This too is Yonkers and Westchester
By Eric Schoen
Over the stormy weather we have been having? Over Stormy Daniels and her escapades with the current President as are the 20 million people who watched the interview on 60 Minutes?
Hawks dive bombing, clawing people’s heads in Fairfield, Connecticut, not far from where we live. The daily drama/chaos whatever you want to call it coming out of the Trump White House. Over the political chaos in Washington, D.C.? Or the March of of the corrupt politicians to jail in Albany. Negative political commercials for a special election in April. Aren’t we supposed to have a break on the political calendar from this stuff?
So much going on that we really need a little Passover/Easter right this very minute. Maybe a week where we can take a rest from everything going on in the world we live. Shut off the television and radio. Stop reading newspapers and magazines. Put the Internet on hold and stop giving Facebook data that they can use to know everything about us.
I walked into my neighbor’s apartment the other day dropping off matzah and macaroons for Passover. You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy Matzah and macaroons. I’m talking about the canned ones one buys on the holidays. Not the expensive ones from France or your local mall.
My neighbor was watching the news, CNN or Fox. Ever notice flipping the channel that CNN, FOX or MSNBC give you different pictures of what is going on in the world. Watch an hour of prime time news on any of these three stations and the reporting makes you believe they are talking about different countries and different worlds. Don’t you hark back to the days when Walter Cronkite on CBS, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley on NBC or Harry Reasoner or Howard K. Smith on ABC told you pretty much the same news of the world in a low key fashion?
Getting back to my neighbor, it seemed like the news was upsetting her. I told her shut the TV off, shut the radio off or with a 1000 channels available put something else on. Roseanne is back. You will always find I Love Lucy reruns somewhere. Did anyone ever look unhappy when I watched Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Music Makers with my parents as a kid? Everyone was dancing smiling, singing, happy.
Even put the Game Show Channel on. Maybe in one of the reruns you will catch my sister who was a contestant on the old game show Concentration. Does Alex Trebek on Jeopardy ever look sad, or Vanna White or Pat Sayjak on Wheel of Fortune? Why do you think Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune appear right after the news. Simply to make you relax after the latest tragedy in the world!
It would be nice to go someplace warm but nothing prevents you from picking up a good book and relaxing in the confines of your house or apartment. Or heading the to movies and instead of watching Superhero #5000 in action going to see one of two excellent movies I saw recently.
One of the movies is Entebbe. In July 1976, four terrorists hijack an Air France flight from Tel-Aviv to Paris and force the flight crew to land in Entebbe, Uganda. There, the Jewish passengers are held hostage, with their safety contingent on the release of dozens of terrorists jailed in Israel, Germany and Sweden. After considerable debate, the Israeli government employs the Israeli Defense Forces to execute a daring rescue.
Or Itzhak, the story of Itzhak Perlman’s life. From Schubert to Strauss, Bach to Brahms, Mozart to…Billy Joel, Itzhak Perlman’s violin playing transcends mere performance to evoke the celebrations and struggles of real life; “praying with the violin,” says renowned Tel Aviv violinmaker Amnon Weinstein. The documentary looks beyond the sublime musician, to see the polio survivor whose parents emigrated from Poland to Israel, the young man who struggled to be taken seriously as a music student when schools saw only his disability. As charming and entrancing as the famous violinist himself, ITZHAK is a portrait of musical virtuosity seamlessly enclosed in warmth, humor, and above all, love.
The weather looks like it’s warming up. How about a trip to the Botanical Gardens or the Zoo in the Bronx to see what’s blooming or animals in love. Peak Cherry Blossom season is before us. Pile everyone in the car to see the cherry blossoms in Bloom in Washington, D.C. Spend the night and you could spend days visiting the Smithsonian Museums. They offer something for every member of the family to enjoy, free of charge!
On the way back from Washington make a pit stop in Philadelphia and make believe your are Rocky running up the museum steps. The #1 food factory tour is right outside of Philadelphia, the Herr’s Potato Chip and Pretzel factories. Catch a hot potato chip or pretzel right from the conveyor belt.
Have you ever viewed live, in person the Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue. Don’t look for Marching bands and baton twirlers. Look for people dressed in their Sunday best with whimsical and colorful hats and bonnets on their heads. Take a walk through Central Park or window shop along 5th Avenue from 57th Street down to Lord and Taylor’s making sure to visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral, lighting a candle saying a prayer for your good health and peace in the world.
While in New York visit Governor’s Island and stroll through acres of beautiful parkland by foot or bicycle available for rent or loan when you get off the Ferry. The best pictures of the Statue of Liberty are taken from the Staten Island Ferry, free of charge for all. The Auto Show hits Manhattan this weekend.
Closer to home we have the Botanical Gardens where something is always blossoming. Visiting Wave Hill in the Bronx is a special treat enjoying a picnic lunch on the beautiful grounds.
Enjoy a prix fixe lunch at X2O in downtown Yonkers and stroll along the Hudson River. You can pick up a Groupon and enjoy a lovely dinner, reasonably priced at X2O’s too. When was the last time you visited the Hudson River Museum or the adjoining Glenview Mansion? Or viewed a Planetarium show in the planetarium within the Museum?
Homefield Bowl and Paradise Lanes allow you to relieve days gone by bowling a game or two with friends or family. Or pick up a good book, curl up in bed and relax. You can download books onto your Kindle or iPad for free from the Yonkers Library and Westchester Library System.
Forget about Facebook tracking your life or Russians poisoning People and think about relaxing yourself, hopefully for a week but if not at least for several days! You deserve it!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM or WVOX.com and click on listen live.
