2009 ft newsletter

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Helping tourists, newcomers, and natives ndenvironmental attractions across New York City

is the goal o the Green Apple Map system. Whatstarted as a local eco-riendly system in 1995grew to a worldwide organization with nearly 600maps based in 55 dierent countries. The sys-tems latest addition is the upcoming release othe newest map which will outline the green at-tractions solely across the borough o Queens.

Green Apple Maps show the greener sitesavailable in dierent parts o the city. Labeledicons on each map point out dierent eco-riend-ly areas such as museums, bicycle trails, parks,pools, and botanical gardens. A green map ba-sically is a social and environmental map, ex-

plained Carlos Martinez, Latin American Liaisonand New York City Green Apple Map Oce Man-

ager. Founder o Green Apple Map Wendy Brawerdecided to make the rst map during a UnitedNations conerence in order to show other na-tions that the United States can be green.

Today the map has grown bigger and isgrowing with the years. The idea o the GreenMap is to have people explore the city and ndthe resources that make a community vibrant,said Carlos Martinez. Not only does the mapshow the good things o the community, but thebad things that are harming the environment aswell, in order to raise awareness o environmen-tal issues.

Green Apple Map is run by a non-prot organization which receives unding rom privatedonors. Aside rom designing and distributingthe maps, the non-prot group is responsibleor recruiting volunteers. The new Queens GreenApple Map will be completed with the help o volunteers rom an oce in Lower East Side Manhattan.

Sta members and volunteers go out andgive school presentations in the hope o gettingmore people involved in these activities. The organization asks teachers to promote the idea inclassrooms and use the Green Apple Map toolsor assignments. Getting people involved also in

cludes going on trips to parks and providing reemaps to those who are interested.

Teens are also involved in the Green AppleMap system through a Manhattan based youthprogram. The youthprogram oers atwo-day workshopor ages 14-18 thatprovides ull training,and sets studentsout on their own mapprojects throughoutthe summer. This

For more than a century, Historically Black Col-leges and Universities, also known as HBCUs,have provided a unique cultural and educationalexperience or students that some say is otennot ound at traditional, predominately white col-leges.

But with the historic election o the UnitedStates rst Arican-American president Barack

Obama, more and more Arican-American stu-dents are attending black colleges, with thenumber doubling in the past 30 years to almost2 million, according to U.S. News and World Re-port.

High school students like 17-year-old CamilleRoddey nd the rich history, amily-like atmo-sphere and communal spirit at black colleges

inviting; thats what sparked Roddeys interesin attending an HBCU over a traditional collegeShe rst learned about HBCUs last summer during a week-long college tour o colleges in theSouth.

As Arican-Americans we have come a long

The New York Association of Black Journalists Student Journa lism WorkshopCO-SPONSORED BY LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY (BROOKLYN CAMPUS)

FALL 2009

FALL 2009 NYABJ STUDENT JOURNALISM WORKSHOP

ECO-FRIENDLY MAP DEBUTS IN

QUEENS[By: Claudia Balthazar]

NYABJ 22nd ANNUAL WORKSHOP WWW.FIRSTTAKENYC.COM

HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES:NOT YOUR AVERAGE COLLEGE EXPERIENCE[ By: Bianca Bergeron]

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ogram shows teens how to research and ex-re their local communities and in the end,

ose teens distribute green maps in their ownghborhoods. Other nations are also amiliarh the Green Apple Map system. Interns romerent countries are discovering more ways tot other nations involved and are contributing toe international system.

The system has a great impact in the com-nity and raises awareness and I hope to get

ore people in Arica and France involved with said French intern, Myriam Nouicer. Internsnd emails and oten get eed back rom othertions.Over the years interns have been successul

h involving other nations and have worked tovelop new icons. We try to get more peopleolved rom Germany, and now we have two

een maps in Germany and hope to get more,d Nicole Mau, a German intern. Ater the sta

embers and volunteers provide the inormationtheir research o a particular place, designer

sa Ishikawa uses the tools to design the mapd Thomas Tumbull, a tech developer, uploadse data on Green Apple Maps website. A newogram called Open Green Map allows view-

s to get a closer look o the green areas thatey are interested in, and better inormation on

how to visit them. Anyone can use this systemand can contribute by giving suggestions to im-prove the website. This website also provideshelp or those who have trouble using the tools.The map system also provides books and manu-als to show people how to make their own greenmaps worldwide.

According to sta members, those whoare inormed o eco-riendly areas are gettingto know more about saving the environment intheir local communities. Over the years peoplehave beneted rom this system and each yearmore people are getting involved. I think theGreen Apple Map system helps the communityand could do so much more i more people were

inormed and more people were involved, saidNicky Sacerdoti, Intern.

Green Apple Maps website lists the othernations involved with the project and how manymaps they have. Organizers said the list keepsgrowing each year. Saving the environment hasbecome a major issue each year and with eachyear, more people are getting involved in theircommunities with the Green Apple Map Sys-tem, said Martinez. The best part o workingor the Green Apple Map System is that yourehelping people who will help people and soon.

