A Busy Week in Fox Meadow
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The Fox Meadow Neighborhood Association, headed by Janice Starr and Randi Culang had a busy week, hosting an Halloween event for children at Willow Park on Saturday October 29, trick or treating in Fox Meadow on Monday night October 31 followed by a neighborhood cocktail party on Wednesday November 2 at the Starr’s home.
Willow Park Playground, on Harcourt Road behind the Girl Scout House was developed by the neighborhood association almost 20 years ago and is a beautiful shaded playground for kids of all ages.
On Halloween, the neighborhood association set up a table on Shawnee Road and recruited new members, greeted neighbors and handed out hundreds of pieces of candy.
On Wednesday night November 2, Fox Meadow residents met Mayor Jane Veron, a resident of Fox Meadow herself, and enjoyed cocktails and company.
Photo credit Ira Starr.
Listen to the Soulful Music Of Noah Aronson at Scarsdale Synagogue
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Noah Aronson Musician in Residence Weekend at Scarsdale Synagogue
Scarsdale Synagogue will host a special weekend of music with recording artist, composer and performer Noah Aronson from Friday November 4 to Sunday November 6, 2022. Aronson creates music and interactive experiences at the intersection of wellness, spirituality and creativity and has been creating and inspiring audiences with his heartfelt and soulful music for the last 20 years. His music is sung in communities and summer camps around the world and he tours year-round giving concerts and leading music-driven prayer experiences.
Join Scarsdale Synagogue for these events:
Friday, November 4
4 - 6:00 p.m. - Playground Playdate & Tot Shabbat includes a pizza dinner at 5:30 p.m.
7:30 p.m. - Musical Shabbat Service
Sunday, November 6
10:15 a.m. - Community Concert. Everyone is welcome to attend!
About Noah Aronson
Noah graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston with a degree in Piano and Jazz Composition. While studying, Noah simultaneously held the position of Artist in Residence at Temple Beth Elohim where he continues to serve in this capacity. He moved to NYC in 2008 and interned at Pulse Music and Headroom Studios. He also served as Conductor of the Manhattan HaZamir choir from 2008-2010. Noah completed the prestigious Lehman Engel BMI Musical Theatre Writing Program in 2011 while attending night classes at DubSpot Electronic Music School.
Noah has released 10 albums of original music including his debut solo album ‘Am I Awake’ in 2011 (see discography below). His groundbreaking album entitled ‘The Left Side of the Page’ revolutionized the way contemporary Jewish communities engage with their liturgy.
Noah attended Rabbinical school at Hebrew College in 2013 and completed the Mechon Hadar yearlong fellowship in 2015. In 2017, Noah released his album More Love, featuring his band of Israeli Berklee musicians, Noam Israeli, Tali Rubenstein, Tamir Shmerling and Eitan Kenner. In 2018, Noah partnered with 18 congregations throughout the US to complete The Chai Project; 18 songs for 18 communities in 2018.
Through the years, Noah has served on the faculty of Hebrew Union College of Sacred Music, Hava Nashira, Shabbat Shira, Shirei Chagigah and the Wexner Heritage Foundation and has partnered with countless communities around the world to help people feel more connected in mind and body and spirit through music.
Listen to his music here. http://www.noaharonson.com/music-video
Scarsdale Synagogue is a reform Jewish congregation located at 2 Ogden Road, Scarsdale, NY 10583. www.sstte.org. 914-725-5175
Picturing the Faces of Scarsdale
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On September 30 we happened in on the celebration of a unique art show by Scarsdale High School Danielle Barro, titled “Scarsdale Through the Ages,” now on display at Scarsdale Library. The exhibit features photo portraits of 100 residents of Scarsdale, ages one to one hundred, and offers a wonderful display of the many faces of the community.
Below Barro explains they how and why of the project which you can see at the library, but also view online here. Either way, you must take a look at her engaging work.
Barro explains:
What is the genesis of the idea to take these portraits?
This project was part of the Digital Photography II class I took last spring at Scarsdale High School with teacher Dina Hofstetter. The assignment was called “100 Ways.” For this project, we had to take 100 photos of the same category, such as 100 flowers or 100 mailboxes. I decided to take 100 photos of 100 residents of Scarsdale, one of every age from 1 to 100. I called my project “Scarsdale through the Ages.” The final project can be found here:
I chose to take these photos because I wanted to do a project that was meaningful to me. I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to get to know more about my hometown, which is also the town where both my mother and my grandfather grew up (like me, they both also went to SHS). Scarsdale is often known for being very homogenous, and I wanted my project to show that there is actually a lot of diversity in Scarsdale of all types – not only diversity of age, but also of race, cultural upbringing, spoken language at home, and interests and hobbies, among others.
