WEST SIDE LAWMAKER PROTECTS PREGNANT WORKERS
Last week, Upper West Side Rep. Jerrold Nadler joined three Democratic co-sponsors in introducing new federal legislation that would provide protections for pregnant woman against unfair job discrimination.

Nadler joined fellow New York City Rep. Carolyn Maloney and two others in presenting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. The bill is supported by 119 advocacy groups from across the nation and has 63 original cosigners. The law would require employers to give reasonable working accommodations for pregnant women and prevent employers from forcing these women onto leave, paid or not, when a reasonable adjustment can be made to their workload.
The bill will also relinquish hiring discrimination toward women who are pregnant and in need of certain accommodations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.

“When American families are struggling to make ends meet, we must do everything we can to keep people in their jobs. This is especially true for pregnant women who are about to have another mouth to feed,” said Nadler. “Ensuring that a woman who needs minor and reasonable job adjustments to maintain a healthy pregnancy gets that accommodation should be central to our society’s support for strong and stable families.”

The bill follows the introduction of a similar measure at the state level from State Sen. Liz Krueger.
“When pregnant women cannot be provided reasonable accommodations at their workplace, they lose wages and opportunities for advancement, their newborns are disadvantaged and both their employers and the economy as a whole suffer unnecessary losses,” Krueger said.

The sponsors of the national bill cite recent examples of pregnant women losing their jobs after asking for minor accommodations, like carrying a water bottle or help with certain physical tasks, as the impetus for creating the protections.

LAWYERS HONORED BY STATE BAR
Two Upper West Side residents were recently recognized by the New York State Bar Association’s prestigious 2012 President’s Pro Bono Service Awards. The award recognizes lawyers who have provided their expertise and counsel to those who are unfortunate enough to be victim of crimes but cannot afford attorneys.

The Bar honored Caroline Heller, a lawyer at the firm Greenberg Traurig, and Natalie Fleming Nolen, who works at Morrison & Foerster, at the Law Day luncheon May 1 at the State Bar Center in Albany.
Heller was recognized for her free assistance to victims of domestic abuse in 2011. Nolen received the Young Lawyer award for leading a project within her firm that dealt with Humanitarian Parole for Haitian Women Project, a human rights initiative to assist post-earthquake victims of sexual violence.

“The work of pro bono service attorneys makes ‘justice for all’ a reality for New Yorkers. Whether they are a solo practitioner or work in a large law firm, every lawyer can help solve someone else’s problem,” said State Bar President Vincent E. Doyle III in a press release. “It is an honor to recognize such a distinguished group of recipients, including Ms. Heller and Ms. Fleming Nolen. They represent the best of our profession.”

HACKING INTO BREWER’S NEW LAW
The city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) is holding a Policy Hack day to collaborate on the technical aspects of the implementation of Local Law 11, the Open Data Law, which was sponsored by City Council Member Gale Brewer. The law mandates that the city publishes its databases online in machine-readable formats through a centralized, public website. The event this Saturday, May 19 at 11 a.m. is a day for anyone interested in the open government movement to discuss, plan, hack and draft the technical standards that will be used to execute the law. At Pivotal Labs, 841 Broadway, 8th floor. RSVP at nycopendatapolicyhack.eventbrite.com.

TOUCH-A-TRUCK DAY
The West Side YMCA is holding its seventh annual Touch-a-Truck Street Fair and Fundraiser this Saturday, May 19. Kids are invited to touch, climb on and sit in a collection of trucks that will gather on West 64th Street between Central Park West and Broadway. Last year’s festival attracted almost 2,000 children and had trucks from UPS and FreshDirect, fire trucks, construction machines and old-fashioned buses. There will also be face painting, crafts and activities for kids, food and entertainment. Kids can get unlimited access wristbands for $25 or pay $1 a ticket to access the activities. All proceeds benefit the West Side YMCA.