Link to Green Apple Map: http://www.open-greenmap .org/greenmap/nycs-g reen-a pplemap

FALL 2009 NYABJ STUDENT JOURNALISM WORKSHOP FALL 2009 NYABJ STUDENT JOURNALISM WORKS

PhotosfromN

ewsweek

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y, said Roddey, a graduating senior at Notreme School in Manhattan. There was a timeen we were not allowed to better ourselves

d I eel that an HBCU is proo that we haveercome that phase and that those who attende are acknowledging that act. Roddey saide hopes to attend Howard University in Wash-ton, D.C. ater she graduates. She said thathough some o her riends had dierent viewsattending a traditional college versus a his-ically black college, she elt that being amonger people was worthwhile. By deciding toend a black college, I eel that I will walk awayh an experience that would be dierent i Iended a predominately white school, Roddeyd.In 1965, Congress passed the Higher Edu-

tion Act dening HBCUs as any historicallyck college or university that was established

prior to 1964, whose principal mission was,and is, the education o black Americans, andthat is accredited ... (or) making reasonableprogress toward accreditation. Today there are105 HBCUs, ranging in age rom 50 to 100 yearsold. Many were established beore the Civil War.Cheney University o Pennsylvania was oundedin 1837 and is the oldest HBCU in the UnitedStates, according to the universitys Web site.Black colleges have produced some o this coun -trys top doctors, lawyers, engineers, politiciansand entertainers. Notable New Yorkers who haveattended HBCUs include poet Langston Hughes,ormer mayor David Dinkins and ounder andCEO o Bad Boy Entertainment, Sean Diddy.Combs.

While HBCUs make up only three percent othe countrys institutions o higher learning, theygraduate nearly 25 percent o Arican-Americanswho earn undergraduate degrees, accordingthe United Negro College Fund Web site. Forexample, Xavier University in New Orleans, La.is known or sending more blacks to medicalschool than any other university, with 92 percento those students who enter medical school

earning a degree, according to the universitysWeb site. Alumni o HBCUs share was ok the lielessons they learned while attending a black col-lege have helped them in all acets o their lives.Erin Poulson Morris, 27, knew that she wantedto go to attend Spelman College, a private, lib-eral arts institution or black women, ater a tripto visit her older brother at Morehouse Collegein Atlanta, Ga. More house, an all-male college,is located in the Atlanta University Center alongwith Spelman and Clark-Atlanta University. Ireally wanted to align mysel with other blackwomen who had similar aspirations so I knew inmy heart that Spelman was the right choice orme, said Morris, who graduated in 2004 with abachelors degree in economics and is now anassociate director at Hardin Investment Partnersin Atlanta, Ga.

Morris said that her parents, especially hermother, wanted her to attend a black college.

TEENAGE PREGNANCYON THE RISE IN THE UNITED STATES

[By: Felicia Romain]

Sarai Favors is 16, a junior in high school -- andthe mother o a 7-month old son. While herpeers hang out with riends, watch videos onYouTube or play video games, Sarai describes

a typical day like this: First, I go to school, gohome, wash bottles. (I) eed the baby, wash him,put him to sleep and I go to sleep with him.I you think Sarai is an unusual case and teenpregnancy isnt a growing problem in the UnitedStates, think again.

Ater a 34 percent decline in teen bir ths rom1991 to 2005, pregnancy rates among teens arenow increasing. According to statistics rom theU.S. Department o Health and Human Services,there was a 5 percent spike in teen births rom2005 to 2007. In 2006, 435,436 young womenbetween the ages o 15 and 19 became moth-ers. The United States already has one o thehighest rates o teen pregnancy among industri-alized countries, and teen pregnancy is blamedon a host o social and health problems. Childreno teen mothers are more likely to have healthproblems, to do poorly in school and to go to jail,and teen pregnancy costs America about $9 bil-lion a year, according to the Centers or DiseaseControl and Prevention.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen andUnplanned Pregnancy asserts that teen pregnan-cies carry extra health risks to the mother andthe baby. Many teens dont receive timely prena-tal care and have higher risks or pregnancy-re-lated high blood pressure and its complications.Reducing unplanned pregnancies will increasethe amount o children born into circumstancesthat better support their growth and develop-ment, according to the National Campaign.

So why are more younggirls having babies despitethe risks and problems?There are several actors.Some say that society isgrowing more accepting okids having kids. I knowsome amilies that arehappy their teen is having ababy! says sophomore Eng-lish teacher Rob Andrewsat the Secondary Schoolor Journalism in Brooklyn.However, he said the realityis that being a teen mother

can be a major headache. Federal statisticsshow teen mothers are more likely to drop outo high school. They are also more likely to besingle and stay single. I think its an additional

stress. Some people may help. But, my guess isits super stressul, saidAndrews.

Listening to Saraitalk about her lie, onewould have to agree.Even she backs up An-drews sentiment. I lovemy son Jahcere; but iI had the knowledge Ihave now, back then,things wouldve beendierent. Still, Saraiis more ortunate thanother teen moms. Thechilds ather is very ac-tive in his sons lie andshe has other support.People that dont know me are quick to judge,but the people that do know me, understand mysituation, she said.

