Jackson Heights Life

Here are the details for tonights Christmas Caroling event. Join in at the beginning or later...
ANNOUNCING

The 6th Annual Jackson Heights Winter Holiday Sing-A-Long
An Outdoor Carroling Event -- Snow or Shine !!!

SATURDAY - DECEMBER 20, 2014
7pm until 10pm

Meet on the corner of 31st Avenue and 75th Street, in front of Cassidy's Ale House. Bring a camera or video recorder, if you like.
(It's okay to park in the former Dante's lot for this event.)

Dress warmly and according to the weather!
Wear comfortable / appropriate shoes or boots.

Bring a flashlight or well-protected candle for each person in your group.

School Groups welcome and encouraged to join us.
All children under age 16 must be accompanied by an adult!

If possible, children under age 12 should wear reflective clothing instead of carrying open-flame candles.... for obvious safety reasons.

(Service animals welcome; all other pets should remain at home.)

We will sing winter and holiday songs from all faiths, languages & cultures as a group, while walking thru the local Jackson Heights area. Please be respectful and courteous to others, even if you don't know the particular song we're singing at the moment. We will sing in every and any language the members of the group know, including American Sign Language from students and faculty at the Lexington School.

Small, accoustic, portable instruments welcome and encouraged.

We will begin by walking up 75th Street, in the direction of traffic, while singing. Then up 32nd Avenue toward 76th Street, down 76th Street toward 31st Avenue, up 31st Avenue to 77th Street, up 77th Street towards 32nd Avenue, etc... The group will then determine at which point we should change the direction to head back towards Cassidy's Ale House, and how long we stay out there singing.

 Is your compost building up from all the watermelon, mangoes, carrot tops, coffee grinds and other organic materials? JH
is lucky enough to have a community composting site where all your local deposits are turned into soil and used on our
street trees. No transportation involved! Please support them by coming by with your food scraps on Tuesdays evenings
from 6-8pm and Saturdays from 10-1pm.
 Kids welcome! This is another project sponsored by JHBG.

 Last weekend, there were tennis lessons being given in the Garden School field between 78th and 79th streets to young
people. I remember hearing awhile ago that one of the tennis players was offering to give instruction to young players
and I think this is the group.
 Does anyone know more details?
 It looked like some quality instruction and they were keeping a large group of kids active. Applause for anyone who helps out this underserved section of our JH young people. Thanks to whoever this is.

World's Fair Anniversary Festival
Sunday, May 18, 2014
1:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.
We're celebrating the 75th and 50th anniversaries of the NYC World's Fair with a full day of free activities for all. Interested in revisiting the 1939 and 1964 Fairs? We'll be leading tours of historic sites that are still in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and displaying exhibits of memorabilia. 

Kid-friendly events include 50-cent rides on the historic carousel, puppet shows, face painting, and a visit by Mr Met.

Enjoy cultural music and dance performances throughout the day followed by an evening concert and fireworks!.  Different foods from around the world will be available, including Belgian waffles, which were introduced to the US at the 1964 World's Fair. 

Please note: The tours of the historic World's Fair sites will be given at 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Tours are limited to 50 people for each tour. Sign up at the Parks information kiosk near the Unisphere.

The fantastic appointment of Tom Finkelpearl as our new Cultural Affairs Commish bodes well for the
arts community of NYC. This is an informed decision as he has been at the forefront of some of the most
innovative and progressive long term agendas in the arts community. Personally think the new Queens
Museum is wonderful -go if you haven't been in the past six months- and that seemingly unlikely
combination of patience and tenacity that he used in getting that renovation done should be great for
his work with the whole city. Check out more in the NYTimes article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/arts/design/mayor-de-blasio-names-tom-finkelpearl-of-the-queens-museum.html?_r=0
 Congratulations Tom! And kudos to the team that had the vision to seek him out.

   Happy Holidays JH. Hold onto that Christmas tree a little while longer and bring it to Mulchfest 2014 on
January 11& 12th. Once again it will be held in Jackson Heights at Travers Park. The trees are put into a
chipper which chops them into a coarse pine-scented mulch. It's fun to watch and kids seem to love it.
You can take a bag of chipped pine back home for personal use in your home garden or to put around
your favorite street trees.
   Last year JHSCRAPS, our local composting site on 69th street took in truck loads of pine chips from
NYC Sanitation truck chippers and these were distributed locally in tree pits and planting projects sponsored
by the JHBeautification Group. Truly local recycling!!!
   You can bring your tree to our JH chipping location, Travers Park, 34th Ave bet. 78th and 79th sts on
January 11 & 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m and look for the official Mulchfest signs and chippers.
   Or you can bring your tree to a drop-off site from Saturday, January 4 through Sunday, January 12. Leave
your tree with us, and we’ll recycle it for you later! The NYC Department of Sanitation will also be conducting
special curbside collections  for mulching and recycling of Christmas trees from Monday, December 30, 2013
through Wednesday, January 15, 2014.

***Want to volunteer at MulchFest ? Register to join the GreenTeam and MillionTreesNYC volunteer group.

 Frustrated with the Common Core madness? Lack of support for teachers in general?
  Our local independent school, Garden School, at 33-16 79th street in the middle of Jackson Heights has a curriculum that is learning based, not test based, and has been at it for 91yrs.Small class size and lots of individualized instruction helps your child recognize their strengths and gives extra help in challenging areas. Garden School offers language studies (French, Spanish & Mandarin), AP courses, real physical gym -including the pool in warm weather- extraordinary art classes as well as a host of clubs and after school activities like Robotics, debate team, Model UN, lots of sports for all levels, theater events, Young Writers sessions, dance & music lessons and children's gardening and cooking among other offerings in their extensive after school programs. Students are encouraged to try new things and given the support to do so. The school reflects the true diversity of Jackson Hts with lots of ethnicities, languages and cultures represented.
   If you are fed up with the educational bureaucracy, Garden School would be a great alternative. Certainly there are many students who do well in huge schools, but there are those who will greatly benefit from a smaller, nurturing community where they are known by name throughout. Being a welcome part of your child's education all the way through their school years is something most upper levels schools do not encourage but here you will be invited and included in many parts of their learning. Weekly and sometimes daily online reports are very helpful in keeping parents informed and your child will be part of a school community in ways 2yrs there and 3yrs in another school does not often allow. Local schooling has long term social, emotional and political benefits for students and families.
  See info below for more details on the Merit Scholarship Exam on Dec. 7, 2013 as registration is required. Open house for all students on the same day. See the website for more details. Come check out this extraordinary school.

GARDEN SCHOOL  An Independent Co-Ed School, Nursery - Grade 12
MERIT SCHOLARSHIP EXAM for students entering Grades 6 through 11 and
OPEN HOUSE FOR SCHOOL Saturday, December 7, 2013 9:00am