FLIP-FLOP FOR ESPAILLAT’S SEAT

City & State reports that as State Sen. Adriano Espaillat’s primary run against Rep. Charlie Rangel heats up, insiders have been whispering about the possibility of Northern Manhattan Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez jumping into the race for Senate. Last week, the councilman confirmed to City & State that he was indeed considering announcing a run—until he called back to rescind that statement.
If Espaillat prevails in the June 26 primary against Rangel, there will be a fierce battle for his empty Senate seat. Assemblyman Guillermo Linares has already announced his intention to run, as has Democratic district leader Mark Levine. Rodriguez confirmed that he will be supporting Levine in the race if Espaillat’s seat opens up.

Phantom Furniture
An employee at the furniture store  was fired and reported to police for using a little too much imagination on the job. The 21-year-old worker processed fraudulent returns for inventory that never existed, then allegedly sold the store credit to friends to purchase more furniture at the store. The total stolen credit was for $3,449.17.

Hot Spot Targeted
The owner of a popular Upper West Side restaurant learned last week that his business had been the victim of fraud. The man’s bank contacted him to inform him that two fraudulent checks had been drawn on his business checking account and deposited into a different account at another bank. The two checks were for $3,189.76 each; the victim had no idea who might have access to his account information.

Phone Thefts Abound
Criminals are still on the lookout for iPhones and other expensive smart phones, and the victims are often young teens walking home from school. One recent theft in the neighborhood occurred when a man approached a woman and asked for the time; when she checked her iPhone and put it back in her purse, the perp grabbed it from her bag and ran away. Other incidents involve two perpetrators approaching young kids and intimidating them into giving up their phones.

Pricey Instruments Taken
A 24-year-old musician was dining late at night with her friend at a bar on the Upper West Side last Friday night. She placed her French horn in its case at her feet, and she and her companion left the bar briefly before she remembered the instrument. By the time she returned five minutes later, the $8,000 horn was gone, and the bartender said he had seen a man come in and leave with the bag.
The same day at the Juilliard School, a 19-year-old student was practicing violin in one of the practice rooms. She left the instrument in the room to pack up her things, and when she got it back to her dorm room and opened the case, the double-bass bow, worth $1,700, was missing.

Silent Hold-Up
A man walked into the Apple Bank on Broadway last Friday during the day and conducted a robbery without saying a word. He held up a handwritten note to the plexiglass of the teller window that read “I have a gun, no dye pack, no bait, $50 bills and $100 bills, this is a robbery.” The teller forked over $1,700 in cash as instructed, which the perp placed into a black nylon bag. The robber is described as a white 30-year-old man with grey hair.

When she was pregnant with her daughter over a year ago, Brooklyn-based writer Erin Bried found herself up to her eyeballs in sometimes confusing, often contradictory advice on parenthood. But she put her zest for research to work, and the result is the practical, yet tender book How to Rock Your Baby: And Other Timeless Tips for Modern Moms (Hyperion).

The heart of the book flows from Bried’s interviews with 10 extraordinary mothers including Sunchita Tyson, mother of astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson; Elaine Maddow, mother of Rachel Maddow; Betty Horton, who at the age of 102 is America’s oldest mother; and of course, Bried’s own mom.

What inspired you to research and write How to Rock Your Baby?
When I was pregnant, I read as much as I could. But rather than feel empowered, I felt totally paralyzed. There was so much conflicting information. Let the baby cry versus never letting the baby cry. Always wash hands before touching baby versus germs are good. It was overwhelming, and I found myself not trusting myself. That is why I wrote this book: I wished there was a book with advice in it that hadn’t changed over the years.

How did you decide which mothers to interview?
I wanted to talk to moms of all backgrounds and all ages, and I wanted to interview moms of extraordinary kids, so we could all agree [that] they did something right. I wanted the best advice, and I figured these moms would offer it to me.

There are so many books about pregnancy and parenting newborns out there. Why do moms need another one?
What I wanted to offer with mine was perspective. You can get so wrapped up—what brand of pacifier should I buy? which crib?—but in the end, you won’t remember any of that. You will remember the sweet memories.

How would you describe your overall parenting philosophy?
In a nutshell, love your child and let her find her own way. And it’s equally important to do the same for yourself and trust [that] you will find your own way, too. Ruth Alsop [mother of Marin Alsop, the first female conductor of a major American orchestra] said that there’s a strength in each of our children that needs to be nourished. That also resonated with me as a mother. We are all stronger than we know. … We got the strength from our mothers, and they got it from their mothers.