According to the National Campaign, parentsplay a greater role in their teens decision thanthey may think. The campaign ound 31 percento teens say parents infuence their decisionsabout sex more than their riends. But parentshave to start talking to their kids early, beorethey get involved in sex. Promoting abstinencedoes not work ater an adolescent has becomesexually active, said Dr. Peralta rom the Na-tional Campaign.

The U.S. Census shows the more religiousthe state, the higher the rateo teen pregnancy. Andrewsagrees, and said: Teen preg-nancy is a cultural thing in theU.S. I think its viewed dier-ently rom state to state.

I think adults need totalk openly about sex. Teensare attracted by things thatare o limits. Talk about sexmore, point blank, says An-drews. Studies show thatalthough the rates o sexualactivity among U.S teens aresimilar to other developing

countries, they dont use contracepten as teens in other western counthe U.S, teen pregnancy rates are thdecrease in contraceptive use. Decl

pregnancy can be attributed to teensger to have se

Findings iabstinence in itsel is inhelping adolevent unintendcies. Oten, pregnancies aadults result According to tCampaign, tity o childreunplanned preborn to unmarThis is importachildren raiseparent amilie

challenges in a variety o areas. Cchildren who grew up with two parenin one-parent amilies are more likelydrop out o high school, and have lpoint averages, lower college aspipoor school attendance. As adultshave higher rates in divorce, accorNational Campaign. The question thasked is, What is the United States this situation?

The National Teen Pregnancy month (NTPPM) is in May. The NTPPormative campaign created to helties recognize the eects o unintpregnancy and early child bearing. Ihelp young people develop responsbehaviors and attitudes regarding secampaign was started in 2001 andcided to designate one specic day innational day to prevent teen pregnanational day o the campaign, it asgo online and take an engaging quizthem several real lie situations andto choose a course o action.

In 2002, approximately 75,000 the National day quiz. The number inearly 800,000 in 2006. As the yearessential that the teen pregnancy raes to better society as a whole.

STORICALLY BLACK COLLEGESntinued from page 1)

They wanted me to have a good college experi-ence so they gently pushed me into the directiono Spelman, Morris said. Alessia Wheeler, 27,ollowed in the ootsteps o her parents and at-tended Southern University and A&M College inBaton Rouge, La. Southern has ve campusesand is considered the largest HBCU system inthe country. I grew up around Southern Univer-sity and the schools culture and the talented

people that went there captivated me, saidWheeler, who is an engineer at Colgate-Palmo-live in Manhattan. I also loved the act thatthe proessors were like my second parents andhelped mold my uture. Wheeler said that herve years at Southern were the most memorableyears o her lie. She earned a bachelors degreein mechanical engineering in 2005. I grew as aperson. I knew what I liked and what I disliked, Iwas more open-minded. Southern University wasa antastic experience, Wheeler said.

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e package rom the Nazareth Area Foodnk in Nazareth, PA, consists o a box o spa-etti, baked beans, ruit and cereal along withother items specied on a list drawn up by

od bank administrators. Customers need onlyme to the door and one o the volunteers will

nd them two brown paper bags lled with do-tions.Volunteers present on an open night spendch o their time putting together enoughgs to ll the nine tables in a back room. Box-and cans o non-perishable items are storedrows o green shelves in the stark, ambient

hting o the side room.Judging by the numbers that visit the pantry,

e might think it was located in an underprivi-ed community. On the contrary, Nazareth ismposed o mostly white-collar proessionals;ctors, business owners, engineers - whoseldren enjoy the spoils o their parents in-mes.

Nazareth Area High School hosts a student

parking lot wherewell over a third othe junior and seniorclasses drive theircars to school eachday. Only an estimat-ed 8 percent o the6,000 residents livebeneath the povertyline. However, noteven this becomingneighborhood is im-mune to the UnitedStates current nan-cial crisis.

The Nazareth AreaFood Bank began in1992 when the mem-

bers o St. JohnsLutheran Church inNazareth saw a needor aid in the commu-nity.

The church-goersbegan handing outood rom a smallcloset in the churchbasement once amonth to the 15 or20 people that wouldcome. Recently, it ser-viced 200 amilies, arecord high. Aroundthe same time therecession began inDecember 2007, thevolunteers at the Naz-areth Area Food Bankbegan to witnesssigns o an economicslump. It was thenthe bags they handedout turned rom a ewto many.

Betty Huth, who has been the director o theood bank since its conception, estimates themost requent users o the ood bank at thetime were single mothers and those on socialsecurity. Today, the line on the pantrys rontporch is more diverse.

Since the economy has dipped, we have alot o younger men and women that have beenlaid o rom their jobs, Huth said.

Eventually, more and more people began torequent the ood bank and the donations romcommunity and church members increased inresponse. The heightened community need be-came too large to be assisted rom a closet.

Jim Byrnes, the pantrys chairman o theboard, elt the ood bank needed to expand toanother location.

It just became an inconvenience or St.Johns so we knew we needed to nd a place oour own, said Byrnes.

