Teeny is the oldest and wisest of the squat. Her hobbies include napping, eating, and taking tremendous doses of catnip.
Pipsqueak is the baby of the group. She weighs about 6 pounds and brings us gifts every day in the form of dead wildlife.
Lil’ used to be a feral cat who wandered into the house and decided to set up residence. I guess you can say she chose us. She is also deaf.
Bunny is the queen bee of the house. She weighs 20 pounds and has an attitude to match.
Dora Isakova: Forest Hills
Let me introduce you to our smallest family member. His name is Max and he has been with us for over 5 years now. He can be very friendly and loving, but also very protective when there are strangers around. Our Max is very smart and knows tons of commands, his favorites are “jump” and “roll over.” Having Max can sometimes be a lot of work, especially when he steals food off the ground and then gets a tummy ache, but we love him very much and are so happy he’s a part of our family.
Lara Lasner-Frater: Touro Harlem
(Left to right)
Pickle von BunBun is a dachshund who is taken care of by my godchild. Pickle loves attention and giving people baths. She’s an old girl at 14 but still demands attention anytime you come near.
William, a/k/a William the Conqueror. My father passed away in 2016. In 2017 I was adopted by a cat named William which is my father’s middle name. I consider him a gift from my late father, except that I got a mischievous gremlin. William is loving and sweet to balance out his destructive side which is knocking things over, nipping when his hungry, bothering his sister, and going into places he’s not allowed.
Originally named Uhura after the Star Trek character, she started getting called Miss Kitty because she’s a diva who often sings the song of her people at 1am. Her favorite things are to run around like a maniac and freak out her brother William.
Hoodoo is the senior kitty and in very good health for a 16-year-old cat. He likes to sit on your lap or chest and purr loudly. In his youth, he was fond of opening the fridge and getting into mischief.
Leiba Rimler: Cross-River Campus
The best kind of pet… very well behaved (except for when it comes to posing for photos, they don’t do a great job of that)
(Editor’s note: I think they’re fantastic at posing!)
Carol Shapiro: Cross-River Campus
Toby the dog (as opposed to Toby the Human, which is how we refer to my library colleague).
Kirk Snyder: Cross-River Campus
These are my cats Diane (calico/tortoiseshell) and Cinnamon (orange tabby). We got Diane as a kitten right after our daughter was born (5 years ago), so they’ve grown up together. She is very sweet, gentle, and friendly with everyone. Cinnamon is a couple years older. We developed a bond when she was a kitten, and I am still the only person she likes! She is very affectionate to me only and sleeps with me every night. She is not friendly to other adults but, to her credit, is very tolerant of kids. We got Cinnamon and Diane both through Anjellicle Cat Rescue, for whom we also sometimes volunteer to foster cats until they can be adopted. Most recently we had Jonah and Elijah for a couple months, two little tuxedo cat brothers.
Kelly Tenny: Long Island
This is Ben Cat! He’s 19 years young, a pillow hog, a foodie, and my favorite reading buddy. You’ll typically find him soaking up the sun as it comes through the window or sleeping on his favorite pillow behind the couch. I adopted him from North Shore Animal League when I was 15 years old and he’s been by my side ever since. It’s been difficult to see him go through different struggles as he ages, but I am eternally grateful for every single day we have and have had, together.
Amanda Wong: Harlem
My cat Phoebe is 2 years old. She was found abandoned on the streets when she was a kitten. Now she lives as a spoiled indoor cat. She loves cheese and playing with ice cubes.
[Post and editing by Emma Larson-Whittaker, Library and Outreach Assistant, Starrett City]
We asked our library staff for their favorite movies. We hope that this blog inspires you to watch something new, or maybe revisit an old favorite you haven’t seen in a while!
The Usual Suspects (1995): I saw this movie for the first time in camp when I was 15 and it challenged me to think about movies (and media) very differently. Do we believe what we are being told? What is the truth and how do we know? Also, how does everything fit together? It is an excellent movie for people who like puzzles and enjoy suspense.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) This was not a movie that I ever thought that I would like. One day I was about 14 or 15 years old, and it came on the tv as the next movie to be aired. I was going to change the channel, but my Father told me that I should watch it as I might enjoy it. I did and he was entirely correct. The movie is dramatic and suspenseful.
It has become one of my all-time favorites. They also made a remake of it in 2009 with Denzel Washington, John Travolta, and Luis Guzman which is also good but I do love the original one more!”
“My all-time favorite movie is The Princess Bride (1987). I can quote almost the entire thing and I think it’s one of the best movies of all time. It has everything, fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles!”