What was the most unexpected piece of advice you received?
One of the moms confessed that she let her kids watch television and eat junk food from an early age. That gave me so much comfort! You’ve got some wiggle room. If they eat a cookie, you haven’t ruined them.

When should parents start trying to get their baby on a schedule?
Parents should be at their baby’s beck and call for the first two months. … Your job is to make them feel loved, safe and comfortable. After that, start establishing loose routines like at bedtime—give the baby a bath, a massage, read a book and put her down. Establish that ritual. This will help you in the long run.

You make several mentions of encouraging moms to get help and support. Do you think there’s still a stigma against moms who need help?
Yes, I think there is absolutely a stigma. There is an aura surrounding motherhood. On one hand, I say trust your instincts; your gut will not steer you wrong. On the other hand, people expect you to have all-knowingness once you’re pregnant. But it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes the best parenting decision you can make is to get help.

You include chapters on things that some people probably think are instinctive, like how to sing a lullaby. Have you found that some moms today have lost these instincts?
You’re going to remember what songs you sang to your kid for the rest of your life. I found so often at 2 a.m. when I wanted to sing to my daughter that I couldn’t remember a single song. There’s so much pressure on mothers today to be perfect. This chapter is just a reminder that perfection doesn’t exist. You don’t need to have an award-winning voice to soothe your child. Your baby just needs to hear your voice.

If you could give just one piece of advice to a new mom, what would it be?
Overall, worry less. When I was breastfeeding, I was so paranoid that my daughter wasn’t getting enough milk. Of course she was—I wish I had worried less!

Describe your perfect Mother’s Day.
My perfect Mother’s Day would start with breakfast at home, because restaurants are tough with a 1-year-old in tow! I would treat myself to a caffeinated coffee. Then my husband and I would put our daughter in the stroller and walk to the carousel under the Brooklyn Bridge. We’d have a picnic and play, then walk home, put the baby to bed and have a glass of wine.

Jenna Helwig, founder of Rosaberry, is a culinary instructor, personal chef and freelance writer. She blogs for Yummy Delicious at newyorkfamily.

Meet Christopher Ziemba, jazz pianist at Juilliard

“There are no mistakes in jazz,” the old saying goes, and Christopher Ziemba is no exception. A pianist in Juilliard’s prestigious Artists Diploma Ensemble, he arrived on the Upper West Side last fall from Rochester.
The 25-year-old is already fully immersed in the musical scene that is New York City. A typical week for him could include performances at Dizzy’s Club, the Central Park Boathouse and David Letterman’s birthday party. Since he doesn’t have a piano in his apartment, he spends much of his day at Juilliard, ready to compose music on their Fazioli grand piano.

West Side Spirit: When did you start playing?
Christopher Ziemba: From what my parents tell me, we had an old family upright, and as soon as I could reach the keys, I started playing. I used to play nursery rhymes that I had picked up from ear. I grew up in a musical environment; my father is a percussionist in the Buffalo Philharmonic orchestra.

How did you come to specialize in jazz?
I had taken classical piano lessons for 10 years. When I got to high school, they needed a pianist for the jazz band. There, it was either sink or swim—for the first year, it was mostly sink. I went on to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester for my undergraduate and master’s degrees. I was a double major in jazz piano performance and music education. My master’s is in jazz piano.

So then you went to Julliard?
When I finished school, I expected to move to New York, but it wasn’t going to be in the context of school. Then I took a lesson from Frank Kimbro, who is part of the piano faculty at Juilliard, to prepare for a competition. At the end of the session, he said, “We have an opening in our Arts Diploma Ensemble.” Normally, auditions are held in February, but this was already mid-May.

How did you end up mastering jazz?
My mother tells me that I really didn’t like it in the beginning. Having been trained classically, it was frustrating. With classical music, you’re given a piece and you learn the notes on the page. In jazz, you have to read chords. You’re responsible for improvising, making up whatever chords you want to play. It’s like its own language. The only way to get really good at it is to spend time listening to and analyzing records.

