 to 1967, he was assistant editor of Chris Powell’s Home Town News, and, with Dave Prater, founding editor of the Syracuse Gazette. He then founded the Nickel Review, cited as one of the three best newspapers in the country during the sixties-era underground genre by Village Voice media

critic Nat Hentoff.Shepperd is founder, and since 1976,

executive producer of the Media Unit, a national award winning hands-on training program for Central New York teens in performance and production for television and stage. Since 1979, the Media Unit has produced “Rough Times Live,” the longest running weekly television broadcast in the country to-

tally produced by teens. Almost 80 percent of Media Unit graduates have gone on to careers in the industry. Shepperd served for a season as executive producer of WIXT-Channel 9’s “Alive in Syracuse” and was a regular panelist on Time Warner’s “Reporter’s Roundtable.”

August 2010 �CNYurbanEaglENEwspapErs

Opinion

Peace-maker: Chief would reach out By Walt Shepperd

After six months on the job, Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler took time to reflect on his performance, giving himself a report card on dealing with the challenges he inherited and his position on the current conflict between the Police Benevolent Association and the Mayor.

If you were giving yourself a report card, how would you grade your first six months on the job?

Let’s go with a number. I’d give myself about a 90.

If your parents asked why you didn’t get 100, how would you explain?

This is the first marking period, a time of reluctance for giving out high grades because you always want to leave room for improvement, and there’s a lot to be learned. A teacher would point out that the assign-ments are likely to get more difficult, and you don’t want to set up a kid for failure by saying they were perfect. So if you can maintain a 90, that’s excellent. If you drop below that, it’s almost expected because of the challenges ahead.

What were the high and the low points of the six months?

Let’s go with the high point. The high point was traveling down to Washington D.C. back in June. We had two police officers winning the national Top Cop Award. These gentlemen got invited to the White House. I went along with them and got a chance to shake hands with President Barack Obama. That was great, but what impressed me was we have a little under 500 police officers, and we brought down more than 70 police officers. We were the talk of the town for a national police event. That says that the esprit de corps we have within the Police Depart-ment is galvanized.

One of the things, and I wouldn’t catego-rize it as being the low point in my career, but because it’s just happening and we’re still making our way back from it, is the is-sue with the Mayor and the presentation of the award. Right now it sits as a distraction. We’re working hard to get past that, and we will get past that. I think that a lot of the police officers were affected by that. It came at a point when I feel that morale was up at a very high level. It came at a point when we were rounding significant corners in

addressing issues as a new administration, when the summer was just beginning, and the [Post-Standard] had a feeding frenzy with it, almost every day.

What will it take to get past it?I think that the people involved—and

I’m confident that at some point they will sit down together—need to be able to express to one another their points of view. They’re ei-ther going to agree or agree to disagree. And they’re going to do it in a respectful manner. I’m confident that that’s going to happen, and I look forward that happening.

Who needs to talk to whom? Who needs to make a move?

I don’t know who needs to make the move, but I know the people that need to be in the room. Clearly, it’s the Mayor and the Union will have to sit down and have a con-versation. In time, both sides will likely cross whatever threshold that’s before them.

As Chief, could you be the one to bro-ker that?

I’m absolutely willing to do that if that op-

portunity makes itself available to me. I will do everything that I can do encourage that. But I don’t want to identify myself as being the broker for that, because that would mean that I’m assuming that I have some power and authority over a situation that I’m not certain that I do have. I would love to see that happen, though.

The issue involves lawsuits regarding treatment of women on the force.

A lot of those things happened quite a while ago, and changes were made. Changes were made by the previous administration under Chief Gary Miguel, and those changes are continuing to occur. Under my admin-istration we are looking at this very closely. One of the unique things about my adminis-tration is that I hired the first female Deputy Chief of Police. The reason I hired her is that she is extremely intelligent, very smart and tough. She knows this business. Fortunately for me she happens to have a background in EOC work [equal opportunity employ-ment], and was the person in the department who did EOC work the right way.

It was unfortunate that we lost the law-suits, and because they are still pending, I’m not going to offer up any opinion about them because they are under appeal. I’ll leave it at that, but it comes at a very unfortunate time, and even though it’s our problem to fix, it’s tough to have that issue to deal with right now.

If you had a magic wand, what three things would you change tomorrow?

The first thing I’d change is to rewind the clock to a better time, a better fiscal, better financial time. When I sat down in my seat in January, it was with the understanding that with the Stimulus Grant that was made available to me, that I would hit the streets in the summer months with 520 police officers to go out there and conquer the problems that exist in this great city of ours. Now I understand these budget cuts—they were across the board. But I don’t work at DPW. I don’t work at Parks and Rec. I don’t work at Codes. My focus is the Police De-partment. So I would rewind the clock to a better financial time, with those officers to hit the streets.

Number two is still financial. There is a lot of equipment out there that I could pursue for my people. We are getting our share of grants. However there is some equipment out there that is just nice to be able to give your people.

Three, I would wave the wand to reduce the level of violence in the city significantly. Our officers are going out there and recover-ing a gun a day. A gun a day. What that says is that every police officer can reasonably assume that some person they encounter in the course of a day is in possession of a

We’re working hard

to get past that, and we will get past that.”

- Chief of Police Frank Fowler on the award controversy

that rocked the department in June

“

photos ami olson

Chief of Police Frank Fowler, above, praises youth-oriented programs like Media Unit at the Unit’s summer concert preview earlier this month in Columbus Circle. Fowler poses outside City Hall, top.

See Fowler, page 18


LEGAL NOTICETown of Salina

ALVORD HOUSE & SEHR PARK IMPROVEMENT PROJECTADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS: Sealed bids for Alvord House & Sehr Park

Improvement Project located at 399 Marsden Road will be received by the Town Clerk located at 201 School Road, Liverpool, NY 13088, until 10:00 a.m. local time, on Tuesday, August 31, 2010, and then at said time publicly opened and read aloud. Plans and specifications may be obtained at the Town of Salina Town Clerk’s office and at CHA for $50.00 (Refundable). Plans and

specifications may be examined free of charge at Dodge F.W. McGraw Hill Information Services Company, Syracuse Builders Exchange, and Onondaga

County Community Development office. The Owner reserves the right to waive any informality or to reject any or all bids. Each bidder must deposit with his bid, security in the amount, form and subject to the conditions provided in the Information for Bidders. This project is partially funded by a grant from the Onondaga County Community Development Division. Approximately

$90,000 will be financed with federal money. All proposals shall be made and shall be received upon the following conditions: 1. Bidders will be required to commit themselves to a goal for minority business participation in the

contracts. 2. Only such proposals received by the office of the Town Clerk will be accepted. 3. Proposals are to be enclosed in a sealed envelope. 4. The contract shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. The Town Board reserves the right to reject all bids and advertise anew, if, in the judgment of said board, it

shall be in the best interest of the Town to do so.