In 2007, the members o the ood bankbegan looking or a building separate rom the

church. Ater two years o searching, Essroc, alocal cement manuacturer, oered the churchmembers its ormer reight station building at aprice the church ound agreeable.

Given the current dicult economic times,there is a lot o attention on ood banks. Weare delighted that one o our buildings is goingto host such a worthy cause, Marco Barbesta,the director o communications at Essroc, toldLehigh Valley Live, a local news Web site.

The ood bank moved into the more spa-cious building on South Main St. in Decembero 2008. St. Johns is no longer the sole churchinvolved in the ood bank. Holy Family Parishand the Carpenters Community Church are twoo the several churches whose members nowvolunteer.

In addition to increasing the space, the

ood bank had to increase the number o timesthey hand out ood rom once to three times amonth.

The ood bank purchases some o the oodit gives away but most o it is donated by mem-bers o the community and organizations suchas the Boy Scouts o America, which works es-pecially closely with the pantry as part o itsnationwide Scouting or Food endeavor.

We really depend on that, Huth said. Al-though the number o people standing on thepantrys ront step continues to rise, Huth re-mains optimistic about the uture or the ami-lies she helps.

I expect that when things get better theywont need to come anymore, Huth said. Ihope so.


SHARING SCHOOLS:HOW SOME STUDENTS ARE COPING WITH A NEW SCHOOL REALITY[By: Dana Cayetano]

Lately large schools in New York City have beenclosing down in order to make smaller schoolswithin the school building. At 456 White PlainsRoad in the Bronx sits a school building that hasbeen aected by this change.

The school building used to be the homeo Intermediate School 174, also known as Eu-gene T. Maleska school. However I.S. 174 wasone o those schools orced to close down inorder to make room or smaller schools to be

placed in the building. The school building lastyear started hosting three schools -- WomensAcademy o Excellence, and two other middleschools, Bronx Math and Science and Archime-des Academy.

Just recently, the Womens Academy o Ex-cellence had to transition rom a school thatserves seventh through 12th graders to a regu-lar high school. It is the school most aectedby the limitations o having to share a campuswith other schools.

Ms. Lauren Peelen, the Spanish teacher atthe Womens Academy o Excellence, has beenworking in the school or our years now. Shehas been through it all, rom the trailers to the

Eugene T. Maleska school. She notes that thereare many problems that are aced every day withbeing in a building that shares three schools.

Peelen said being in smaller schools a-ects [the] attitude o schools and resourcesthat students [need]. Some o those resourcesinclude access to a computer lab, library, audi-torium, music room, and school yard. To Peelenall o these are important. For example, Wom-ens Academy o Excellence doesnt have a mu-

sic room or a music teacher. She believes thatsbecause the now shrunken school has a smallerbudget so it cant aord to pay or a teacher.

Diana Gonzalez, 16, is a student rom theWomens Academy o Excellence. She is a juniorwho has been in the school since the seventhgrade. She, however, doesnt share the sameviews as her Spanish teacher. She believes aslong as I am getting an education its all good.

Naiomi Martinez, 17, is also a junior in theWomens Academy o Excellence who has beenin the school since the seventh grade. Sheshares Dianas view, to a point.

Its okay sharing school. But it will be bet-ter to have our own things. Or the high school

FOOD BANK FINDS A NEED,EVEN AMONG A WELL-HEELED COMMUNITY

By: Danielle Pierre]How can teachers help students pass theirclasses and graduate? Harrison High Schoolhas started ollowing a program called Grade-a-Day.

Grade-a-Day is a program where every singleday, a student receives a grade or something.The students are usually graded on a worksheetor a quiz/test. The idea behind Grade-a-Day isthat i a student starts ailing, the teacher cansee where they messed up and provide help,instead o waiting until the end o the semesterwhen the problem has already worsened. Advo -cates o the program say students will benetbecause with grade a day teachers can keeptrack o how students are doing. It also helpsbecause i students get a bad grade on some-thing they did, they have more than enoughgrades that teachers can average into their nalgrades to keep them rom ailing.

Principal Ronald Shields is the person whothought o bringing Grade-a-Day to HarrisonHigh or the rst time this year. This is goingto help our students, said Shields, who addedthat this program will be very useul or stu-dents. All the advantages are going to benetthe students and there are hardly any cons,Shields said.

The students will benet because with aGrade-a-Day we can keep track on how studentsare doing. I a student starts to ell behind,

the teachers and parents can get them help be-ore it worsens. Usually the student will have towait until the end o the semester or i it getsto the point where they need to call the parentsin, now they dont have to. The teacher wouldhave to sit there and try to gure out where thestudent got lost and with Grade-a-Day they canjust look and see what happen ed that day whenthey started ailing.

The program has gotten a mixed receptionrom students and teachers a like. Most teach-ers do believe that it will help students, but theycomplain it causes them to do more.

Its a lot more work we have to make, so thestudents get their Grade-a-Day, Ms.Thomas, anEnglish teacher, said.

Teachers have been able to better recognizewhen a student is having trouble, but they thinkthe program needs the student to want to dobetter or it to be a success. Some studentswho do not even bother to try in class will justaccumulate a large number o bad grades.