What’s the biggest compliment ever given to you?
Recently, I was playing at the Thalia Cafe at Symphony Space. There was an older man and his caretaker watching. Whenever we performed a familiar standard, he would sing along, even though we were mostly a background attraction. After we finished, I went over to say hello. He introduced himself as the cousin of drummer Roy Haynes, a jazz legend who had played with many of my past heroes and still plays around town in his eighties. He told me I sounded just like pianist Bud Powell, with whom Roy once played. Powell is considered one of the most important figures in the history of jazz piano.

For a list of Ziemba’s upcoming performances, visit www.chrisziemba.com.

The hotel in question is not really a hotel at all, by law or by appearances. It’s run out of 318 W. 75th St., a landmarked five-story walk-up with 11 apartment units. It looks like, and is zoned to be, a residential building, but until recently, four of the 11 units were functioning as hotel rooms instead of homes.

Until a few days ago, the four rooms were listed on the travel site Airbnb.com, where homeowners can rent out rooms or entire homes to travelers at rates typically lower than traditional hotels. The listings have since been taken down, but they boasted a prime Upper West Side location and spacious, sunny apartments. Visitors had been coming and going among the permanent tenants for some time, but the city was finally spurred to action when the local block association got involved.

“West 75th Street has had this on their radar for a while,” said Dee Rieber, president of the block association. “It was pretty clear that people were coming and going with suitcases for quite a while. We didn’t know the extent, that there were four homes in the building that were being used as illegal hotels, until relatively recently.”
Rieber said that the owner of the building, Ron Shoshany, has been trying to get tenants out of the rest of the building in order to operate all of the apartments as hotel units. Shoshany, the president of Sirkin Realty on East 62nd Street, did not return a call requesting comment for this story. But the photos that last week were advertising apartment 1A at 318 W. 75th St. as an available property on Airbnb are now on Sirkin Realty’s website advertising the same apartment, fully furnished, for rent.

“It’s been very difficult for the tenants in the building, I know that, just from what’s happened in the past two weeks,” Rieber said.

After Rieber mobilized the block association and the local elected officials, making 311 complaints, the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement moved quickly to inspect the premises and issue violations against the building operating transient occupancy rooms out of a permanent residence. The Department of Buildings inspected and issued Environmental Control Board violations, which address the occupancy contrary to the zoning and certificate of occupancy as well as the lack of fire exits and sprinkler systems that are required for hotels. The listings have disappeared and Rieber believes, based on what she’s heard from tenants, that for now the temporary occupants are out.

Sarah Meier-Zimbler, who works as a legislative aide to State Sen. Tom Duane, said their office has been trying to combat illegal hotels, or the technical term “transient use occupancy establishments,” for years. She told residents in an email that calling 311 was the best way to register the issue with the city, but that it can be a slow process.

She also pointed out that even when fines are levied, they are often low enough that the owner simply pays them and continues to operate illegally, making more than enough money to cover the financial risks. Similar studio apartments in the neighborhood rent out on Airbnb for $150 to $200 a night; if the apartment is rented most nights, it brings the owner more money than the average studio would in monthly rent.

Council Member Gale Brewer is sponsoring legislation in the City Council that would raise the fines for illegal hotel operators, which she said has gotten support from affordable housing advocates, neighborhood groups, lawmakers and even legitimate hotel operators.

“The current amount [of the fine], if you have an illegal hotel, is very low, under $1,000. That’s like one night of business,” said Brewer. “The feeling is if you’re really going to have some teeth to the state law, the fines really need to be higher.”

Although ticks aren’t the most loveable creatures, they just might be the hardiest—they have been around for over 100 million years. The oldest example is a 90 million-year-old bird tick in a piece of New Jersey amber from the Cretaceous period. It is likely that ticks will still be around long after humans are extinct.

Ticks are parasites that feed on the blood of their host, which can be an animal or a human. Ticks are sightless. They get around by using tiny pincer-like claws on the ends of their eight legs to grab onto rough surfaces. When a tick emerges hungrily from hibernation, it wanders blindly until it bumps into something, then grabs hold and starts climbing upward until it can rise no higher.