Date: July 21, 2010 By order of theTown Board of the Town of Salina

Jeannie VentreTown Clerk. 06

104

VILLAGE OF BALDWINSVILLEADVERTISEMENT - NOTICE TO BIDDERS

Owner’s Name1.The Village of Baldwinsville Clerk invites bids for general construction, and plumbing work connection with the following: Construction of a Public Restroom at Community Park in the Village of Baldwinsville, New York.Receipt of Bids:2.Bids will be received by the office of the Village of Baldwinsville Clerk, 16 West Genesee Street, Baldwinsville, New York, 13027 at 2:00 pm local time, Wednesday, August 31, 2010 at which time they will be opened and read aloud. Packages containing the Bids must be sealed, marked and addressed to the Village Clerk, Village of Baldwinsville, 16 West Genesee Street, Baldwinsville, New York 13027 and marked with the words “Bid for Construction of Public Restroom at Community Park, Contract No. 2010-4.”Modification or Withdrawal of Bid:3.A bid many not be modified, withdrawn or cancelled by the Bidder for a period of 45 days following the time and date designated for receipt of bids.Examination of Bidding Documents:4.Bidding Documents may be examined free of charge at the following locations:

Community Development Office421 MontgomerySyracuse, NY 13202

Office of the Village Clerk16 West Genesee StreetBaldwinsville, NY 13027

Syracuse Builders Exchange6563 Ridings RoadSyracuse, NY 13206

Dodge Reports231 Salina Meadows Parkway, Suite 130Syracuse, NY 13212

Obtaining Bid Documents:5.Copies of the Bid Documents may be obtained by Bidders and Sub-bidders from either of the following:

Timothy C. Baker, P.E., Village Engineer1963 West Genesee Street RoadBaldwinsville, NY 13027Phone: 315-635-9665

Rosemary Johnson, Village Clerk16 West Genesee StreetBaldwinsville, NY 13027Phone: 315-635-3521

Bid Security6. :Bid Security in the amount of 5% of the Base Bid plus all Add Alternates must accompany each Bid in accordance with the instruction to Bidders.Performance Bond and Payment Bond:7.Guaranty bonds in the form of a Performance Bond and a Payment Bond, each in an amount equal to 100% of the Contract Sum, will be required.Other Requirements8. :

This project is funded (in part) by a grant from the Onondaga County Community Development Division. Approximately A)$50,000.00 will be financed with federal money.Bidders will be required to commit themselves to a goal for minority business participation in the contracts.B)Pursuant to State Law, the Village of Baldwinsville is exempt from payment of sales and compensating use taxes of the State of New C)York on all materials, equipment and supplies sole to the Village under this Contract. Also exempt form such taxes are purchases by the contractor and his subcontractors on materials, equipment and supplies sold to the Village under this Contract, including tangible personal property to be incorporated in any structure, building or real property forming part of their project. These taxes are not to be included in the Bid.This contract is subject to compliance with Article 8 of the New York State Labor Law regarding prevailing Wage Rates and Federal D)Prevailing Wage Rates.

Village of BaldwinsvilleRosemary Johnson, Clerk

Date: July 26, 2010 0132

9

Construction, general laborers recruit apprentices

The Construction and General Laborers’, Local Union #633, will con-duct a recruitment from through July 20, 2011 for 10 skilled construction craft laborer apprentices, State Labor Commissioner Colleen C. Gardner announced today.

Applications can be obtained at Local Union #633, 7051 Fly Road, East Syracuse, and 8005 State Rte. 104, Oswego, from 9 a.m. to noon the third Wednesday of each month during the recruitment period. Applications will only be accepted at 7051 Fly Road, East Syracuse.

The committee requires that ap-plicants:

* Must be at least 18 years old.* Must have a high school diploma or

general equivalency diploma (G.E.D.), or five years experience in the trade.

* Must be physically able to perform the work required as determined by applicant’s statement.

* Must be willing to submit to a fol-licle drug test upon acceptance into the apprenticeship program.

* Must be willing to join Local Union # 633.

* Must have a valid driver’s license to operate the sponsor’s work vehicles.

For further information, applicants should contact the New York State

Department of Labor office located nearest their home or Local Union #633 at 343-7661.

Apprentice programs registered with the Department of Labor must meet standards established by the Commissioner. Under state law, spon-sors of programs cannot discriminate against applicants because of race, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, disability or marital status. Women and minorities are encouraged to submit applications for apprenticeship programs. Sponsors of programs are required to adopt affirmative action plans for the recruitment of women and minorities.

Most stories you read about unemployment and the unemployed are written by the working. Rarely are we given a glimpse into the lives of those who have suffered the loss of a job, which can be as devastating as losing a family member.

I write from my perspective at times to help others avoid my mistakes and to serve as testimony to the fact that there’s light in the morning.

Not only had I lost my job, I also went through a life altering experience where I could have lost my life. This all occurred within a 30-day period.

Imagine losing a full-time job and then becoming ill. I had to thank God for President Obama’s COBRA legislation capping insurance payments at 38 percent of actual cost. Without that I’d be in a spare room at

Fear and Loathing on the Unemployment Trail

Ken Jackson

The Hall Monitor

See Unemployment, page 16

August 2010 �CNYurbanEaglENEwspapErs

Opportunity

August 26 — September 6, 2010 Syracuse, NY nysfair.org

Pan-African Village – Every Day!Make sure you experience this twelve year tradition! Enjoy performances by a variety of storytellers, drill teams, dancers and martial arts masters.

Music with African roots will be performed all day and into the evenings every day of the Fair. The mix includes traditional drum circles, blues, gospel, jazz, reggae, funk, calypso and R&B.

Experience and purchase African crafts and imported items not available elsewhere in this area.

Find delicious ethnic foods ranging from Caribbean fare to traditional soul food.

Visit the Harambee Youth Tent, where local artists work with children on a variety of arts and crafts.

Quick, cashless parking! E-Z Pass Plus accepted in the Brown and Orange lots. Learn more at e-zpassNY.com.

Save 40% on Advance Sale Tickets now thru Aug. 25! Free admission for kids 12 & under every day!

Find friends, food, fun and fellowship!

Chevy Court En VogueThursday, August 26 at 2pmKool & The GangThursday, August 26 at 8pmRobert Randolph & the Family BandSaturday, September 4 at 8pmKeith SweatSunday, September 5 at 8pm

GrandstandRihannaSaturday , August 28 7:30pm $55 / $45

Gospel Weekend August 28 and 29

National gospel artist JJ Hairston and Youthful Praise will headline this traditional Fair event at 4pm and 8pm on Sunday, Aug. 29. The New York State Fair Youth Gospel Choir and other groups will keep the music flowing all weekend long.

0610

6


nygearup.syr.eduAugust 2010

Questions to ASKon your next

college visit

42

......5A Statue’s

Death......7

College of the Week......8

�/ NY GEARUP, AUGUst �010

The New York State Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) is the state agency that has been designated by the Governor’s office to administer the NY

GEARUP Program. Funding for NY GEA-RUP is provided by a grant from the U.S.