One of my favorite films also happens to be one of the greats of the mockumentary genre: Christopher Guest’s Best in Show (2000). The film was intended to parody the real-life Kennel Club of Philadelphia’s annual National Dog Show (which airs every Thanksgiving), but I think it does more than that by highlighting the joy and humor behind the sport of the purebred dog. The cast is full of phenomenal comedic actors like Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, and Catherine O’Hara, among others. I never get tired of watching this movie.
Christopher Guest also directed This Is Spinal Tap (1984), another movie I enjoy.
“If I am going to be honest, my favorite movie of all time might just be Road House (1989). Yes, Road House! I’ve seen it many, many times over the last 3.5 decades, and rather than getting bored with it, I find myself enjoying it more each time. My reactions to this film have progressed from “What an awful movie” to “This movie is so bad, it’s good” to “This is a great movie!” What began as my gawking at a ridiculously formulaic and unrealistic bit of fluff has gradually evolved into a deep appreciation of all the things that make a movie worth watching. Roadhouse has it all: quick pacing, easily digestible plotlines, charismatically written and acted characters, dramatic confrontations, and effective resolutions. Yes, the film is 100% predictable, a veritable textbook of tropes. It may aim pretty low artistically and intellectually, but it delivers on every level. It’s not going to change the way you see the world or impress anyone the next time you’re discussing cinema. But if you have a few hours to kill and feel like shutting off your brain for entertainment without challenge, Road House is your movie.”
Otherwise, I tend to favor cerebral suspense films centering on politics or crime (All the President’s Men, Spotlight, et al), and studies in stoic reflection at serene tempos (Ikiru, Wild Strawberries). I like characters who speak in normal sentences, not signature tag lines. I prefer situations that resemble real life. I can do without invasive stunts, syrupy soundtracks, clever shaky camera work, and CGI.
Jennifer Santos (College of Osteopathic Medicine):
I like all of Wes Anderson’s works, but The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)is my all-time favorite film by him so far. The plot is fast-moving and nonlinear, and the dialogue is subtle yet dark. The film is based on Stefan Zweig’s memoir titled, The World of Yesterday in which he describes the waning years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under Franz Joseph I.
Free Guy (2021)could have easily been a cliche with another superhero-like character destined to save the world. Instead, we have a fun cast of characters—Guy, the non-player character (NPC); Keys and Millie, the developers; and Antwan, the narcissistic CEO —and a creative outlook on online gaming and corporate greed. While it’s usually seen as something only for nerds and geeks, Free Guy shows us how gaming is a communal experience that unites players from around the world (like Pokémon Go). It’s unique in showing every character’s perspective and the way in which it was filmed. I highly recommend it for people who need a fun movie or for those who work in the gaming industry.
I watched and presented It Happened One Night (1934) to my film class to talk about its significance and cinematic advancements. It was the first Screwball Comedy and one of the pre-code films. But my favorite aspects are the way it subverts the traditional love story and uses the Great Depression as less than a backdrop. In fact, the only it’s mentioned is one scene involving the two main characters and a child, where they briefly assist him. What the film focuses on is the journey of its main characters rather than the reality of the Depression. Overall, it’s a simple and fun film with a great cast and director.
“Do you remember Gladiator (2000)? I love this movie. But one of the best is The Odyssey (1997) by Andrey Konchalovskiy. This movie I consider a classic. Watch it!”
[Post and editing by Emma Larson-Whittaker, Library and Outreach Assistant, Starrett City]
If you’re still in search of a good book to read this summer, check out the books that our librarians are reading and recommending. For more information about the books our librarians chose, click the hyperlink in the descriptions to read a synopsis and other reviews on GoodReads.
“Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. She writes about what happens when you donate your body to science, with a dose of edutainment. Mary Roach manages to take a subject that gives many people the heebie-jeebies, donating one’s remains to science and making it humorous at times. She covers such topics as learning surgical techniques via practicing on cadavers, human decomposition, ingesting human remains for medicinal purposes, using corpses in car crash tests, using cadavers for ballistics tests, crucifixion experiments, and even head transplants. The talk of decomposition and quack remedies of the Middle Ages was fascinating. The funeral bits were also pretty enlightening. Stiff is a very interesting read for those interested in what happens when you donate your body to science, softened somewhat by Roach’s sense of humor and humanity. It takes some of the mystery out of death, and replaces it with honesty and humor.”
“The book, American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, on which the movie “Oppenheimer” is based, is on my reading list.
Part of the title, (“Prometheus”) is taken from an ancient Greek God and myth. Prometheus was a Titan in Hesiod’s mythology.
Oppenheimer had a profound impact on shaping the 20th century… but perhaps more interestingly and strikingly was his strenuous and vigorous moral/ethical grappling with what he had created and the future consequences the atom bomb would have on humanity.