There, perched on some foliage, it sits patiently, using its legs as sensors that detect carbon dioxide and vibrations—it waits for its meal to drive by. It can wait for months. Ticks in various life stages can go well over a year without food.

Once aboard a feeding source, like your dog, they seem to navigate toward an area that is difficult to groom, like the ears or shoulder blades. Despite being quite hungry, they look for a mate. Male ticks remain on the host for an indefinite period of time, alternately feeding and mating. Usually, after a few matings he dies.

The females feed, mate, become engorged and then drop off to lay their eggs. The female dog tick lays 4,000-6,500 eggs. Then, exhausted, she dies. Adult ticks can sit around for two years waiting for food, then they eat, procreate and die.
The tick has a built-in spoon, fork and knife. The fork and knife dig a hole in the skin and, once the hole is dug, the spoon is inserted to feed. What is cool is that while digging, the tick secretes something akin to a topical anesthetic. It can take a half a day to dig the hole, and all the while the animal or human host doesn’t feel it.

Once they start sucking blood, ticks produce saliva that helps thin the viscosity of the blood, making the meal flow faster. The blood not only nourishes the tick, it also provides fuel to the bacteria living inside the gut of the tick. As saliva continues to be produced, some of the bacteria migrate out of the tick and into the host. This is how disease is spread.
Different ticks host different diseases. We are all familiar with Lyme disease carried by the deer tick, but the American dog tick can carry Ehrlichia and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Both attack the blood cells of dogs and have been reported to cause disease in humans.

Protecting you and your dog from ticks takes diligence and insecticides! The Center for Disease Control recommends avoidance (walk in the center of a trail), repellents (check with your vet for products safe for your animals) and surveillance (body and clothing checks). Showering and bathing your dog can reduce the risk of being bitten. Ticks are susceptible to desiccation and high heat, so tossing clothing in the dryer can kill any hitchhikers that haven’t found their way to the flesh.

In addition to good tick control, you may consider vaccinating your dog against Lyme disease.

Robin Brennen is chief of veterinary services and VP of operations at the Animal Hospitals at Bideawee.

Kaisa Levine can attest to that. Her company, Fridababy, sells the Nosefrida and the Windi. Made for babies, both products are manufactured in Sweden and are enjoying increasing popularity in the United States.

The Nosefrida, (otherwise known as the snotsucker) is a non-invasive nose aspirator that removes excess mucus from your child’s nose. The snotsucker has been profiled everywhere from the Rachael Ray Show to the Tonight Show. The Windi is a catheter that relieves babies’ excess gas.

Fridababy was founded by Levine and Sarah Perilli. Levine, originally from Sweden, immigrated to the United States, married and had children. She and her family take annual trips to Sweden to visit her family. Ten years ago, during one of those trips, her 6-month-old developed a cold and nothing they tried could relieve his stuffy nose.

“All of my Swedish friends asked, ‘Why don’t you have a Nosefrida?’ My husband frantically ran to the pharmacy to pick one up, and it saved our trip,” Levine said.

With the Nosefrida, one end of the unit is placed on the child’s upper lip directly under the nostril, while the other end containing the sucking mechanism goes into the parent’s mouth. A long tube connects the two ends. The airflow causes the mucus to discharge out of the child’s nose without causing discomfort or mess. Levine was so impressed with the contraption that she brought several back with her to the States.

Friends and neighbors began seeking her out to get one of the snotsuckers and for more information. From that, the idea of Fridababy was born.

“Anyone who tries it swears by it. It’s the only nasal aspirator I’ve ever tried that actually works. Doctors like that it’s non-invasive, and parents love how much they can get out—and quickly! It’s also easy to clean and made of the safest plastics,” Levine said.

Levine says her relationship with Nosefrida, the company that manufactures the nose aspirator in Sweden, has been smooth sailing, with a slight learning curve regarding customs. The Windi, Fridababy’s most recent product, is “a natural solution to colic, constipation and other gas-related problems.”

