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Posts Tagged ‘Community’
Eddy, Sky & Rob at the Beach 129th Street Block Party
We lived on Beach 129th Street upstairs from Sophie and her family before we bought our house on Beach 124th Street.
Our kids grew up with her kids. The Laczynski kids and the Krakauer kids. Somehow we were all family, all Polish – even me, and all Rockaway through and through. Although we don’t live on there anymore, we are still part of the annual block party in August.
Beach 124th Street
Anyone who is anyone on Beach 124th Street will be parked on the beach under their own personalized beach umbrella. I can catch up with everyone on the block, have pizza delivered from the boardwalk and feed all the kids, and even leave all my stuff and walk home to start dinner.
I have lived in this beach community for over twenty years and to some locals I will always be “the new girl”. But I too, have sand in my shoes all year round and share a fierce pride in wearing my flip flops way into December to show how beach proud I am.
This is a small town in the sense that friends and neighbors don’t move away. Seth’s family and our neighbor Mrs. Murray, the crossing guard, have known each other for close to four generations. My kids have friends they have known since they were 18 months old.
I feel grounded here with a sense of place and identity. One generation ago, my parents left that sense behind them when they stepped foot into this country and slowly recreated a life for themselves and for us, their children. Perhaps the pragmatic approach to living should be the acceptance of place as something you create for yourself no matter where you are. Place then becomes internal. It can be projected outwardly with your personal energy which inevitably influences your immediate environment. I am very aware of what I bring to the everydayness of my Rockaway life and consider it a privilege as well as a responsibility to honor my place here.
So, every morning that I drag myself out of bed to run on the beach I think to myself, “You are in your beautiful space. Enjoy the sunrise you are so fortunate to see.”
Where do you belong? Where is your beautiful space?
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Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
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Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
in Breezy Point with Joanne, Peggy, Jerry, Robin & Hoong Yee
When I was a kid growing up in Queens, my sister and I rode our bikes everywhere. For hours. We would have a couple of dollars in our pocket for a Carvel ice cream cone, maybe a slice at Superman pizza on Bell Boulevard and we would be out the whole day until the time when squares of light would fill the houses and moms would lean out calling their kids in for dinner. Entire endless summer days we spent riding, talking about everything and nothing, cruising wordlessly down wide avenues.
One of my favorite bike rides is through Breezy Point, at the tip of the Rockaway Peninsula. Seth and I like doing this ride in the late afternoon so that we are riding on the dune paths close to sunset. Of course, we always stop at the Sugar Bowl. You can’t help it because everyone spills out onto the beach and bikepath. But you can always stop for a cold drink and continue riding.
Last week, our friends Jerry and Robin took us on a ride through Long Beach. So this week, we took them on our Breezy Point ride and stopped by to see our friends Joanne and Peggy who invited us into their lovely home right on the beach. They are true beach people – Joanne says she can shake sand out of her winterboots!
Thank you both for your gracious hospitality and greatly appreciated Diet Cokes!
Note: Seth and I ride beach cruisers – big bikes with one gear and a back pedal break. Oh, and one of our bikes is painted silver with yellow polka dots and has a basket. Jerry has a fancier bike with 21 gears and I suppose that does make the ride easier. It is about 13 miles from our house on Beach 124th Street to the tip of Breezy so the total trip is 26 miles.
Seth and his yellow polka dot bicycle with basket
If you are coming in from Manhattan, you can take your bikes on the ferry from downtown Manhattan to the pier at Riis Park and ride straight into Breezy Point by turning right, or you can head towards Fort Tilden and Hero Road which runs along the fishing beaches into Riis Park. Pick up the boardwalk at Beach 126th Street and ride down to Rockaway Taco for a fabulous lunch at Beach 96th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard. We made a barbeque at home with all kinds of greens I picked from my garden this morning and listened to some fabulous music Jerry, the playlist maestro, brought along.
This is a jewel of a ride, what I call a Moveable Feast and one you should definitely treat yourself and your bicycle buddies to!
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
Jackie at Rockaway Taco
Sometimes it takes a village, sometimes it takes a fish taco.
