Historic preservation is close to my heart; along with fighting animal abuse, it is an issues I consider most important. I take comfort, when outrageous things like this happen, (the destruction of the East Wing) by thinking of Penn Station's legacy. The demolition's impact is widely regarded as the most significant milestone in the preservation movement. People's attitudes changed afterwards. They realized it was a terrible mistake. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has managed to seduce, overpower and destroy "the better angels of our nature" (Lincoln, 1861) for over 40 years, but I look forward to a future time when he is a distant memory and historic preservation once again is a shared value. (Some of this language is recycled from earlier posts on this blog.)

This is a tragedy, and a crime.

The Nicholaus building was adjacent to the former Olender Mattress building. Before the Olender was razed, historic preservationists called for an in-depth review of how demolition might affect the Nicholaus building. At the time, Schenectady Heritage Foundation Chairwoman Gloria Kishton said she believed the demolition would "extremely endanger" the Nicholaus building, and called for an engineering plan to be developed that would ensure its structural integrity.

That this was not done makes all involved culpable for this shameful act of historic destruction. Makes me sick!

Three things:

1) Have long, scraggly beards become in? Bob googled and discovered that "Duck Dynasty" made beards popular again. That can't be it, can it? These men I'm seeing seem to be copying Amish beards..
2) The Troy Record had a photo essay about the Price Chopper grand opening -- where St. Patrick's church in Watervliet was torn down. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Do I have to boycott the Record too? (PC is already dead to me.)
3) It's that time of year again, Saratoga racing season. When people act as if cruelty is cool and gambling is high class. Spare me.

Yay.

The other extreme from my last post. RIP St. Patrick's.

What an interesting story! I can't believe I didn't know about this museum before. I am definitely going for a visit this summer.

Three comments about this story:

1) They lied -- I see steel
2) I also see the face
3) It's not coming down without a fight

Headed to S'ville for Mother's Day weekend.

More on this awful story.

With Shop Rite home delivery, who would bother going to Price Chopper?

I had a sore throat on Friday. It turned into a sinus infection by Sunday. I felt lousy, but managed to get a lot of work done. I cut myself (some) slack on this semester's duties, and focused on something inspiring, development of this summer's blended learning philosophy class.

I'm feeling somewhat better today, but I decided not to push it, so I canceled my classes and designed online activities for them instead.

The big news is that I just received Shop Rite home delivery. It will be the first of many! Flawless. They even gave me a bouquet of flowers! OMG I may never go to the supermarket again.

Also, I got a Droid, and switched my phone.

If you can bear to look at this, here is the sad state of St. Patrick's right now. 

There are no words.

Finally...some good news.

Today I sent this cartoon with the following note and Bob's Advantage Card to Jerry Golub, CEO of Price Chopper Supermarkets:

A year ago, I wrote to plead the case for saving St. Patrick’s church in Watervliet. If the church was demolished, I vowed to send you my Advantage Card (it is in my husband’s name) and never set foot in a Price Chopper again, no matter the location, and to encourage all my friends and family to do the same. Although you chose not to dignify my letter by responding, I have received your answer loud and clear. As I write this, St. Patrick’s is being destroyed. This is me keeping my promise.

The bad:

After a day and a half of effort (bad), I got the taxes done and mailed. Feels good to have it completed, but it is such a frustrating annual task!

My new lap top arrived on Friday (yay, this part is good) but I was too busy doing my "civic duty" (bad) to do more than plug it in and be sure it works (it does, another "good."). Now for more bad: Over the weekend a fb friend wrote about her hassle with Windows 8 and there were a few commiserating comments! Oh great. I like Windows 7 a lot. Will my new Win 8 machine suck? :-(

Sad doesn't begin to capture what this is. A year ago, I wrote to Price Chopper and told them I would never shop there if this happened. I am now going to cut up and send my Advantage card to them.

The good:

My father's 86th birthday! My sister hosted a party. (I didn't get to the cake in time to snap a picture when the candles were on it.)

The latest, just awful.

I wrote a facebook post on Friday about Mimmie, since it was the 20th anniversary of her death. There were several reminiscences shared in comments, including my niece remembering songs she sang. One had lyrics "oh you dirty little kid does your mother know you're out." My mother remembered Mimmie singing it to her also. So my sister did a google search and discovered two versions:

Version 1:
Oh you dirty little devil;
Does your Mother know you're out?
With a hole in your britches;
And your mickey sticking out?

Version 2:
Oh you dirty little devil;
Does your Mother know you're out?
With your hands in your pockets;
And your shirt hanging out?
If it a cop came along;
And he grabbed you by the pants;
Have you ever seen {insert kid's name here}
do the hootchie cootchie dance?