As an entrepreneur, Kaisa has discovered that juggling motherhood requires a lot of dedication, especially with two children ages 10 and 8.

“When you are a mother of young children and have your own business, I think it’s important to give each your full attention; to be focused on work when you are at the office, and then to let go of that and focus on the children when you are with them. Trying to type emails at the same time as helping your kids with homework doesn’t really work at all.”
Europeans have been using the Nosefrida and the Windi for years, but now you can get both products from your nearby pharmacy or sites such a BuyBuyBaby.com.

Fridababy is one of the featured exhibitors at the New York Baby Show, taking place May 19 and 20 at Pier 92. For more information, visit newyorkbabyshow.com.

Bruce Jay Friedman, author most recently of the memoir Lucky Bruce, will sit on the memoir and biography panel at the conference. We talked to the Upper West Sider about his long and thriving career as a novelist, playwright, screenwriter (hits include Splash and the story for The Heartbreak Kid), short story author and, now, memoirist.

You’ve been called the “hottest writer of the year” at various points in your career—how has that affected you?
I had a movie that was a very big movie, Stir Crazy [in 1980]. And this entertainment attorney, a young kid, said, “Don’t you realize you’re the hottest writer in Hollywood?” I was so deeply offended—that was exactly what I didn’t want to be. So I moved back to the East Coast, shut off the phone and started to write a novel, which was what I felt I should be doing.

But you also got that mantle for writing the play Scuba Duba in 1968.
Being the so-called hottest playwright is not so bad. You do get better tables in restaurants. You get your—well, it’s more than 15 minutes, actually.

Did all the hype around your work ever make you feel pressure about your next projects?
No, I always had an appointment with that next thing to write. I’d finish a novel and think, why not try a play now? I’d always go back to the short story—that’s what I’m doing now—that was always my anchor.
I think you will hear that if you’ve written a novel, it doesn’t mean you can write a play; if you’re written a play, it doesn’t mean you can write short stories. I’ve never bought that. To me it’s storytelling, in one form or another. And I’ve gotten away with it so far.

With novels and memoirs, writers often write from their experiences. How do you navigate writing about real people?
The person you’re worried about slandering is the last person to recognize himself in a book. However, occasionally, as happened to me with my first novel Stern, I was terribly concerned about my boss. I needed the job and I had him as a character, not the most lovable character. I disguised him in a million different ways, but still, he was a very smart guy. But he never said a word. The book was published and he gave me a raise.
Then I got in the elevator and a woman I’ve never heard of before gets on. She starts screaming “Why? How could you do that to me?” I’d never met the woman, I knew nothing about her. She identified closely with that character and you could not dissuade her.

How did you approach writing your memoir?
The struggle for me was trying to find the right voice—not so much what the book was, but what voice. I’ve got at least half a dozen different voices. Finally I decided to just be me, and then the book was relatively easy [to write].

There is so much pressure on writers now to self-promote their work and find commercial success—how can young writers deal with that?
To the extent that it’s possible, and that I have any advice at all, is to just really get rid of all that and write a wonderful story and let the rest take care of itself. I’m sure Salinger wasn’t thinking of promotional opportunities when he wrote Catcher.

Allen Houston, executive editor of Manhattan Media, will be part of the editor’s panel at the conference. For a full lineup of writers and information on the Writers’ Conference, which runs June 6-9, visit hunter.cuny.edu/ce.

In The Avengers movie that opened recently, Mark Ruffalo plays the Incredible Hulk, a creature born from a scientific experiment gone awry who joins a team of superheroes seeking to save the world. The risks of scientific progress and efforts to save the planet are also at play in his real-world battle against hydraulic fracturing, Ruffalo tells City & State.
What follows is an edited transcript.

City & State: How did you become involved in fracking activism?
Mark Ruffalo: I heard about hydrofracking before I moved my family to New York, and I thought it was going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. It was going to bring this vibrant new economy to upstate New York. But I also started to hear some questionable things about it. So I went to the old Internet and started doing some research. At this time, there was very little to learn. The gas industry is very rosy and extremely positive. There were inklings from EPA whistleblowers and people in Wyoming whose homes were filling with gas and were coming up with these neurological disorders from the drinking water. So I decided, “I have to go look at this for myself.”