Department of Education. NY GEARUP at Syracuse University re-

ceives $567,000 in funding that is matched 100 percent by in-kind services for a total

funding of $1,340,000.HESC helps people pay for college

by providing a comprehensive range of financial aid services, including the Tuition Assistance Program, guaranteeing student

loans, and administering the nationally recognized New York’s College Savings

Plan.New York State is a leader in the na-

tional financial aid community, providing more grant money to college students

than any other state.

STAFFMarissa Joy Mims

Director

Marilyn J. Grab Budget Director

Nikolas Allen Office Coordinator

Tammy Toellner Program Coordinator for Fowler

and Corcoran High Schools

Lynn Dew Program Coordinator for Nottingham High School

Kelina ImamuraMedia Editor

Carolyn ClarkWriting Program Coordinator

Mariel FiedlerWriting Program Coordinator,

Radio show Coordinator

Caitlin DonnellyEagle Newspapers

Editor

What is NY GEARUP?NY GEARUP is based out of Syracuse University’s School of Education. NY GEARUP works in the Syracuse City School District with the class of 2011 at Corcoran, Fowler, Henninger, ITC and Nottingham high schools.

GEARUP stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. It’s a national initiative to create innovative programs with the goal of increasing college awareness for students and their families. GEARUP also helps students develop the skills necessary to pursue education after high school.

To achieve its mission, NY GEARUP organizes college visits, tutoring and mentoring, college awareness and exploration activites, and educational planning and workshops.

Table of contentsMessage from the

Director......................... 2Calendar............................. 3Saving for college ............. 4Campus visit questions...... 5Writing program profiles.... 6Fiction: A Statue’s Death... 7College of the week.......... 8

Interested in Writing?For those students in the NY GEA-

RUP program that are graduating in 2011 and are interested in writing for Eagle Newspaper’s NY GEARUP edi-tion, please contact Caitlin Donnelly at [email protected].

[email protected]: 443.7848

Contact us:

Message from the

DirectorI write this at the end of the

second day of the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships/GEARUP conference in Washington, DC. It has already been an unforgettable experience, for myself, the NY GEARUP staff, and the six high school students who are attending the conference. We began the day with a rambunctious roll call of the states, a pep rally for GEARUP with speakers sharing the success of GEARUP all across the country preparing students for successful entry into college.

After breakfast, we had the honor of participating in a wreath ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery. Three students and I assisted in laying a beautiful wreath with orange and white flowers at the tomb. It was a profound moment for all of us that I am sure the students will remember it for the rest of their lives.

During the rest of the conference, there will be plenty of workshops and

networking. I, along with the other project directors in New York, will have appointments scheduled with Senators Schumer and Gillibrand. In order to keep federal funding and support of our grant, we come to Washington, DC, every other year to share the accomplishments each site is making in student achievement. The students are looking forward to visiting the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, World War II Memorial and the National Holocaust Museum. Our week will conclude with a tour of the Capitol Building just before we return to Syracuse.

The conference comes at an opportune time for me as a GEARUP director. As we head into the final year of our six-year grant, my number one priority is to ensure that we have left no stone unturned in helping each student toward graduation. I am looking for new program ideas and talking to as many of the students here as possible to learn about

activities that have inspired themI look forward to sharing more

news from the conference with you when I return!

MARISSA JOY MIMS.

ON THE COVER: (Left to right): NY GEARUP students Dwayne Britt, Yasmein Shehedah, Miles Miniat, director Marissa Mims, Noelle Dyba, writing program and radio show coordinator Mariel Fiedler, Jariel Ortiz, and Seth Colton) at Arling-ton National Cemetery just after placing the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The NY GEARUP staff is currently in DC for the national convention.

NY GEARUP, AUGUst 2010 /�

JULY AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

PAR

EN

TS

CALENDAR

• Take advantage of summer break and visit colleges on your child’s list. Call ahead for the campus tour schedule. Arrange to meet with a financial aid representative. Your child should (if necessary) schedule an on-campus interview with the admissions office.• Your child should finalize his/her list of colleges. Be sure your child’s list includes “safety” schools, as well as good “match” and “reach” schools. Request college applications and informational packets. Organize materials into separate files by college.• Keep a college calendar of all admissions deadlines.• If your child took AP Exams in May, scores will be avalibale in July.• Make sure to register your child early for fall SAT tests.

• Enroll in an SAT prep course.• Talk to your guidance counselor about colleges you might like to attend. He or she may have information available to help you develop a plan to get there.• Investigate financial aid opportunities: scholarships, grants, and loans.• SAT registration deadline for the October 9 test is September 10. Register early.• Collect all the information you can from those colleges you are interested in. Attend college open houses if possible to visit colleges in your area.

• Begin to rank the colleges you think you’d like to attend.• Start to put together your resume. • Organize the information that is likely to be requested on college applications.• Learn about the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).• Choose courses for your senior year that are challenging and that showcase your academic abilities. • Enroll in AP courses in your best subjects if they are available.• Continue to do your best in your classes.

• Combine vacation plans with campus visits. • Start working on your college application essays.• Decide who you’ll ask to write letters of recommendation. • Research schools at the library and on the internet.• Check out the college application process. • Talk with your friends who already spent a year or two at college.

• Request college applications from the admissions office. Or, use College Answer’s Online Application Search to see if your school’s form is online.• Arrange campus visits.• Register to take the SAT/ACT, if necessary. • Continue to search for free money (scholarships and grants) and others ways to pay for school.• Run Sallie Mae’s Free Scholarship Search. • Stay organized: File copies of applications and correspondence. Keep your calendar up-to-date tracking important dates and deadlines.

Parents play an instrumental role in helping your student get into college. Here are some helpful tips:

Calendar content has been compiled by the editor from various sources.

SAT Questions of

the Week

Sentence completion: FIll in the blanks with the

appropriate word(s)

3 (C) interchangeable . .

a particular

Courtesy of Collegeboard.com

Although some think the terms “bug” and “insect” are ------- , the former term actually refers to ------- group of insects.

(A) parallel . . an identical

(B) precise . . an exact

(C) interchangeable . . a particular

(D) exclusive . . a separate

(E) useful . . a useless

�/ NY GEARUP, AUGUst 2010

Saving For College The Smart WayWith the cost of college rising and

money remaining tight for many, sav-ing for your child’s college tuition may seem impossible, or hard to prioritize --especially if your child is young.

A few savvy saving practices can make the process simpler, so you can help your child achieve a higher education.

The average price for one year of a four-year private college currently is $26,273, a 4.4 percent increase from last year, according to the College Board. Costs keep escalating, so it’s critical to make wise choices for your child’s college fund.

“Saving for college is possible, even if you’re on a tight budget,” says Aaron Patzer, vice president and general manager of Intuit’s per-sonal finance group. “The key is to commit to small actions and do them consistently.”