Mimmie's version:
Oh you dirty little kid;
Does your mother know you're out?
With a hole in your britches;
And your hiney hanging out?

 Took all day yesterday -- but the new exercise bike is assembled!

The chives are up, and I think-maybe-could be I saw a hint of a leaf bud on the forsythia, but it's hard to beat my flaming katy kalnchoe

 Potatoes really need to be planted outside! Yikes. But the ground isn't warm enough.

Some possible good news here and here? I don't trust the developer at all but I'm trying to be an optimist. Besides the developer, the grocery store chain, the city, and the lawyers, I am mad at the Albany diocese too.

I fully appreciate that "the church" is not "the building." I really, really do. On the other hand, nothing will pain me more than if our little mission church is closed by the NY diocese. I won't lie; I will probably fight.

 However, in St. Patrick's and many other cases, I am realistic about how expensive it is to operate a huge, old inefficient building in a neighborhood that has experienced a deep demographic shift and now has a declining, and aging congregation. I know people don't pursue vocations any more and there are severe personnel shortages. 

But I'm still mad. I think they should be more selective about who the buyer is, and what the intended purpose will be. Another church? Check. School? Check.Senior Center? Check. Theatre, library or museum? Check. Food pantry? Check. Check. Animal shelter? Check. Other non-profit offices?

For profit business? Let me see the plan. Re-use existing buildings? Very, very likely check, as long as the business purpose is reasonable. Razing this jewel to make way for one more Price Chopper? Denied! Now how easy was that?

 

Speaking of church, this was in the bulletin on Easter Sunday. Close enough! (Something you have to get used to when your name has a lot of diphthongs.)

Evil attorneys, evil corporations. ("Is there a difference in those three terms?," she wondered. "I think not," came the reply, "they are indeed synonyms.") I have a new place to boycott. But this is good news, hope it isn't short-lived.

Great piece. It's too bad this place is threatened.

It's a Samsonville weekend. Happy St. Patrick's Day! I always think of Mimmie.

The proceeds from the sale of this painting of my sister's will go to the organization that is hoping to restore John Burrough's boyhood home in Roxbury. It's a good cause and a gorgeous painting. (More information at the link.).

1) I didn't watch the Academy Awards last night, but Bob put it on for about 15 seconds. It happened to be right when the cast of Les Mis was singing. Even he thought it sounded atrocious and I think he was afraid it might cause me to have a seizure so he quickly turned it off.

Weeks ago, when we were discussing Lincoln, my nephew emailed me that Hollywood loves Ben Affleck and especially George Clooney so he predicted an Argo win. Somewhat less annoying, Hollywood also loves Ang Lee, so the best director nod isn't a shock either.

I saw several nominated films this year, but I did not see either winning movie, for very different reasons. Having lived through the Iran hostage crisis as a teenager, I have zero interest in Hollywood's take. And I don't care for most adventure / fantasy movies so was sure I couldn't sit through Life of Pi. (Now, Life of Pie, that's a different story.)

Something that came to mind this morning when I saw the results on AOL's headline was that I've heard movie buffs discuss the irony of a best picture win with no actor or director awards. How can that be? It's certainly a good question.

2) Now, for a totally unrelated subject...the latest development for the La Grange Inn. It's essentially the same proposal put forth by Walgreen's in 2008, just switch the mega drugstore to CVS, and there you go. Allegedly they will move and restore the original structure, but unless the town makes that a requirement and monitors the situation, I have my doubts.

Bob grew up on the street behind La Grange. Only a fence separated his backyard from the parking lot and the building. As a kid, he made a model of it for a school project. We took Bob's Oma there for lunch not too many years before she died, and his mother had a dinner there to celebrate the marriage of his brother and sister-in-law.

Sadly, Long Island -- maybe suburbia generally -- does not especially value historic preservation. Why couldn't this place remain viable? I think destination or banquet hall extravaganzas are favored by today's bride- and groom- zillas, national chains have cut into the routine dinner trade for privately owned establishments, and the abysmal economy is hurting every business -- and us all, fancy eating out being a luxury, restaurants in particular.

3) And...in still more unrelated news, this is outrageous! Really, I'm shocked. Talk about board of education and administrative overstep into teacher autonomy. What's next? Micromanaging every lesson plan, all grades, and handing out scripts for teachers to deliver in the classroom?

James Coleman (1981) argued that private schools outperform public schools because they enforced more rigorous academic standards, were more intellectual, and gave teachers more autonomy. Little (1995) found that the development of autonomy in learners is related to teacher autonomy. Pearson (2005) demonstrated that teacher autonomy decreased on-the-job stress, and increased empowerment and professionalism.

Here's a fascinating post on disintegrating sites in the Catskills. The photos are riveting!