The Ridgewood Maroon Vol. 4… No. 33
Saturday, April 27, 2024
“Bringing us all to a place we don't want to lose."
Observer: Plain Old Playing
Macky’s New York: Under The Manhattan Valley Viaduct
William Peay: Tales From The Wood…
RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame: 2024 RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame Inductees Banquet
RHS Alumni Association: Homecoming Weekend 2024
Project Arrow: Creating An Online Home For RHS Arrow Yearbooks
Mark Porro: A Cup Of Tea On The Commode
M + A NYC: Mighty Are We As One
RHS Class Of 1964 Reunion: October 25 to 27, 2024
In Memory Of Our Classmates: The RHS Archive
James Stroker: Hope Coach
Jim Schoneman: Rock Hound
Coach “Years:” 500th Career Coaching Victory
Kathy & Ross Petras: You’re Saying It Wrong
Observer
Plain Old Playing
If there is a single secret to having a “Green Thumb,” it would have to be persistence. I give 20 minutes a day to my Urban Oasis” of a garden. Plan your work, work your plan does appear to work in my corner of the borough.
This is a long way of saying that the Ridgewood Maroon is now a weekly. Expect it on Saturdays. A reduction in the number kilobytes we project at our readers inboxes is an effort to keep things fresh, and it in no way reflects a loss of interest.
We encourage other entrants into this niche of reporting. A respectful & truthful peek at RHS Alumni activities, Village of Ridgewood changes, & local Board Of Education (BOE) issues is an arena many points of view can occupy.
As Jonathan Swift once wrote, “Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it.”
Public participation brings to mind the question as to whether the good people from the Village are better informed than corporations as to how to implement everything from AI guardrails to collecting future parking meter fees. I think so. Serious policymakers need to recognize the imperative for public-interested leaders to wrest control of the future of AI, Social Media, & their children’s mental health from unaccountable corporate titans.
If we want future generations of children to understand the concept of “Plain Old Playing” we’ll have to do more than blame bad parenting for all the mental health issues of our society. School children are an impressionable group, and just like a garden will sprout weeds if left unattended, a child will inevitable find trouble on the Internet if limits are not enforced by parents & schools and better examples of screen use are set by society in general.
Can we at least begin by not acting like Zombies when we walk the streets? Staring at our phones and walking only encourages the type of anti-social behavior that haunts our children’s lives and keeps them from just acting like kids and engaging in good old fashioned playing.
More next week. Thank you for your patronage!
Macky’s New York
Matthew Cortellesi Photography
April 25, 2024 - Riverside
Under The Manhattan Valley Viaduct
Don't ask how I ended up here (that's goes for both the photo location and my life in general) but as I was walking down what is essentially 12 Avenue....I decided to climb up the base of the bridge...where Riverside park ends and the Viaduct begins and when I got to the top...I turned around and took this photo only to climb down and look at it in the shadows tonsee that its not centered and so I climbed back up and took another only to find out that it toonis not centered realizing eventually that is impossible to center cause the Viaduct isn't straight after all and fades to the right as it moves north and so it turns out the first picture I took was the one I went with (usually is).
Shot on 129th street under ariverside drive looking north up 12 Avenue
Time 1030am.
William Peay
Tales From The Wood…
Springtime bursts forth in Van Nestle Park, briefly holding sway before the hazy, drought filled ravages of Summer.
RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame
2024 RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame Inductees Banquet
Save the date October 26, 2024
The Ridgewood High School Athletic Hall Of Fame Class of 2024 includes:
Lynne Collazo Class of 1989 CC & Track
Tyler Rhoten Class of 2002 Basketball
Kelci Smesko Class of 2012. Lacrosse
Brett Sowers Class of 1994 Lacrosse
Patricia (Putnoky) Piotrowski Class of 1996
Gymnastics as Athlete and Head Coach.
Chuck Johnson Class of 1970. Head Football Coach.
Digital Printing for the RHS Hall of Fame provided by Tim Boucher, RHS 1988RHS Alumni Association
Homecoming Weekend 2024
Project Arrow
Creating An Online Home For RHS Arrow Yearbooks
A collaborative effort by Ridgewood High School and the Ridgewood Public Library. The Arrow Yearbooks from 1898 through the 1940s are now online.
Digital archiving by Michael Culver, RHS 2002
Mark Porro
A Cup Of Tea On The Commode
Enjoy a new teaser for “A Cup of Tea on the Commode," an 2024 Book Excellence Award Winner and 2024 Firebird Book Award Winner. Click here to save $3.15 on the paperback on Amazon. Also available in ebook, audiobook and Large Print.
M + A NYC
Mighty Are We As One
M + A is a Lifestyle brand known for handcrafted, ethically made, modern home decor and wearable accessories. Artisanal | Small Batch | Designed in NY
Shop home décor and wearable accessories at www.mplusanyc.com
RHS Class Of 1964 Reunion
October 25 to 27, 2024.
RHS Class of 1964 save the date! We are organizing our 60th Reunion (OMG!) for the weekend of October 25 to 27, 2024.
In Memory Of Our Classmates
The Archive
"I think our lost friends represent lives fulfilled. Even though some of these wonderful people left without a proper farewell, that they live on in our hearts and minds shows that they made a difference in many peoples lives. Our comments now are a delayed tribute."---Jack Zerbe
James Stroker
Hope Coach
Jim Schoneman
Rock Hound
A year or two ago, a friend of ours gave me a box of rocks. Her late father was a rockhound, and the box of rocks was left behind when her dad passed. This rock was in the box, and I never did anything with it (until now) because I thought the rock looked cool just as it was, especially with the $1.50 written on the side of it.
I didn’t know what kind of rock it was, and didn’t really care, until I got bored the other day and went ahead and googled “bacon colored rock.” The first thing that showed up in my search was Jacobsville Sandstone from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I’m familiar with that rock and knew that the rock I had wasn’t sandstone. A little further searching identified the rock as opal under a variety of names, such as wildfire, bubble, or bacon opal. All three are a variation of hyalite opal, but I’m going with bacon. It's found in Utah.
I finally decided to start cutting the rock into little slabs that I can shape into pendants. I’m happy with the way they are turning out. The rock is pretty hard, and should take on a good polish after several weeks in the tumbler.
Coach “Years”
500th Career Coaching Victory
Kathy & Ross Petras
You’re Saying It Wrong
Ross & Kathy’s podcast: You're Saying It Wrong is a podcast that looks at what we get wrong—and what we sometimes get right—when it comes to this English language.