Still, other teachers say it gives studentswho dont try a chance to bring up their grades.

I this school didnt have Grade-a-Day youwould be ailing, so stop complaining, Spanishteacher Mrs. Costanzo said to one student un-happy with the program.

Most students think that they get more workand have to study more to be prepared or the

work they will get graded on the nemakes us ail our classes, Karla said.

On the other a hand small percendents have agreed that the program them a lot. My Spanish teacher swas having trouble and was able to gto help me understand, student Hasaid. Some honor class studentsshould be exempt rom the Gradegram, and it should just be or thoswho need the help or will not try in do honor students need this? It is jusor us, honor student Hinsyu Yin saour work and pass our classes. students rom honor classes seem tsentiments. Other students agree bthem are ailing class or do not wanwork, not even regular work. It sit, senior Priscilla Casco said. Casceven though she does not like the pdeals with it and does her work.

It will help us help those stneed it, Shields said.

Shields said Harrison High has cent graduation rate, and this prograthem keep it. We can make sure tdents pass and they are able to movworld, substitute teacher Mrs.Yin works then other schools can use it

GRADEA DAY[By: Ashley Rodriguez]

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THE HARD LIFE OF AN IMMIGRANT[By: H.M. Papon]

While many immigrantssee America as the land opromise, some nd whenthey get here, they havetrouble surviving. The lieo an immigrant can bevery hard, lled with di-cult moments. Some arestill struggling to make aliving.

That is the story oAbunoor Chowdhury, animmigrant rom Bangla-desh. A year ater coming to the United States,he tearully says coming here was the biggestmistake o my lie.

I been here almost one year. I used to havea nice and happy amily, while I was in Bangla-desh. I have my one business also I worked withother company. I used to get two days o butnow I have to work seven days rom 7 a.m. to 8

or 9 p.m. and I got only $70 dollars, says Chow-dhury, a ather o three.

People think that liein New York is the bestlie in the world but I willsay its not true, as youcan see the people whoare 70 or more, they stillhave to work to survive. II can get my old job backthan I will go back to Ban-gladesh and live thereand enjoy my last day olie.

Other immigrants arerustrated by what they see as an anti-immigrantsentiment in some communities. While someAmericans are angry at newcomers, immigrantssay they are an important part o the abric oour society and they need to be respected: Weare the solution, said Yung Iye, a 19-year-oldManhattan resident.

Some immigrants are particularly upset that

some people view them with suspicion. Sincethe 9/11 attacks, some Arab and/or Muslim im-

migrants, and even some who are nolook like they are, have been victims

We are hard-working people. We amily values. We are not criminals. Wers, not terrorists, said MohammedJackson Heights.

Harriman Chabla, 34, o Brookquestion or those who want to seeimmigrants subside.

Who cooks and serves your oodyour home? Can you please answetion? he asked. All we want is a bewe need is an opportunity. All we wan

LOCAL COMMUNITY BOARDS HAVE ISSUES WITHOVER-DEVELOPED PROPERTY

[By: Alex King]

e construction o out-sized houses is a con-versial issue in areas o Queens and Brooklyncause o how much they stand out rom thest o the neighborhood. Whether these homese acceptable oten depends on whether youk the homeowner or members o the samehnic group, or the areas other inhabitants.

Owners generally tear down the house theyve just bought and build another home that inway matches, in scale or design, the homesthe immediate area, oten covering the entiret o land that comes with the house. This

ocess has recently become a popular topic ateetings o Community Boards 6, 7 and 11 ineens and Community Board 15 in Brooklyn.Members o Community Board 6, which en-

mpasses Rego Park and Forest Hills, pusheda plan to control what they saw as over-de-

opment in Forest Hills Cord Meyer area andeived their wish this past March thanks to

e approval o a proposal by the Department oy Planning, according to Yournabe.com writer

na Gustason. The plan involved rezoning a-block section o the Cord Meyer area o For-t Hills to prevent the construction o any moreuses the local Community Board said are outcharacter.

In Forest Hills, many o these huge, so-called McMansions are being built by Bukhar-ian Jews, who are a large part o the commu-nity. David Ochildiev, author o A History o theBukharan Jews, says that Queens is the most

popular area or Bukhar-ian Jews, including neigh-borhoods such as RegoPark, Forest Hills, KewGardens, Briarwood, all owhich border each other.In terms o their custom,Ochildiev says that Bukh-arian Jews typically residecompactly, i.e., near each

other in certain city areas Thanks to that, it waseasier to carry out togeth-er their shared religiousrituals. In act, the Bukh-arian community, whenthey spoke out against theDepartment o City Plan-nings consideration o therezoning plan, explainedthat many o them live in

multi-generational groupings and thereore needsuch big homes.

Forest Hills resident and co-op board presi-dent Hugh Strauss said the Bukharian homesare extremely ugly, but also argues that the

people who build them are perectly within theirrights to do so as long as they have permis-sion rom the community board in their sectiono Forest Hills. A local woman who would notbe named thought that the houses represent

their [Bukharian] culture andtheir success. Nevertheless,she noted that the thick metalences put up around them arenot at all acceptable and sendan obvious message to stay outo their business and o theirproperty.

Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn,has a similar problem to that oForest Hills. The key dierenceis that the people who are put-ting up the over-built homeshave not always requested per-mits to build what they chooseto, and oten ignore zoning reg-ulations. This area has seena massive construction boomand only since the residents

have stepped up has the illegal sites beenshut down and given stop work orders, writesTheresa Scavo, chairperson o Community Board15, in an email to this reporter.

Manhattan Beach has seen as many as 60stop work orders at one time in an a rea 17 blockslong and only 4 blocks wide, said Scavo. Shecited a home being erected at 1610 Avenue S,where the community ought and convinced theBuilding Department to shut down the construc-

tion site due to emergency conditions.Another questionable building situation aroseearlier this year in North Flushing, Queens, involv -ing a multi-amily residence and a race againsttime. The building o an apartment structure inCommunity Board 7 had yet to be started whilea rezoning plan was being nalized by the De-partment o City Planning. A developer had nev-ertheless decided to go ahead with this building,attempting to beat the timeline or the rezoningeective date, according to a representative orneighboring Queens Community Board 11, whowould not be named. What the developer ailedto understand was that a signicant and vocalportion o the community was not in avor o theconstruction and succeeded in stopping it.

periences that every one else have. She alsoes on to mention that because o the limita-ns o space the school doesnt have activi-s she is interested in. She said i she had theance to leave the school she would.

Javon Smith, 14, is an eighth grader who at-nds a school that is in the Bronx called Acad-y or Scholarship and Entrepreneurship. This

hool runs rom 6th grade to the 12th grade.

His school, like the Womens Academy o Excel-lence, has to deal with the problems aced withsharing a school building. However, in this casethere are only two schools in his school build-ing. His view is similar to Womens Academy stu-dent, Diana Gonzalez: It doesnt bother me aslong as nobody bothers me, it all good.

Brooklyn native Danaly Guity, 15, is a resh-man who attends Brooklyn High School or theArts. Unlike the students previously mentioned,she attends a school with its own building. With

more than 570 kids in her school, she is satis-ed with the way her school is.

Its what I always wanted. Its ull o oppor-tunities that Im ready to take, she said. Un-like the others schools, all o the supplies arethere and some extra resources that many otherschools probably dont have.

In the end the question is whether anybodyis going to do something to prevent one groupo students rom having all the resources theyneed, while leaving other students lacking.

ntinued from page 5)

HARLEMSBURGER MAN[By: Cree Mitchell ]

Its a brisk all morning in the middle o 118thStreet in Harlem near Lenox Avenue, and thesmell o grilled hot dogs and cheeseburgersdrits down the block, teasing passersby, taunt-ing them with each whi that they take.

The aroma is wating rom a little cart wheretwo people wait patiently or a meal o burgersand drinks.

It is only 10 a.m. and the hustle and bustlethat will soon consume the block begins to takeshape. But here at this little hot dog/hamburgerstand known as Moes, the day starts as it hasalmost every morning or the past 25 years; withjust a ew hungry mouths to eed.

Behind the cart stood Leroy Maurice Robin-son, who originally planned on opening a juicestand but changed his business model ater acustomer suggested he serve a burger to goalong with this drink.

Harlem has changed a lot over the yearssince Robinson rst opened his stand in 1985,the most noticeable change being the wave ogentrication that has swept through this onceviolent and blighted neighborhood, bringing withit high-end condos, big-name retailers and a rusho non-Harlemites looking or cheaper rents.

The community has changed, said Robin-son, who happens to be a Brooklyn native. Butor the better. I like the act that white and blackpeople are able to live together. I also eel a lotsaer.

When asked why he had not opened a burgerstand in his native Brooklyn, he kindly said, Idont like Brooklyn. He chuckled a bit and add-

ed, Youll be surprised, but the people are a lotmellower in Harlem than in Brooklyn.

While the mellowness o one boroughs in-habitants over another is debatable, the actthat Robinsons stand has become an institutionin the Harlem neighborhood is not.

No matter how much has changed in Harlem,Robinsons stand remains a xture or locals wholook orward to its emergence when the weathergets warm and mourns its loss during winter.

The stand draws young, old, newcomer andold-timer alike. Terrell Thomas, who is romBrooklyn and has beencoming to Moes standor the past three years,said he longs or a spotlike Moes in his neigh-borhood.

In Brooklyn, therearent a lot o places togo like that, he said.

For Robinson itseems that it is lessabout a prot than itis or the people in theneighborhood. Custom-ers without enoughmoney to cover theirmeal or any money atall are routinely givena burger, drink anda smile, all ree ocharge.


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new law governing how young people get theirvers licenses has sparked debate amongw Jersey residents some who say it is too

strictive and costly, and others who say it isat is needed to prevent atal accidents.The new law, named Kyleighs Law in mem-o a 16-year-old girl rom Long Valley who

d in a car accident in 2006, will implementany changes in the current system or obtain-

a drivers license in New Jersey. For one, itreases the amount o time that drivers under

e age o 21 with a learners permit must waitget their provisional license rom six months1 year, as well as the hours o driving lessonseded, rom six to 20.