3 Get a Plan: The most common

college saving program is a 529 plan, a type of savings plan run by a state or educational institution. It offers tax-benefits and tax-free withdraw-als when it’s time to cash-in. There aren’t limitations on income or age, meaning you can start a 529 no mat-ter how much you make or the age of your child.

3 Make Money Work for You: The earlier you start, the better. Com-pound interest means the money you save will start earning its keep. Just $50 monthly will balloon into $20,000 in 18 years, assuming you’re getting a 6 percent average annual return.

3 Set a Budget: If you’re having trouble finding $50 each month to put towards savings, try using a free online budgeting service, such as Mint.com or a desktop solution like Quicken. Each program tags your spending by category and helps you readjust priorities to find places to cut back.

3 Set and Forget It: Saving cash each month is hard; it’s easier to save more if you don’t feel you’re sacrific-ing. Have your job’s payroll depart-ment automatically transfer some of each paycheck into a college savings account. Or set up an automatic bank transfer to a 529 plan.

3 Be Goal-Oriented: Setting monthly and yearly goals makes saving less daunting. With this in mind, the experts at Mint.com cre-ated a new free feature called “Goals” that helps you figure out how much you need to save for what you want and how to achieve your goals more quickly.

3 Be SMART: Business gurus know effective goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound (SMART). When sav-ing for college, don’t just hope you’ll have enough sometime before your kid hits 18. Instead, make a SMART goal to save $2,400 yearly by having

$200 deducted from your monthly paycheck and deposited into a 529 plan with a 3 percent return.

For more tips on saving for college, visit Mint.com.

Don’t try to reach goals all at once. Sticking to a plan also sets a good example for your kids!

- STATEPOINT

KAREN ROACH: FOTOLIA.COM

NY GEARUP takes on Washington, D.C.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

NY GEARUP staff and students traveled to the National Council for Community and Education Partner-ship/ GEARUP Conference held in Washington, D.C. from July 18 to 21. In their free time, the group gets to explore the history of D.C. Pictured are: First row: Mariel Fiedler, Jariel Ortiz, Noelle Dyba, Yasmein Shehe-dah. Second row: Miles Miniat. Third row: Dwayne Britt outside the White House in Washington, D.C.


Campus visits:

Now that you have planned your college campus visits, and maybe even gone on a few tours, here are the questions to ask the key players during your next visit. Tear this sheet out to bring as a reference, and be sure to bring a notebook and pen to jot down their words of wisdom.

From Get it Together for College by CollegeBoard

Questions to ask students:1. Has going here turned out like you expected? Any surprises or disappointments?2. What are the best reasons to go here?3. What do students complain about?4. I have to choose a dorm room. Can you tell me about the choices?5. How’s the food?6. What kind of meal plan makes the most sense?7. What is there to do off-campus? Is it easy to get around?8. What do most students do for fun on weekends?9. How often do students go home on weekends?

10. Where do most of the students hang out on campus? 11. Can you study in the dorms? 12. Do you use the library often? Is it easy to find what you need there? 13. How’s the bookstore? Can you find the books you need? Is it easy to get used textbooks? 14. How is the campus network? Does it go down often? 15. I know it depends in your major, but in general, what is the workload like? 16. How are the professors? Are they hard to reach outside of class? 17. Is it easy to get the classes you want? 18. How would you rate the courses you’ve taken so far? 19. Would you characterize this college as mostly liberal, con servative or open-minded? 20. Do you get much help finding internships and jobs? 21. Do most students join fraternities/ sororities? 22. Is there much of a drug scene? 23. Do I have to worry about things getting stolen? 24. Is the campus safe at night? 25. How would you describe the relationship between students and the administration?

Questions to ask the tour guide: 1. How popular is the recreation/sports/fitness center? Is it crowded often?2. Where do you do laundry? Is it convenient? Will I need to hoard quarters?3. Is there any overcrowding in the dorms (three students in a double, for example)?4. Do many students have cars? Is there enough parking?5. I’m thinking of majoring in ____. What relevant facilities should I use?6. Where can you get something to eat after the dining halls close?7. How large are most classes? Do many take place in auditoriums?8. What are the most popular extracurricular activities?9. Are there many intramural or club sports?

10. Are there enough computer, printers and copying machines available? What about at night? 11. Does student government play much of a role on campus?

Questions to ask the admissions office:1. When does registration take place for freshmen? What is the registration procedure?2. Do freshmen have to take any placement exams?3. What sort of job placement/ career center is available before/ after graduation?4. How much should I expect tuition to increase over the next four years?5. Who should I speak to about financial aid?6. Is there a course catalogue I can take with me?

Some questions to ask


Writing ProgramThe NY GEARUP

Meet the students through their first writing assignment:

Profiles Part II

NY GEARUP’s Summer Writing Program is aimed at developing writing skills and giving students the opportunity to express themselves as they find their own voices.

The students have been hired through CNY Works to attend the program 25 hours each week. While exploring the history of Sya-cuse, reflecting on art and reporting on local events, the students will

be paid a weekly salary, and have the opportunity to have their work published in the NY GEARUP pages of Eagle Newspapers.

Students will also learn about the college admissions process and work on college essays to submit during the application process this fall.

The program will run July 7 through mid-August.

Quintessah’s high hopesBy Dwayne Britt

Nottingham High School

Quintessah Acevedo was born in Syracuse, New York, on May 29, 1993. She is 17 years old and goes to Henninger High School. She picked this high school because it’s diverse and said the people are “so amazing and nice.”

Quintessah said she wants to be-come a lawyer, because she doesn’t like people to be taken advantage of. She wants to defend innocent people and see that justice is served. She has started looking at colleges like Harvard and George-town, and wants to go to a school on the East Coast. Quintessah is about to be a senior, but she is not going back to Henninger. She wants to finish high school at her old school, Onondaga Central Se-nior High School because it has a

higher graduating rate there.NY GEARUP has changed

Quintessah’s life for the better. She got involved with NY GEARUP to get to know more people and to learn about their lives. She joined NY GEARUP’s radio show, Step It UP!, that airs on Power 106.9 from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturdays, which has helped her express herself and let people know what’s going in the community. She has been in this program for four mouths now and her favorite thing about the radio show is the people, “because they’re nice and funny.” She got involved through her councilor, Chris Pierrelo, at Henninger.

Quintessah also joined another NY GEARUP program: the writing program. Her goals for the writ-ing program are to communicate better and help increase her skills in writing . She hopes it will help open new doors for her.

Welcome, NahayoBy Isabelle Crossman

Henninger High School

Nahayo Manasse will soon be a senior at Fowler High School, but he has been in the United States for three years now. He was born in Burundi, a country that is in Africa. Because of civil war in Burundi, he lived in a Tanzanian refugee camp that was run by the United Nations. There, he lived with his grandmother and his nine-year old cousin. His grandmother signed them up to immigrate to the US, and after six years they were finally able to come. They moved to Syracuse, New York.

