School overcrowding
To The Editor:
Re “Pols & parents renew call for Morton middle school” (news article, Oct. 2 – 8):
I am a very concerned parent of one of the P.S. 11 protesters pictured in your photo in last week’s issue.
Due to an added K class and fast growing number of families in our zone, P.S. 11’s enrollment skyrocketed to 575 children (up from 506 last year). The Dept. of Education promised, in a letter to parents dated May 2009, that our upstairs neighbor, the Clinton Middle School, would be moved by fall 2010. Our children already lost their music room, their P.T.A.-run and funded library, and sorely needed cluster spaces — and there is just no space left. Without the relocation of Clinton by fall 2010, our children will lose again: our small class sizes, our art room, our computer room, our theater room, our remaining cluster spaces — maybe even our gifted and talented program. This move will not only help P.S. 11, but Clinton (also bursting at the seems), and the entire of District 2 as it will produce much needed seats in an overcrowded zone.
I recognize this is a difficult situation — one created by lack of foresight by the D.O.E. in light of N.Y.C.’s current baby boom. So many parents have worked hard to find spaces to bring to the D.O.E. for years: 75 Morton St., 10 East 15th St., 26 Broadway, P.S. 33. They need to make good on their written promise to us, and find a home for Clinton immediately.
Please continue your coverage on this very important issue.
Kristin Sewell
Support Chin
To The Editor:
Re “D.I.D.’s drag” (Letter by Bill Love, Oct. 2 – 8):
Bill Love seems to have written many letters in several publications over the last several months, all of them negative and unconstructive in the extreme. The unimpressive reign of Alan Gerson is thankfully over and the residents and community activists of Downtown should be rallying around and supporting the councilperson-elect Margaret Chin rather than indulging in the petty politics he seems to wallow in.
Community Board 1’s ranks are filled with Gerson’s stale and ineffective political appointees and Ms. Chin’s first welcome action would be to do some house cleaning and clear the board of these Gerson flunkies starting with Mr. Love.
Chace Radbourne
A fall to avoid
To The Editor:
The word fall has many dire physical and emotional implications. In classic literature we have Edward Gibbon’s “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” Not long after, Edgar Allen Poe wrote his chilling short story “The Fall of the House of Usher.” In the last century Arthur Miller crafted a play he called “After the Fall.” And there were other such titles.
Fall can also be used as a verb, as in fall in love or fall for a trick or fall by the wayside. And it is used in such expressions as the “fall guy,” which the late William Safire spoke about.
That leads us to the physical fall. We sometimes tend to laugh when we see people fall, as over a banana peel or a sheet of ice. We probably learned that from show business, for example the “pratfall,” in which someone falls on his rear.
But that also implies a second meaning, a mishap that is humiliating to the “faller.” I speak from experience; I suffered two falls.
What we find funny in one occasion can become a more serious situation in another, such as the fall of an older person that leads to broken bones. To the victim such a fall has an indescribably upsetting character to it. One minute you are in reasonable control of your body, and the next minute you are helpless and immobilized. It comes on so suddenly that you have no chance to prevent it from happening. It’s just impossible to prepare yourself for the suddenness of a fall. When I studied dance under a very prominent teacher, she thought it would be useful for us students to learn how to fall with grace. Her methodology was to use the toes as claws. As it turned out she took an ungraceful fall herself in demonstrating it and was extremely embarrassed. The suddenness of a fall makes one forget the precautions and methods for falling safely.
A fall for an elderly person is not a pleasant experience. The best advice one can give is “DON’T FALL!”
Geraldine Lipschutz
Editor’s Note: Geraldine Lipschutz, a 97-year-old Southbridge Towers resident, broke her arm last month when she fell in her bathroom. Her friend, Barry Cohen, tells us she was happy to regain use of her right arm last week so she could resume some of her favorite activities, including writing letters to Downtown Express.
Letters policy
Downtown Express welcomes letters to The Editor. They must include the writer’s first and last name, a phone number for confirmation purposes only, and any affiliation that relates directly to the letter’s subject matter. Letters should be less than 300 words. Downtown Express reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity, civility or libel reasons. Letters should be e-mailed to news@DowntownExpress.com or can be mailed to 145 Sixth Ave., N.Y., N.Y. 10013.