The law also requires those with provisionalenses th that is, a license acquired at age 17at restricts their driving hours and the passen-rs they can have in the car with them to driveh an orange sticker or hangtag on their cars.e law, which is set to take eect in 2010, also take away a provisional drivers right to pleargain in court and increase the mandatoryense suspension rom three months to veonths or any driving violation.

While it might be dicult togauge the scope o the reactionto the law, some have said that itwould increase parents ears thattheir children could be targetedbecause o the orange stickersand could even lead to more ac-cidents.

High schoolers in New Jersey

have recently begun to pay at-tention to this new law and ghtagainst it, ater having kept quieton the issue or some time.

The law was named or KyleighDAlessio ater she was killed whileriding in a car with her riend, Tan-ner Birch, who held a provisionaldrivers license and careened intoa tree. Some students have said they believedthat the main reason people voted or this lawwas because nobody would want to vote againsta law in memory o someone.

Just because Kyleigh was killed it doesntmean all drivers are irresponsible. Im sorry tohear about the death o someone so young but

people will be killed by cars every day, saidAnna Mazarakis, a sophomore at Montclair HighSchool.

In suburban towns like Montclair, many par-


CAN TEXTING BECOME ATEEN ADDICTION

By: Avery Akoto]agine waking up in the middle o the night andcovering that your daughter or son is wideake texting their riends in the wee hours. In

e morning you notice that they wake up lateschool and are very tired. I know how that

els because I was one o them. I used to stayuntil 2 or 3 a.m., texting riends, then Id be

ed, wake up late or school and all asleep inclasses. My mother had to take my phone

ay or a month so I could get proper sleep.w Im sleeping more, getting better gradesd getting to school on time.Questions are being raised among teens,

rents and even psychologists about the e-

ects night texting can have on young minds.Texting is nothing new but a growing problemacing many teens is prolonged engagement intexting so late at night that young people losecrucial sleep hours and possibly put their mentaldevelopment in harms way. Concerned parentsand doctors are determining i this social activ-ity can lower their IQ or even cause a sleepingdisorder.

There are a lot o people whotext into the wee morning hours.

Nahilah McDaniels, has beenin that situation. One day, I tex-ted my ex until 2 a.m., she says.Sometimes, I (type so) ast I getred thumbs.

Children need enough hours o

sleep to be productive or schoolor risk being cranky, gloomy andless active than usual.

According to an article onWebMd.com, young people be-tween 12 and 18 need eight tonine hours o sleep. YarannaBrown doesnt always get that

sleep when she spends her time texting: I textall day everyday. The latest I ever texted was un-til 5 a.m. I have to be at school at 7:30.

A big side eect o night texting is gettingdistracted rom homework, but are there even

worse eects? An recent article on the TimesOn-line.com cited research that showed the regularuse o text messages and e-mails can lower theIQ more than twice as much as smoking mari-juana. Electronic messages temporarily knockup to 10 points o the users IQ.

Although some people say that texting isgood because it gives teens something to dowhen theyre bored, others argue that teens canmeet people while talking to them or go out andplay a sport to keep a body active.

THE BATTLE OVERKYLEIGHS LAW[By: Marlon Brown]

ents cannot aord to pay or 20 hours o drivinglessons or their children. Making people paymore money to have longer lessons and have alonger wait or their license wont help anything,Mazarakis said.

A lot o petitions against this law, both onlineand tangible, have been set up and signed byhundreds o people. At 18 you can die or yourcountry but you cant get your license with sixhours o training? Jedidiah Webster, a protes-tor o Kyleighs Law, posted on an online petitionagainst the law.

This law is well intentioned but neverthe-less wrong, Gerard Frech posted on the onlinepetition. You cannot legislate good judgment and

good parenting. This law will not make respon-sible drivers out o irresponsible teenagers andmay wind up doing more harm than good by requir-ing the most vulnerable members o our societyto identiy themselves to predators.

Some parents echoed that thought, complain-ing that their children might be less sae becauseo the law. Putting a sticker on teens cars under21 makes them completely open to sex oend-ers and pedophiles, Sara Kapilow wrote. I aminors car is clearly marked showing they are aminor, any pedophile could ollow the car and leadto more rapes. But not everyone eels that way.

According to the bill, the advantages o thelaw are that it will help police identiy provisionaldrivers by the orange sticker and let them know ithey are driving at o hours. And because o the

bright orange sticker, young drivers ming peer pressured into driving reckleear o being stopped by a police o cing their licenses suspended, the billo Kyleighs riends have spoken outthe law.

Several o them posted a video oexplaining the importance o this lawthe story o Kyleigh and how her moto create the law. We want change ait now think smart, one girl said. Yare worth it.

Their message seems to be reacTimmy Crann, a 15-year-old rom Blaattends Kyleighs school, praised thepush o some o his classmates. amazing idea, he told the New Jersey

(continued on page 6)

(continued from page 5)

TEENAGERS OF ALL RACES UNITE THROUGHSKATEBOARDING ON LONG ISLAND

[By: Cho Connor]

William Ashman stood nervously with his skate-board in his hand while one o his best riends,Tyler Stanton, kept a close eye on his everymove.