While in Tanzania he was in

the seventh grade, but was placed in the ninth grade in the Syra-cuse City School District. He is a good student, but struggles with English. His first language is Ki-rundi. He wants to stay in school a little longer so he can master English, but he wants to go to college. His favorite class is math because it involves numbers. His least favorite class is science. He is unsure about his career goals but he wants to be a doctor, police officer or a teacher.

For fun he plays soccer and basketball. He also likes watch-ing CSI and CSI Miami and other cop shows and movies, which help him learn to speak English.


Writing ProgramThe NY GEARUP

Meet the students through their first writing assignment:

Profiles Part II

NY GEARUP’s Summer Writing Program is aimed at developing writing skills and giving students the opportunity to express themselves as they find their own voices.

The students have been hired through CNY Works to attend the program 25 hours each week. While exploring the history of Sya-cuse, reflecting on art and reporting on local events, the students will

be paid a weekly salary, and have the opportunity to have their work published in the NY GEARUP pages of Eagle Newspapers.

Students will also learn about the college admissions process and work on college essays to submit during the application process this fall.

The program will run July 7 through mid-August.

Quintessah’s high hopesBy Dwayne Britt

Nottingham High School

Quintessah Acevedo was born in Syracuse, New York, on May 29, 1993. She is 17 years old and goes to Henninger High School. She picked this high school because it’s diverse and said the people are “so amazing and nice.”

Quintessah said she wants to be-come a lawyer, because she doesn’t like people to be taken advantage of. She wants to defend innocent people and see that justice is served. She has started looking at colleges like Harvard and George-town, and wants to go to a school on the East Coast. Quintessah is about to be a senior, but she is not going back to Henninger. She wants to finish high school at her old school, Onondaga Central Se-nior High School because it has a

higher graduating rate there.NY GEARUP has changed

Quintessah’s life for the better. She got involved with NY GEARUP to get to know more people and to learn about their lives. She joined NY GEARUP’s radio show, Step It UP!, that airs on Power 106.9 from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturdays, which has helped her express herself and let people know what’s going in the community. She has been in this program for four mouths now and her favorite thing about the radio show is the people, “because they’re nice and funny.” She got involved through her councilor, Chris Pierrelo, at Henninger.

Quintessah also joined another NY GEARUP program: the writing program. Her goals for the writ-ing program are to communicate better and help increase her skills in writing . She hopes it will help open new doors for her.

Welcome, NahayoBy Isabelle Crossman


Nahayo Manasse will soon be a senior at Fowler High School, but he has been in the United States for three years now. He was born in Burundi, a country that is in Africa. Because of civil war in Burundi, he lived in a Tanzanian refugee camp that was run by the United Nations. There, he lived with his grandmother and his nine-year old cousin. His grandmother signed them up to immigrate to the US, and after six years they were finally able to come. They moved to Syracuse, New York.

While in Tanzania he was in

the seventh grade, but was placed in the ninth grade in the Syra-cuse City School District. He is a good student, but struggles with English. His first language is Ki-rundi. He wants to stay in school a little longer so he can master English, but he wants to go to college. His favorite class is math because it involves numbers. His least favorite class is science. He is unsure about his career goals but he wants to be a doctor, police officer or a teacher.

For fun he plays soccer and basketball. He also likes watch-ing CSI and CSI Miami and other cop shows and movies, which help him learn to speak English.


By: Quintessah Acevedo


I’ve always been obsessed with death and the experience of dying because it’s so foreign to me. I was regularly told not to think of death because it was considered weird to wonder about it, but I’m not strange; I’m just curious.

After taking a tour of the base-ment in the Everson Museum of Art, I found a piece that struck my interest. This particular sculpture is the perfect blend of love and death. As I looked at the statue of a boy cutting a woman’s throat while trying to kiss her, my curios-ity got the best of me. I wanted to know their back-story, what they saw, but then it dawned on me: they wouldn’t even know their own back-story. This reflection was created to give the spectator a sense of what I believe is the worst type of death: the silence of a mental death. To efficiently accomplish my goal, this piece of literature on their back-story needed to be written from the woman’s perspective.

So without further ado, I pres-ent to you, dear reader, ‘A Statue’s Death.’

****I remember hearing an enor-

mous observer state “everyone has someone to complete them.” Then

as the giant pointed at us, he contin-ued. “Even if they slit your throat in the end.” That single statement has been enough to make me think about myself, My Murderer and our relationship.

Creator made us out of sorrow and rage when we were bor n. That’s all my partner could feel. He wanted me dead because I had hurt him. I never knew what I had done — neither did he. All I knew was that I was dying, and yet my heart was filled with a combination of love and pain. At the moment of my creation, I was ready to die. Ironic isn’t it? In my mind I closed my eyes waiting for sweet Death’s embrace, but it never came.

How long had passed before I realized I was forever in a state of near death? I couldn’t tell you; I was too in love with the idea of Death to notice that I wasn’t actu-ally dying. When I finally came out of my almost permanent state of bliss, I found My Murderer cry-ing. He told me that he was scared. Apparently someone had taken us away from Creator and placed us onto a shelf behind a clear barrier. My Murderer and I soon came to an understanding and became friends only because the only family we had was each other.

Over time we’ve been moved from one place to another by giants who move freely and waste their time staring at us. Maybe it’s be-cause they have that time to waste, because they can move and feel completed by movement. Whatever the reason, I think it’s stupid and cruel to be able to move, yet stare and tease us who are incapable of movement merely because of divine design.

I feel incomplete because I’ve been sitting here for an eternity, close to death with my neck bared and half slit. I want either one of two things to happen: to receive the magical power of movement or Death to come take my life.

Either one of those things would

be great, and I would be thankful to be rid of the burden of being incomplete, but for some reason I think believing in these possi-bilities will make me go insane. My Murderer has been telling me that we will be staying in the same place for a very long time, only being moved to be cleaned. That was the real death sentence, knowing that I

will be immortal and never move or speak or actually love. I just died, not the lilac-scented death every-one else will experience, but the cold, sickly purple hole of a mental death. So I say to a world that I’ve never known, “Good-bye.”

A Statue’s DeathFiction

Sculpture at the Everson Museum that in-spired Acevedo’s story.

The Writing Program students took a field trip to the Everson Museum on July 13 to inspire their writing. Pictured are first row: Isabelle Crossman, Henninger High School. Second row, left to right: Kha’Shara Vire, Fowler High School; Dwayne Britt, Nottingham High School; and Quintessah Acevedo, Henninger High School.

QUINTESSAH ACEvEDO

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO


Be HeardThe Step It Up! staff has settled into a spectacular week-

end routine with its two-hour talk-based show about teen issues, college readiness and NY GEARUP. It’s entertaining and informative for anyone from students to parents and community members.

We’re always looking for people to interview and high school seniors to try their hand in the radio business. If interested, contact Mariel Fiedler at [email protected]

NY GEARUP @ Syracuse UniversityNYGEARUP

315.443.7848 [email protected]

CONTACT US

COLLEGE OF THE WEEKCUNY BARUCH

Baruch College is a City University of New York and a public college. Though small in size, the buildings house the Zicklin School of Business, which is the largest collegiate school of business in the United States. Besides the business school, students at Ba-ruch can choose from a number of majors in the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences or the School of Public Affairs.