CS: Where did you go?
MR: I went to Dimock, Pa. It wasn’t really to find anything wrong. It was just to see what was going on. But in a room of 40 people, it became clear to me that these people were under siege in their life, and the American dream was betrayed. What about the EPA? The EPA wouldn’t allow something like this to happen. Well, this isn’t regulated by the EPA, really. Well, what about the DEP? Well, they’ve pretty much turned their back on us. What about your attorney general? They’re not interested. There were victims there, and basically they were being told they were lying. You had these Americans who obviously had a problem, and everybody turned their backs on them. I didn’t want to get involved, honestly. But if I am who I say—I care about people and I care about injustice—then I realized this is coming to my community, where there are people that I love and I care for, and it can’t happen like this.

CS: But fracking could create jobs in New York’s poorer regions.
MR: There’s only a fraction of the jobs the industry says they’ll create. They tend to be incredibly transient. Cornell did a study last year on what the effects would be, especially in small communities that rely on pristine water and pristine air. A lot of these communities have only agriculture and tourism to support them. What happens is the community is left worse off after the bust. A few people end up making a lot of money. It doesn’t make its way out to the rest of the community. The workers leave. The area is left with less economic diversity. It kills off other industries. I understand that we’re in bad times. The other thing that’s interesting to point out is the fastest growing job sector right now in the United States, at 10–18 percent a year, is the green sector, or the renewable energy sector.

CS: In your experience, are people aware of the hydrofracking issue?
MR: When I started three years ago, I just thought, There’s no way. We’re done for. We have the biggest industries in the world; we have Exxon Mobil and Chesapeake just dumping so much money. It was a done deal. Thousands of families have reported contamination now. These people are poor, they’re desperate. When their wells become contaminated, their properties become worthless. They turn to the gas industry, and the gas industry says, “We didn’t contaminate your well, but we will buy you out and give you water if you sign a nondisclosure agreement.” We will never know these people’s stories. You have people in Dimock, and some people in Wyoming now, these mothers whose children have come down with asthma and weird autoimmune-deficiency diseases, whose schools are right next to compressor stations, and they’re getting together and they’re starting to get their stories out. They’re not taking the short money, which is what we’re seeing in Dimock. They’re saying, “No, we’re going to live through this, we’ve been wronged and we’re going to get our stories out.” It’s very different now than it was even a year ago. Fracking is a national issue. There’s a lot of new information coming out, and the longer this goes on, the more we’re going to find out how damning it is.

CS: What has been the most rewarding part of your activism on this issue to date?
MR: I have to say what I wrote when this first started happening, in my local newspaper. The title of it was called “Thank God for Hydrofracking.” And people thought that was a crazy thing. What I saw was, and this came from my experiences in Pennsylvania, was that what we were seeing was the quality and character of a community. And we were going to be tested on what we were made of as a community. Were we willing to basically screw our neighbors to make a buck, knowing that there’s a good chance that their well water could be contaminated? The problem with the whole property-rights movement around this is that these people are drilling 5,000 feet out from their properties, so they’re drilling into every other property that abuts them for a mile. And now you’ve infringed on my property rights. When that gas and that methane is seeping out of those casings and ending up in my well, you’ve infringed on my property rights. So the community suffers. What I’m seeing is these incredibly brave people who are really Americans who are standing up for something that’s right, who aren’t selling themselves out for the short money, who have an idea that’s bigger than It’s just me against you, and I’m going to get mine and you can screw off.

CS: Are there similarities between The Avengers and the fight against hydrofracking?
MR: Superheroes have always been the guys that fight for the common good. That’s what I responded to as a kid. They always fought for the little guy. That’s what this fight is about. If the gas industry was just honest about what they do and how they do it, they wouldn’t have such a nightmare on their hands. I am beginning to feel like the only way they can make money is to do it the way they’re doing, to bypass regulations, to lie when contamination happens, to manipulate the markets. Now we’re seeing Aubrey McClendon and Chesapeake and the whole thing of them manipulating the markets and lying to their investors. If they could do this safely and in a way that was aboveboard, then they would do it. So you have a malicious, malign force out there that’s doing damage and in some way needs to be stopped. And that’s the kind of thing that superheroes come to the rescue to. The superheroes today are my neighbors.

