City University chancellor aboard ‘Welcome Wagon’
The “Welcome Wagon” — Kingsborough Community College President Claudia Schrader's easy but impactful gesture to meet and great new students — recently had City University of New York Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez as a special guest.
Understanding that a simple, caring gestures can go a long, long way in these coronavirus-troubled times, Puerto Rican-born Matos Rodriguez joined USVI-born Schrader last Monday to personally welcome students who will be attending the Brooklyn community college.
Matos Rodriguez heads City University of New York — America's largest urban university system, made up of 26 educational institutions.
Schrader — who also had City Councilwoman Alicka Ampry-Samuel (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant, Ocean HillBrownsville, East Flatbush, Crown Heights) as a KCC Welcome Wagon guest — expects local elected officials and others to help greet and encourage students.
Since June 5, Schrader and the KCC Welcome Wagon have been traveling to greet incoming freshmen and transfer students, answer their questions and discuss their educational aspirations. And she comes bearing gifts — a KCC swag bag with T-shirts and other school-connected items.
Schrader's traveling meet-and-greet project even got a mention from Gov. Cuomo, who learned of the “Welcome Wagon” and mentioned Schrader's “new tradition” in one of his recent Coronavirus Updates.
From lockdown to cookbook
With faith and fortitude, Haiti-born chef and sought-after caterer Nadge Fleurimond got through COVID-19 pandemic panic and lockdown — and created the “Taste of Solitude” cookbook, which shares a variety of delicious Haitian dishes with food fans.
“Taste of Solitude” boasts Baked Red Snapper, Legume Creole Ratatouille and other dishes infused with Haitian flavors and culture.
But with cooking in at home in vogue and the fare from restaurants less available, Fleurimond decided to add a recipe tome to her list of books — which already included “Taste of Life: A Culinary Memoir” and “Haiti Uncovered: A Regional Adventure Into the Art of Haitian Cuisine.”
The creative veteran chef uses Haitian cuisine as a base and adds flavors from Asian, Latin American, Caribbean and European cuisines to the “Taste of Solitude” recipes.
She has also launched her festive and fun line of women's and men's embroidered colorful aprons, featuring Haitian paintings.
Visit roariorshop.com to select the “Taste of Solitude” link to buy the new book and the aprons and select the “Products” link to see special offers.
Heaven gets 2 journalists
A Facebook post by journalist and NewsAmericasNow.com website founder Felicia Persaud last week summed up two losses for the field of journalism after the deaths of Caribbean broadcaster Jerry George and American journalist Pete Hamill.
“Seems the Most High needed some journalists today. First Jerry George and now Pete Hamill,” read Persaud's post.
George who was in his late 60s, died last Tuesday in his St. Vincent and the Grenadines home, and Hamill, 85, died last Wednesday in his native Brooklyn.
George, who reportedly died of a heart attack, was stricken in his home radio studio shortly after introducing journalist Beverley Sinclair, the guest presenter for the show's “Thoughtful Tuesday” inspirational segment.
George, a respected longtime St. Vincent and the Grenadines-based journalist, was also the founding member of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers, the managing director of Island Media Marketing, the host of the “Time to Face the Facts” Caribvision program and founder of the St. Vincent-based Searchlight newspaper.
Condolences poured in from listeners, friends and fans of the broadcaster. Among them was a Facebook post from St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minster Ralph Gonsalves.
Being a long, long, longtime Daily News employee, I was on staff when Hamill was named editor-in-chief. Beyond general pleasantries, I had lasting personal interactions with the late, great journalist.
In 1997, I traveled in a limo with the prestigious editor-in-chief of the New York Daily News to a church in Queens to accept an award from the not-forprofit Jamaican Cultural and Social Services Organization. Orgnization president Helene deCoteau inscribed my name and Hamill's on the plaque.
That same year, Hamill attended the National Association of Black Journalists convention and the annual gatherings of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association.
I'll remember him for all that, plus for his grounded Brooklyn sensibilities, his massive respect for immigrants, his heartfelt, caring nature, and his ability to understand. For many people, you've got to explain the ways of the world, but Pete Hamill understood: He got it!