In America’s Best Colleges of 2010, Baruch w a s r a n k e d sixth for public schools in the North by US News and World Report. Its business programs were ranked 33rd nationally and considered second best in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan areas.

Baruch also boasts a masters pro-gram that is one of the best in business. Stu-

dents can even earn their degrees internationally through partner-ships with schools in Paris, Tel Aviv and Singapore.

There are about 13,000 un-dergraduates at the school and a full-time faculty of 400. Baruch’s

Computer Center for Vi-sually Impaired People also provides access to in-formation in large print, synthetic speech and Braille.

If you go to Ba-ruch, you don’t have to worry about only meet-

ing people from New York. For nine years, the school has topped the list of most ethnically diverse institutions in the US. It is ranked number one overall for minorities entering into the business field.

The Zicklin School of BusinessCONTRIBUTED PHOTO

1-800-382-HOME (4663)For more information, call

or visit www.nyhomes.org

The State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) offers first-time homebuyers:

The path to your first home.

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1-888-FIDELIS

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August 2010 1�CNYurbanEaglENEwspapErs

What’s wrong with Whoopi?By Dr. Boyce Watkins, PHD

The annoyingly amoral Whoopi Gold-berg is at it again, with what seems to be her mantra: “You can do whatever offensive thing you like, as long as you’re famous.”

First, there was the defense of a “com-edy performance” (reportedly conceived by her) featuring her then-boyfriend Ted Danson wearing blackface in 1993. Then in 2009, she stood up for Hollywood director Roman Polanski, who’d been convicted of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. In that case, Whoopi seemed to make a dis-tinction between “rape” and “rape-rape”, as if there is a difference. The latest beneficiary of Whoopi’s unbelievably apologist streak is Mel Gibson, the actor who seems to dislike every ethnic group other than his own.

By now, most of us know about Mel Gibson telling his child’s mother that she deserves to be raped by a “pack of ni**ers” for being dressed too scantily clad. That story is old news by now. The new development is that Goldberg has chosen to be the only prominent Hollywood figure to publicly come to Mel Gibson’s defense to date by stating that she “knows” that Gibson is not a racist.

Goldberg mentioned that Gibson has come to her house and played with her kids, and that they’d had a long friendship. Whoopi seems to enjoy bragging about how many famous friends she has, and appears to argue that their fame automatically makes them into good people, no matter what ridiculous thing they’ve done. Goldberg seems to want to assume a role for herself as ambassador for black America and the one-woman confes-sional booth for any bigot or child molester hoping to seek forgiveness.

One of the things that Goldberg doesn’t understand about racism is that Gibson having played with Whoopi’s kids doesn’t mean that he can’t have a serious issue with black men. His comments about “being raped by a pack of ni**ers” seems to imply that being raped is not enough. His comment also suggests that a pack of black men would be more likely to want to assault a woman and that the assault would be more brutal than one committed by a group of white males. Therefore, without any reasonable doubt, Gibson perceives black men to be more violent, savage and criminal than white males. So Whoopi Goldberg must understand that Mel Gibson playing with her kids means almost nothing.

What exactly would Gibson have needed to say or do to his girlfriend in order for Goldberg to have a problem with it? Not only is Whoopi’s quick road to redemption of-fensive to people of color, it is also offensive to women across America who’ve known the atrocities of rape and domestic abuse up close. Anyone listening to that audio recording could hear the abuse in Gibson’s voice, and a show that appeals to so many women should be more conscientious about how its hosts respond to this kind of behavior.

Goldberg apparently isn’t the only host of The View to say things that are borderline disgraceful for the network. “Ad hoc CDC scientist” Sherri Shepherd recently stated that HIV is being spread mainly because black men are sleeping with other men in private. I have a suggestion: Perhaps The View can find another black host or hostess (not another comedian) who can provide balance and responsibility in their comments, especially on issues of critical importance to our country. The fact that four modestly-educated people get together at a table and impact our nation’s perspectives on very serious issues without consequence is just downright scary.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the initiator of the National Conversation on Race. For more information, please visit BoyceWatkins.com.

Whoopi Goldberg

Rennie Simson named chair of African American studies at SU

some relative’s house.While unemployed I was fortunate

enough to have the company that laid me off provide Career Transition Services, which enabled me to take control of my situation. What were my strengths and weaknesses, how do I work best with my skills? These were all values we question when we’re suddenly without a regular paycheck.

And in our darkest moments we even question our self worth, all because of an external force that, face it, we have little control over. Economic adversity hits and you either sink or swim.

Is this unemployed state your “life?” Or is it, as author Eckhart Tolle says in “The Power of Now,” “your life situation?”

As any job seeker does, I checked every resource, agencies that worked with the unemployed, even places that assisted “older” workers. As a former quasi-govern-ment worker in support of local initiatives I even assumed that there’d be some work in those areas.

It was disappointing to experience many of the initiatives that have been funded to assist the unemployed, well-intentioned

job coaches and heavily publicized jobless job fairs.

I had to ignore those “helpers” who showed me jobs that were minimum wage and dead end. I ignored the federally funded employment specialist who told me to “tone down your resume, you’ll never get a job – you have too much experience.”

Disregard the agency that holds my mortgage that refused to interview me because I was “over qualified” for the posi-tion, yet wanted their mortgage payment that month.

I created a spreadsheet with columns and dates and job titles and tracked the results. I conducted a detailed search not for a job but for a position that would allow me to use my skills.

I sent over 50 resumes and cover letters to professional-level positions that were suited for my experience. Months passed with no response, but even the occasional rejection letter was a sign of life.

The trail of uncertainty has come to a rewarding end. But the experience was transformative and empowering despite the disappointing and degrading experi-ence of being out of work in a depressed economy.

Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences has appointed Renate (“Rennie”) Simson, a scholar and teacher of 19th-cen-tury African American literature, as chair of the Department of African American Studies. Simson succeeds Professor Wil-liam Cole, who retired in June.

Simson has been a member of AAS since 1979, when the program became an academic department.

“Rennie is an excellent teacher-scholar and has been one of the most important contributors to the success of our African American studies department,” said Arts and Sciences Dean George M. Langford. “She is also a capable administrator, as evidenced by her fine work at SU and at other institutions.”

In addition to SU, Simson chaired both the English department at Morrisville State College from 1984 to 1993 and SUNY’s statewide undergraduate program and policy committee from 1987 to 1990.

As the AAS Undergraduate Studies Committee chair, Simson worked with The Renee Crown University Honors Program to integrate AAS into the program and to promote the inclusion of AAS majors. She is presently establishing graduate and under-graduate exchange programs between SU and the University of Graz (Austria).