How did you find the subjects - one at each age?
Barro and mom Allison Weinberg
I created a Google document for people to sign up for their age via a link, and my mom posted the link on Scarsdale Buzz, which is the Facebook group for people living in Scarsdale. Many people signed up immediately. I was really shocked at how many people wanted to be in my project. Word of mouth also really helped, as people would reach out to me and my mom to ask if they could sign up to be in my project. As you might expect, some ages were really challenging to find. The hardest ages to find were people in their 20s and the 90s. For the most challenging ages, we kept asking around, and my mom kept posting the ages I still needed on Scarsdale Buzz. People in the community were really supportive and extremely helpful in suggesting people of certain ages who might want to be in my project. People would suggest a friend, a relative, a friend of a friend, or just about anyone, who might be the specific age(s) I was still looking for. At one point, someone suggested using Google to find the missing ages. If you google, “age 98 Scarsdale NY,” for example, you will get a list of people of that age with their home phone number. We did not know that until I had one person left, but that information would have been very helpful if I had known it sooner!
What are the challenges of taking a good portrait?
For this project, I decided not to take what some might call a traditional portrait. Initially, I was going to take a photo of everyone just smiling at the camera. But I quickly decided that I would rather show each person’s character, a glimpse into what makes them unique. So, I wound up deciding to take a photo of each person doing something they love, like a passion or hobby, or something they do every day, like cuddle their dog or read the newspaper. This allowed me to get to know each person in a more genuine way and to present each person’s authenticity and uniqueness to the viewer.
I took these photos between February and June of 2022, a time when many people were much more worried about COVID than they are now. So, I took many of the photos outside, some on very cold days. But, the benefit of being outside was that the natural lighting added a brighter and more special quality to each portrait.
Dani BarroTell us about yourself - what grade you are in, your interests etc.
I am a junior at Scarsdale High School. My favorite hobby is photography, a passion I have been pursuing since I was little. I have been taking art classes since I was two years old, and I love creating art of all types. In my free time, I enjoy tutoring younger kids in different subjects, particularly math. I have also been a student teacher at my temple for several years. In addition, I recently started a support group for children of divorced parents (my parents divorced when I was 7 years old). I live with my mom and my sister Julia (who is a freshman at The Masters School).
SAS to Host Conversation with Author Letty Pogrebin
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Letty Cottin Pogrebin, a founding editor of Ms. magazine and author of twelve books, will discuss her newly published memoir in conversation with cultural historian Lori Rotskoff. The event will be held at the JCC of Mid-Westchester at 11 am on Thursday October 20, 2022.
Yiddish for shame, Shanda presents a wise yet funny self-examination of the author's numerous family secrets across three generations. With candor, Pogrebin reveals family traumas, unhappy marriages, abandoned children, religious transgressions, repressed sexual identities, and radical political beliefs. Through unmasking, Pogrebin also paints a touching portrait of a family that, like many others, has a talent for reinvention and survival.
Ms. Pogrebin is co-founder of Ms. magazine, is a nationally acclaimed writer, activist, and public speaker. The author of twelve books, she has also published articles and essays in numerous print and online periodicals, including The New York Times, the Nation, and Huffington Post. She is a co-founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Ms. Foundation for Women, a past president of the Authors Guild and Americans for Peace Now, and has served on the boards of the Harvard Divinity School Women in Religion Program and the Brandeis University Women’s and Gender Studies Program. Among her many honors is a Yale University Poynter Fellowship in Journalism, a Matrix Award for excellence in communication and the arts, and an Emmy Award for her work as consulting editor on the TV version of Marlo Thomas’s "Free to Be...You and Me."
Books will be available for pick up and author signature at the event. Time will be reserved for Q&A.