As Oppenheimer rightly quotes the Bhagavad Gita after the Trinity Test in New Mexico: “Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
Touro’s own Lara Frater released a sci-fi novel this year! Paranormal Pest Control follows “Frank Carver and Hector Ramirez, two exterminators, and Jenny Blake, a woman who can talk to ghosts,” who have a business to exterminate demonic bugs after “a series of earthquakes hit around the world. The damage and loss of life were devastating, and the world became weird but no more in the quake zone known as Broken Brooklyn. Bugs became demonic, demons invaded, and people with psychic abilities grew stronger.”
You can get Lara’s book from Amazon here or download it via Kindle Unlimited!
“Lately, I’ve been obsessed with Joy Williams, particularly her book Harrow. It’s set in a post-climate collapse landscape, and the characters undergo a surreal series of events that lacks linear logic because the environment is so ruined that time no longer exists. Sounds dark, and it is dark, but it’s also really funny and witty and impressively written.”
“I just finished a fascinating non-fiction book,How to Think Like a Womanby Regan Penaluna, after attending a recent METRO-community NYPL Virtual Work/ Cited presentation where she was featured. It’s both a history of women in Philosophy (or women omitted from the philosophical canon) and a personal journey of the author.
In Fiction, I’m reading Tenderness By Alison Macleod, which traces the story of DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover, from its inspirations to the landmark obscenity trial. Macleod counterpoints the tale with reimagined intrigue of Jacqueline Kennedy during her husband’s presidential campaign and a 1959 love story of a Cambridge literature student and a historical archivist. It’s a long read but I’m enjoying the interplay of fact and fiction.”
Toby Krausz (Cross-River Campus)
Book one in Riordan’s Greek Mythology series. Image via of author’s website.
“Currently enjoying rereads of the YA book series (there are multiple!) of Rick Riordan, he does mythology transferred to the present day. He has done Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian so far. I do enjoy his Greek and Roman books especially.”
“I’m currently re-reading one of my favorite series, the Abhorsen Chronicles, by Garth Nix. I’m currently on the second book, Lirael, which fittingly is about a librarian. This is one of the best fantasy worlds I’ve come across and it’s a really great blend of magic, horror, and adventure. The audiobooks are also narrated by Tim Curry and are absolutely fantastic.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed this unique story, The Music of Bees: A Novel by Eileen Garvin, with its quirky and realistically flawed characters. Not only is the author a great storyteller, but at the same time, she uses her authentic knowledge of beekeeping to inform about bees, and also about the toxic effects of pesticide use. This novel makes me seriously want to become a beekeeper and strive for a cleaner environment!”
Grann is also the author of the much-praised Killers of the Flower Moon, also an excellent read, and soon to have its film adaptation premiere in October.”
“I am currently re-reading The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions by Thorstein Veblen. One might expect a quaintly outdated treatise of stodgy norms from the Gilded Age, given its nineteenth-century publication date. Instead, the work reads as if it were written yesterday, with timeless observations and insight into human nature and how material wealth affects our status, as individuals and members of social groups. Veblen’s theoretic concepts such as “conspicuous consumption” have become established methods to examine intentional displays of power and prestige. It’s an eye-opening deep dive into aspects of our lives that we often participate in as a matter of course. I have found myself reassessing many decisions and practices at different stages of my own life after reflecting on this fascinating work.”
“This summer I am looking forward to reading Andrew Leland’s The Country of the Blind which will be published July 18th by Penguin Random House.
Andrew is a friend from my time living in San Francisco in the ’00s. The company I was working for shared office space with the magazine he edited, The Believer. Andrew is a kind, smart, very funny, and creative person whose book The Country of the Blind is part memoir, part cultural critique. It is about his own journey with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that causes one to gradually lose sight over several years. Andrew’s writings on blindness have recently appeared in The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker.”
Alexandra Weinstein (Lander College for Women Campus)
“One of my favorites isBad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. The author, John Carreyrou, is the Wall Street Journal reporter who investigated Theranos and gives a detailed account of the rise and fall of the corporation and Elizabeth Holms.
Also, I’m finally reading the Shadow and Bone Trilogy! Right now, I’m in the middle of the second book, Siege and Storm.”
“I read a book which was very popular in my childhood and now I’m reading it in the original language. It is an English classic: Montezuma’s Daughter by Henry Rider Haggard. This is a historical fictional romance. Very touching.”
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Thank you to all our library staff who shared a book! What’s your favorite book you’ve read so far this year?
[Post and editing by Emma Larson-Whittaker, Library and Outreach Assistant, Starrett City]
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