Simson has published more than 30 ar-ticles and chapters and has given more than 50 presentations at conferences throughout the country and in Austria. Her longtime

Unemployment From page 5

See SU, page 20

1� August 2010 CNYurbanEaglENEwspapErs

What’s upAfrican-Americans in the news

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The Tucker Missionary Baptist Church will host their annual revival this year’s message, “The Power of God.” The church invites everyone to come and experience the “Power of God” Tuesday beginning at 6:30 p.m. nightly Aug. 3 through 5.

The guest revivalist will be the Rev. Marvin Wiley of Rock of Ages Baptist Church in Maywood, Illinois. Festivities will conclude on Sunday Aug. 8 with a fellowship.

Tucker Missionary Baptist Church Revival homecoming planned for Aug. 3 through 5

Syracuse Gospel Music Workshop of America Syracuse Gospel Music Workshop of America led by Dr. Joan

Hillsman is reaching out to all churches, arts ministries, musicians, singers, and supporters to be part of the SGMWA. The Syracuse Gospel Music Workshop of America objectives are to train/educate and Assist artists of all ages in music ministries. They are also looking for praisers in dance mime, and other arts. For more information contact Dr. Joan Hillsman [email protected] 299-4928.

Next rehearsal will take place at 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday Aug. 21 at Tucker Missionary Baptist Church. Eric Dickson will host.

Ken JacKson

Tucker Missionary Baptist Church, in Syracuse.

August 2010 17CNYurbanEaglENEwspapErs

What’s going on?

gun.As Chief of Police I have lofty goals, lofty

expectations. Not pie-in-the-sky stuff. Just stuff that I’m prepared to grind my teeth and work real hard every day to make happen. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. But if I had the wand, we would be the safest city in America.

What’s one thing you never would have imagined, but discovered once you got in that chair?

Getting in the chair itself. You can watch a police officer develop, and know that he or she will be somebody special. I never once looked at myself like that because I was so grateful to be a police officer in the first place that if I had just spent 30 years as an officer, it would have been an awesome career. But after 21 years I’m the Chief of Police. It’s

simply amazing.

You organized Camp 415 so that Afri-can-American officers could speak to the powers that be. Now you are the powers that be. Is there still a need for Camp 415?

Absolutely. I think we still need Camp 415. I think that everyone deserves to have a voice. One of the main reasons I formed Camp 415 was that I saw quickly that the African-American police officers didn’t have a collective voice. When it came to issues that I felt African-American officers should either be a part of, or should be consulted with, or should be included in on, we were not. How do we go about doing that? There’s an old adage that says there’s strength in numbers. I’m a firm believer in that. I’m very reluctant to speak for people without their permission.

Do women on the force have a collec-tive voice?

A collective voice? No. There’s no or-ganization I know of that’s specifically for women.

Would it be helpful to have one?I grew up in a household with nine

women—eight sisters and a mother. I’m not going to speak for a woman. I know better. That’s a question that would be best posed to a female police officer.

You got your report card grade, but there is always that section that says “comments.” What are the comments on your report card for the first mark-ing period?

Fair. Consistent. And hard working.

PETERSON SEWING SCHOOL

315-446-4668

Walt Shepperd

Cityscuffle

For Roberts, the wait is over and the race is onWhen Joan Christensen was elected

to the 119th state Assembly District seat, with a surge of support from the city’s 17th Ward carrying her to a Democratic primary victory over party designee Joe O’Hara, she projected a tenure of eight years in that

office. As Christensen chalked up successive re-elections, without much serious opposi-tion, strong

sentiment emerged among party regulars for Sam Roberts, a County Legislator and veteran party stalwart, to inherit the nomi-nation when Christensen stepped down. If there was any possibility for representation of the local communities of color at the state level, conventional wisdom at the time concurred, it was the 119th.

Now, with Christensen stepping down after 20 years in Albany, Roberts’ wait is over to run for the Assembly seat, but like the retiring incumbent’s initial effort, he is

running in a primary against a party des-ignee, City Auditor Phil LaTessa. First time candidate Jane Fahey-Suddaby is also on the September 14 primary ballot. While Rob-erts lives in the 17th Ward, so does LaTessa, and the Democratic stronghold has been traditionally supportive of female candi-dates, so the balance may not be tipped on that turf. Roberts does, however, have the endorsement of the Working Families Party, a status which has impacted local Demo-cratic primaries in the past.

Worth waiting for?“She needed the time to do what she

needed to do,” Roberts reflects now on the two decade wait. “I gave her the time to do that. And that allowed me the opportunity to do some things that I needed to do. One thing was to finish my time with General Motors. I got my 30 years behind me with a great pension and retirement from the United Auto Workers and General Motors. I did what I needed to do with the party. My son went on the (local party) commit-tee. I got up to the state Executive Commit-tee.” Mainly, he emphasizes, the wait gave him the opportunity to develop financial independence, with no one holding a job over his head.

Roberts agrees with the conventional wisdom from back in the day that if there was any chance for a local candidate of color at the state level it was the 119th. But now he insists that he is a candidate who happens to be African-American, not an African-American candidate. “They have

some big issues,” he responds to a reference of the state legislature as a clown show. “But we’re going through some tough times. It’s not just a localized thing. This is a global situation: economics, attitudes, war, war, war. Like the Chief said, ‘It’s getting hotter and the streets are getting meaner.’ And that transcends Syracuse.”

What can one person do?“One person can’t do a lot, in Albany,

or anywhere,” Roberts admits of his quest. “But if nothing else I can be that voice, very strong voice, but yet compassionate. I understand what we need. I have a lot of ex-perience in legislative background: ten years on the County Legislature. I am the only one with legislative background in this race. You need somebody to go down to Albany with perspective and can hit the ground running. I don’t need to go down there to build rapports, or relationships with people. I already have them established, good, bad or indifferent. The thing is I can get the job done.”

According to Roberts, getting the job done depends heavily on getting desired committee assignments. “I’d like to be on Labor,” he notes, “Health, Public Safety, things that relate directly back here. Eco-nomic Development is a big thing here. We need jobs.” While a County Legislator and potential mayoral contender, Roberts had advocated a massive public works pro-gram to create local jobs. “We have to put America back to work,” he says now. “That’s the bottom line. You have all this green technology that’s coming out, all these en-vironmental things, deconstructing houses rather than demolishing them. It might cost a couple more dollars, but in the end it cre-ates the jobs.”

Contrary to the academic futurists, Roberts calls for recreating a local manufac-turing economy. “We have to start,” he says simply, “building things again.”

Sam Roberts

Fowler From page 4

18 August 2010 CNYurbanEaglENEwspapErs

FARES (each way):

Adults: $1.25Children 6-9: $0.60Seniors 65+/ Persons with disabilities: $0.60(with Centro ID or Medicare card plus picture ID)

August 26 - September 6

Exact Change RequiredFor Schedule Info: 315-442-3400

www.centro.org

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Downtown Syracuse Express ServiceBuses operate to and from the corner of

Washington & Clinton Streets to the Main Gate at the Fair continuously from 7am - Midnight.