Best Selling Authors Coming to Scarsdale Adult School: Sign Up Now
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More authors than ever before are flocking to Scarsdale Adult School for special in-person or online visits for our students. First up this fall is an online double feature on Thursday, September 29, 2022. The afternoon headliner is Ann Leary, The Foundling (2022) (Course 11435), speaking at 1 pm about her new historical fiction. Set in 1927 in a public asylum founded to sequester "feebleminded women of childbearing age," The Foundling portrays the moral dilemma faced by a young secretary whose loyalty to her brilliant employer, a psychiatrist who had been at the forefront of the women's suffrage movement, is tested by a friend from the past, an inmate seeking to escape from the institution. In the evening at 7 pm, meet Ellen Jovin, Rebel with a Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian (2022) (Course 11510) for an entertaining recounting of her favorite grammar adventures and answers to all pressing questions on proper sentence structure.
On Thursday, October 13, 2022, SAS proudly presents a day/night double-header over Zoom with Jason Mott, (pictured at top) author of last year's National Book Award Winner, Hell of a Book (2021). The novel's narrator is an unnamed Black author who is on a cross-country publicity tour to promote his bestselling debut novel, also titled Hell of a Book. He converses with an imaginary ever-present youngster he refers to as "The Kid." Interwoven in this plotline, is the heart-wrenching tale of a rural Southern boy called "Soot" because of his dark complexion. With magical realism, sardonic humor, and a converging narrative, this masterful fiction addresses themes of racism, police violence, love, money, and the experience of growing up Black in America. At 1 pm, Mott himself will moderate a book group in Author-Led Book Discussion: Jason Mott, Hell of a Book (2021) (Course 11520). Class size is limited for this bespoke event. At 7 pm, Mott returns for a community-wide program, Author Visit: Jason Mott, Hell of a Book (2021) (Course 11521). In conversation with cultural historian Lori Rotskoff, Mott will discuss his career as a writer of fiction and poetry with time reserved for audience Q&A. The evening program will be recorded and available to all registered students.
On Friday, October 21, 2022 at 11 am at Westchester Reform Temple, SAS hosts Author-Led Book Discussion: S.W. Leicher, Acts of Atonement (2022) (Course 11515). The sequel to her debut novel, Acts of Assumption (2018), her latest book again features protagonists and partners Serach Gottesman, a soft-spoken renegade from Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn, and Paloma Rodriguez, a headstrong, trailblazer from the Latina South Bronx, who sacrificed their families, communal ties, and faiths in pursuing their forbidden romance. An unexpected death, a seductive offer, and an arrest bring their estranged relatives 
and insular cultures back into their lives with devastating results.
On Thursday, October 27, 2022 at 12:30 pm at JCC of Mid-Westchester, the co-founder of Ms. magazine, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, returns to SAS to discuss her newly published memoir in conversation with Lori Rotskoff. Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy (2022) presents a wise yet funny self-examination of the author's numerous family secrets across three generations. Time will be reserved for Q&A and Pogrebin will be signing books after the talk. Students may register for either General Admission plus Book Purchase (Course 11453) or General Admission Only (Course 11452).
On Tuesday, November 1, 2022 at 7:15 pm at Scarsdale High School, Bobbi Rebell, personal finance expert and author of Launching Financial Grownups (2022), offers tips and tools for parents of teens and young adults who want their children to grow into fiscally responsible and financially independent adults. Students again have the choice between General Admission plus Book Purchase (Course 11498) or General Admission Only (Course 11529).
On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 1 pm, SAS welcomes Bonnie Garmus, who will discuss her debut bestselling novel, Lessons in 
Chemistry (2022), in conversation with cultural historian Lori Rotskoff. Set in the 1960s, Elizabeth Zott, the book's formidable feminist and idiosyncratic heroine, begins as a brilliant research chemist in a male-dominated field and becomes a single mother and reluctant star of a beloved cooking show. Deftly blending sharp social satire with heartwarming humor, Garmus delivers a self-assured page-turner that tackles the sexism of postwar America from a fresh perspective. Author Visit: Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry (2022) (Course 11436) will be recorded and available for later viewing by all registered students.
To close out the year, on Tuesday, December 13, 2022 at 11 am, the bestselling author of Wench and Balm, Dolen Perkins-Valdez will engage in conversation with cultural historian Lori Rotskoff to discuss her latest unforgettable historical epic in Author Visit: Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Take My Hand (2022) (Course 11526). Inspired by true events involving Black women’s involuntary sterilization in Alabama during the 1970s, Take My Hand is a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients. The book sheds a timely light on issues of voice, choice, and agency over one's body. Time will be reserved for Q&A.
Register for all at www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org or call 914-723-2325 with questions.