William, 13, known as Willy to his riends,was going to try a very dicult trick on his skate-board that hed never landed beore. The move,the Tre Flip, where the skater launches into theair while fipping his skateboard beneath him, isone o the hardest tricks in the game. But Willywas condent and his buddy Tyler had his backso, o he went. He popped the board up, kickedhis back oot, and just as he was about to land,wooosh-clank. Willy missed the landing. The twoshared a laugh while Willys ace grew more de-termined to land it the next time.

While scenes like this, which took place atTanner Park in Copiague on Long Island, are air-ly commonplace, one thing about this particularscene stood out: Willy is Arican-American andhis buddy Tyler is white. And here, on Long Island,where there is a history o racial intolerance andracial violence, skateboarding is doing somethingthat would have been unthinkable 10 or even 15

years ago:It is build-ing bridgesbetween the

races.More mi-

norities aregetting intothe sport oskateboard-ing, whichhas longbeen domi-nated bywhite youthsand super-star skaterslike TonyHawk andBam Marg-

era. But now that the sport is becoming morediverse, it is having an impact on communitieslike this one. I think blacks and whites asso-ciate more when they skate, said Malik Mor-ton, 14, o http://graphics8.nytimes.com/im-ages/2007/11/09/ashion/11skate190.2.jpgCopiague. Morton, who started skating abouttwo years ago, said that the whole communitybenets rom the diverse group opeople, including black, Hispanicand Asian youth who are now skat-ing.

Skaters o all backgrounds saidthere is way less tension betweenthe various races. About a yearago, seven Long Island teenagersstabbed a man to death becausehe was Hispanic, the police said.The teens were allegedly drivingaround Patchogue looking or a His-panic to jump. Incidents like thathave strained already shaky racerelations on Long Island. But evenwith high-prole incidents like that,in place o some o that tension,riendships are developing overskateboards and skate ramps.

Zach Amborsini, 13, who is

white and is also a resident o Co-piague, thinks having more peopleo color skateboarding on the sceneis pretty cool.

Skateboarding is progress-ing and more people are gettinginto it, he said. When asked i hethinks whites and minorities asso-ciated more because o the sport,he said they do because they havemore to talk about.

Skateboarding has not onlybrought people together in their re-spective neighborhoods but also inlocal schools, where there has longbeen the habit among students to

separate themselves rom each othePeople now do not think that s

only be white or even black people, that people o all races are lovers o

Black people skating is bettewhen people think o skating they dono some white boy wearing Vans; thBlack kids too, said Kareem Burns,


6/7

FALL 2009 NYABJ STUDENT JOURNALISM WORKSHOP

JOURNALISM WORKSHOP STUDENTS

ck and lives in Huntington.The trend has inspired more kids to go out

d learn how to skateboard. And they are nothamed to try their best or to be good at some-ng many o their peers are not interested in.The trend is not just on Long Island but a phe-menon sweeping across the entire country,ere more skaters o dierent backgrounds

e joining their mostly white counterparts in theating world.Proessional skaters such Stevie Williams andrry Kennedy, who are both black, and Paul Ro-guez, who is Hispanic and goes by the nick-me P-Rod, have become major orces on theateboarding scene.

Someone who posted a comment on the

website aropunk.com, a website dedicated tothe black punk-rock culture, said that the newgeneration o young minority skateboarders ischallenging the ideas o those thatcame beore them. I realize thenew culture o blacks is so openminded to trying out new things andmaking the old generation re-evalu-ate their way o thinking, said thecommenter who let his or her nameas BLACKBOARD 25.

A lot o times its not aboutmaking a statement or about anyhidden agenda, teenage skaters onLong Island said. Most o the timeits just about the love o the sport.

I think they started because they wanted to dosomething other people couldnt do, Mortonsaid. I do it because I like the tricks.

PRESS2009

MARLON BR

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BIANCA BERGERON

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ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ

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DANIELLE PI

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FELICIA ROMAIN

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HM PAPON

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FALL 2009 NYABJ STUDENT JOURNALISM WORKSH

BEHIND THE SCENES@ BCAT


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Program Director: Nekesa Moody

Broadcast Director: Catherine McKenzie

Web Producer: Malik Singleton

Videographer: Mesfn Fekadu

Art Director:Jadalia Britto

Technical Coordinator: Dameon Mills

Mentors: Saundra Booker, John Eligon, Chantee Lans, Gabrielle Maple Lee,

Trymaine Lee and Dwight Oestricher

Volunteers: Michael Feeney, Katti Gray, Renita Burns and Mike Humphries

SPECIAL THANKS:

THE BCAT STUDIO CREW: Carlos Pareja, Mireya Coria and Lisette Navarrete

CO-SPONSORED BY LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY (BROOKLYN CAMPUS)

Ralph Engelman

Chair, Journalism Department

PresidentGary Anthony RamseyVice President PrintZachary R. Dowdy

Vice President BroadcastCatherine McKenzieSecretaryDante HigginsTreasurerCurtis Simmons

ParliamentarianRobert S. Anthony

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