Takes You Straight To The Main Gate

FARES (each way):

You Can’t Fail Because Your History Says You Can’t is an unforgettable, one of a kind

conference for professional women of color. Founded by

Gwen Webber-McLeod, president and CEO of gweninc,

You Can’t Fail is an energy packed experience held

in Syracuse, NY, drawing women from all over New York

and the Northeast. Each You Can’t Fail conference

is designed to educate, inspire and connect women

of color who share a unique legacy of sisterhood and

desire to be confi dent, competent, courageous and calm

in each part of their lives. For more information about

You Can’t Fail, contact [email protected] or call

315.252.6326.

You Can’t Fail conference attendees and presenters, in high spirits after sharing workshop experiences in � nance, health, career and relationships.

You Can’t Fail presenters o� er up moving words and challenging thoughts.

You Can’t Fail founder and CIO (Chief Inspiration O� cer) Gwen Webber-McLeod with two You Can’t Fail fans.

Professional women of color from all generations come to You Can’t Fail to be inspired, to learn, to support one another and to make new friends. 06

108

Community Folk Art Center events

What’s up this August?

38th Annual Teenage Competitive Exhibition - on-going 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 21. The Community Folk Art Center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Satur-day. Call 442-2230 for more information.

Creative Arts Academy Auditions - ongoing through-out the summer for students in grades 7 through 12. For more information or to sched-ule an audition, call Com-munity Folk Art Center at 442-2230.

2010 New York State Fair Pan-African Village

Music and dance with African roots is per-formed here all day and in the evenings, every day of the Fair. The eclectic mix includes tradi-tional drum circles, blues, gospel, jazz, reggae, funk, calypso and R & B. You’ll also find drill teams, storytellers, poets and even a kung fu ex-hibition. Taste Caribbean food and southern-style lemonade while you browse stands selling hard-to-find ethnic items. Located behind the Americraft Center of Progress Building.

Gospel WeekendJoin us Aug. 28 and 29 for the Fair’s tradi-

tional weekend of uplifting music and joyful voices at the Youth Stage. National gospel artist JJ Hairston and Youthful Praise will perform at 4 and 8 p.m. on Sunday Aug. 29. The New York State Fair Youth Gospel Choir and other

groups will help keep the music flowing all weekend long

The Harlem WizardsThe “trick hoopz and alley oops” of this fa-

mous basketball show team will leave you gap-ing in amazement and shaking with laughter. The fun-filled show that wowed audiences last year combines impressive athletic talent with comedic relief. The Harlem Wizards will take on audience participants and teams of local notables three times daily in the Sports Activity Center in front of the Coliseum.

Iroquois Indian VillageExperience traditional music, dance, crafts

and customs. Located at the west end of the Fairgrounds, the Village consists of historic and contemporary Iroquois exhibits. Fairgoers are also able to sample traditional native foods as well as purchase traditional and contempo-rary crafts from members of the Six Iroquois Nations.

See State Fair, page 20

submitted photo

The New York State Fair Youth Gospel Choir performs.

August 2010 19CNYurbanEaglENEwspapErs

Arts & Entertainment

[re]think your futureFrom Workforce Development to Continuing Education, Onondaga o�ers programs that meet the needs of of employees and employers in Central New York.

Learn more at sunyocc.edu

0610

5

Special Days Thursday, August 26 - Opening

Day / Governor’s Day Join the Governor in opening

the 2010 New York State Fair!Thursday, August 26 & Friday,

August 27 - Strates Midway Ride-All-Day

Visitors can buy $25 wristbands that give them full access to the Midway rides for the entire day.

Friday, August 27 - Law En-forcement Day

Saturday, August 28 & Sunday, August 29 - Gospel Weekend

Gospel music will fill the Little Caesars Talent Showcase stage Sat-urday night and all day Sunday.

Monday, August 30 - Dairy Day

This is the State Fair’s way of saying thank you to all the dairy farmers that provide us with the state’s official beverage, “Milk”. Come enjoy the day’s great ac-tivities from the milkshake contest and cheese auction at Chevy Court

Pavilion in the morning to the day long Open Class Holstein Show followed by the celebrity milking contest at the Coliseum. Click here for Dairy Day brochure/schedule.

Monday, August 30 & Tuesday, August 31 - Senior Citizen’s Day

Seniors 60 years and older are admitted free on these days. Senior groups that will be arriving by bus or van on either these days must be registered. Contact the Art & Home Center office at 315-487-7711 ext. 1265.

Monday, August 30 thru Thurs-day, September 2 - Strates Midway Ride-All-Day

Visitors can buy $25 wristbands that give them full access to the Midway rides for the entire day.

Tuesday, August 31 - Beef Day Beef it’s what’s for dinner! Fol-

low your nose to the Chevy Court pavilion to watch the grilling con-test in the morning and be sure to stop by the Quality Meats Display in the Dairy Products Building where you can pick up your free

beef recipes while you watch dem-onstrations all day by the National Beef Ambassadors. Click here for Beef Day brochure/schedule.

Wednesday, September 1 - Women’s Day

We are celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Harriet May Mills Building and the theme for the day will be “Women Ignited”. Individuals and groups are invited to attend for the special program, click here for registration form. You can also vist the Women’s Informational Mini-Fair outside the Art & Home Center and en-joy demonstrations, exhibits and competitions inside all day long. Call 315-487-7711 ext. 1264 for more information.

Thursday, September 2 - Fire & Rescue Day

Thursday, September 2 - Vet-eran’s Day

Veterans receive free admission with military ID or discharge pa-pers on this day.

Friday, September 3 - Native American Day

Native Americans receive free admission on this day.

Friday, September 3 - Student’s Day

Students 16 years old and under admitted free on this day.

Saturday, September 4 - Grange Day

Monday, September 6 - Labor Day

The Mohegan Sun GrandstandRihanna with Travie McCoy:

Saturday, August 28, 2010 at 7:30pm

Chevy CourtPartial Chevy Court Lineup;

for more go to nysfair.org.

En Vogue: Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 2 p.m.

Kool & The Gang: Thursday, August 26, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.

Robert Randolph & the Family Band: Saturday, September 4, 2010 at 8 p.m.

Keith Sweat: Sunday, Septem-ber 5, 2010 at 8:00pm

State Fair From page 19

interest in the inequalities of New York State public schools led to a self-published book in 2007.

“The book focuses mainly on public education, and pres-ents a lot of stats and commen-tary on the disparities between African American and Whites, as well as between rich and poor,” writes Simson, who re-tired from Morrisville State as a full professor in 1995. “I use the information for my classes, but the students don’t have to purchase the book. It’s just something I wanted to do.”

Arts and Sciences is SU’s lib-eral arts college, emphasizing interdisciplinary learning, re-search, service, and enterprise. The College’s three academic divisions house 22 departments that offer more than 50 majors, 40 minors, and 30 master’s and Ph.D. programs. More infor-mation is available at thecol-lege.syr.edu

SU From page 16

�0 August 2010 CNYurbanEaglENEwspapErs