Today, I would say the fish taco wins. The Moveable Feast is in the Rockaways today and I am delighted to have my staff here to experience artful living at the beach. First stop, Rockaway Taco. This is the home of the $3 taco, $4 if you want a deluxe with guacamole. Have one with fresh watermelon juice or hibiscus ice tea and hang in the back with the locals. Awesome!
Of course, we had to have an ice for dessert. Today there was mango, lemon and cinnamon chocolate. Just the thing to cool yourself off with while walking to the beach.
I gave everyone the nickel tour of my house on Beach 124th Street. We stopped off to see Andrea, our accountant, who sent everyone home with cucumbers from her garden and we continued our trek through Rockaway Park, Belle Harbor and Neponsit until we reached Fort Tilden, the home of the Rockaway Artist Alliance and the site of our High School to Art School summer program.
Daliana, Jackie, Lynn, Katie and Hoong Yee
Today was the student exhibition. As we wandered through the building, I couldn’t help but notice the artwork was much more thoughtful and conceptual than in previous years.
The students were articulate, bright and spoke confidently about their work. One exceptionally poised young woman, Ana, who received a large scholarship from School of Visual Arts, gave us her business card. The parents who came were just as enthusiastic about HS2AS’s impact on their children, some of whom traveled in from places as far as Rockville Centre, Manhasset and New Jersey.
We ended our adventure munching on cupcakes, fruit and cookies at the reception while meandering through the studio space that was filled with some extremely compelling pieces by the students.
“We are going for more than just college acceptances.” Yeon Ji said with a smile. After an afternoon of frantic yelling, last minute installation mishaps and challenges, she was finally calm. The show, hung on simple double strings throughout the space was stunning. “We are going for big time scholarships. Ana got $50,000 from SVA and Kevin got the Hadar Foundation award. These kids can do it.”
High School to Art School at the Rockaway Artist Alliance Studios
Sometimes all it takes is a day at the beach.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
photo by kevindooley
Hiring is game of risk and resumes.
For me, its all about the interview. The one on one, the unspoken signals, the gut instinct and the conviction that personal energy is the dealbreaker.
I read an interview with Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos and author of “Delivering Happiness” where he described his hiring philosophy. Here is an excerpt:
Tony Hsieh: For us, the whole belief is that our culture should be our number one priority, and if we get the culture right then most of the other stuff — like great customer service, building a long term enduring brand — will just happen naturally on its own.
Every employee understands that part of their job description is actually to live and inspire the culture in others. We have passed on a lot of smart and talented people that we know can make an immediate impact on our top or bottom line but if they are not a culture fit, we won’t hire them.
For candidates we do the same thing: We pick them up, give them a tour, and then they spend the day interviewing. But at the end of the interview process, our head of recruiting goes back to the shuttle driver and asks them how they were treated. If they were not treated well when they thought they were off the clock then we won’t hire them, it’s not even a question.
Something else I believe in I learned from someone I trust and respect very much. My friend Jerry, who has recently retired from a long career in human resources, told me that at the end of the interview, you should ask yourself just one question.
And the question is…
Could you have dinner with this person?
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
photo byLilley1
The Networked Nonprofit by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine is a must read for all of you passionate people who want to change the world.
If you are like me and wear a lot of black, you will go one step further and want to be a Network Ninja. One who is agile and nimble in a highly connected world. One who can fearlessly stare down the challenges and trends facing nonprofits – high turnover and burnout rates of executive directors (Gulp!), the rise of Millennials who are cut from a different ideological cloth than the Boomers who preceded them, free agents who work in, around and out of traditional models. And this is just in Chapter 2.
Another intriguing persona described in the book is the Network Weaver. Personally, I prefer Network Knitter but I digress.
Wouldn’t this be a great skill set to include in a job description? Check this out.
The Network Knitter must be adept at:
- Connecting people
- Facilitating meaningful conversations
- Sharing resources
- Building network relationships
- Working across digital platforms and dinner tables
- Respecting every voice, every opinion
- Inspiring people to change the world
Ours is a networked world. As nonprofits, we have no choice but to transform ourselves into more effective, transparent, connected Network Ninjas.
Get your hands on a copy and start your journey.
Get more Wow, Grasshopper!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
