Year: 2017

EYES TO THE SKY January 9 – 22, 2017

As twilight deepens these January evenings the most celebrated constellation of the winter sky, Orion the Hunter, stretches out along the east-southeast horizon. The impression is of a resting giant, from his radiant red shoulder star, Betelgeuse, to his foot star, luminous bluish-white Rigel, with three dimmer stacked stars midway between. The three form a...
The moon's location on January 10, 2017. The stars of the Winter Circle are among the brightest dozen visible from northeastern skies. Diagram courtesy of EarthSky.org

The Sounds of Music (and Art)

Dear editor , Your article about Saving the Joys of Music and Art at the Church Street School really touches on the crisis in the deliberate de-funding, discouraging, music and art courses, (instrument, dance classes and school bands, workshops in all the created visual arts) that I know from personal experience have disappeared from the...

A Niou Voice for Lower Manhattan

On Wednesday, Yu-Line Niou raised her right hand and said, “I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the Assembly according to the best of my...
Yuh-Line Niou in the Assembly Chamber in the State Capitol, shortly after taking the oath of office on January 4.

January 6

1066 – Harold Godwinson (or Harold II) is crowned King of England. 1540 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves. 1838 – Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code). 1839 – The most damaging storm in 300 years sweeps across Ireland, damaging...
Roosevelt insisted that all people of the world shared Americans' entitlement to four freedoms: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in their own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

Fighting to Save the Joys of Music and Art

In all of Lower Manhattan, there is probably no one more committed to awakening young children to the potential of music and art than Lisa Ecklund-Flores. When Church Street School for Music and Art opened in 1990, Tribeca was just beginning its transformation from a sleepy spice and food warehouse district occupied by artists and...
Winsome Brown leads the large crowd of supporters at Michael Dorf's City Winery raising funds for Church Street School

January 5

1066 – Edward the Confessor dies childless, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England. 1527 – Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, Switzerland, is executed by drowning. 1757 – Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, the last person to...
Ford Motor Company announces the 8 hour work day