CS: You play the Incredible Hulk, who was created by a freak accident during a bomb test. Does that kind of cautionary tale relate to hydrofracking and its repercussions?
MR: There’s a long line of scientific experiments gone bad in history and in storytelling, and it’s something we go back to all the time. It’s all over the comic books. It’s in our consciousness and our subconscious as a culture. We personify it in our mythologies as superheroes and we live next to it in our lives, such as Fukushima and what’s happening at Dimock. This is a struggle that will continue to go on as we become more desperate for this type of carbon energy. Long gone are the days when we simply stick a straw in the ground and get beautiful concentrated carbon energy percolating to the surface with very little impact to the area around us. Now we’ve entered the era of extreme energy extraction: It’s hydrofracking, it’s deep-sea drilling, it’s mountaintop removal, it’s tar sands. These are the new norm, and they’re incredibly dangerous, incredibly toxic, and they’re accelerating global warming at an unprecedented rate. And that’s what we’re going to be stuck with. Just like the superhero disasters.

CS: I know you’re in a hurry—and I really don’t want to make you angry and have you turn into the Hulk—but did you have a favorite superhero as a kid?
MR: The Hulk. The TV show was my favorite, with Bill Bixby. I loved that show.

CS: So it’s come full circle?
MR: Yeah. I got lucky. In a lot of ways.

jlentz@cityandstateny.com

This article first appeared in the May 7, 2012, edition of City&State.

The farmer’s market around the corner from our apartment is a humble one, to be sure. Unlike the Union Square market, our outpost is only open from mid-spring to early fall. But the produce they bring in is out of this world. In the summer, I switch from heavier fare that has me slaving over the stove for hours to lighter, vegetable-based dishes. The less our oven stays on, the cooler our apartment is. Besides that, vegetables, to me, are the flavor of warm weather.

So I must switch to drinking sangria and beer come summer, right? Wrong! Although many people are frightened by the prospect of matching vegetables with wines, it’s really a natural pairing. If you think about it, the grapes used to make the wine and the vegetables you are cooking (or not cooking) have more in common than a cabernet and a sirloin steak. You might be surprised what some of the great match-ups are.

One of my favorite things to make when entertaining in the summer is an easy asparagus side dish that is great served at room temperature. Using about a pound of trimmed asparagus, I heat two or three tablespoons of olive oil in a sauté pan on low heat with five thinly sliced garlic cloves. After the oil has heated the garlic through, I add four or five roughly chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Once the mixture has cooked for five minutes, I bump the heat up to medium high and add the asparagus, cooking for another five to seven minutes.

This is amazing with a New Zealand sauvignon blanc like the  ($18.99 at Elite Wine, 558 3rd Ave. at 37th Street, 646-658-7548). The crisp, citrusy flavors of the wine compliment the green, grassy flavors of the asparagus perfectly.

Vegetarian cuisine doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll walk away from the table hungry. If you want something hearty that will stick to your ribs, a ratatouille is the perfect summer stew. Start by sautéing a chopped onion, four minced garlic cloves and a diced zucchini in a medium pot with olive oil. After everything has softened and you’ve flavored the mixture with salt and pepper, add a can of crushed tomatoes and a handful of chopped Kalamata olives. Let it simmer for a half hour and match it with a pinot noir like the Cooper Hill Pinot Noir 2010 from the Willamette Valley in Oregon ($20.99 at 67 Wine and Spirits, 179 Columbus Ave. at 68th St., 212-724-6767). The acidity from the tomatoes and the natural acidity of the grape will cancel each other out and point up the fruity qualities of the wine and the richness of the ratatouille.

The perfect summer pasta dish is always primavera in my book. Mine always starts with sautéing six garlic cloves and a tablespoon of red pepper flakes in olive oil over low heat. After that has steeped, I add chopped summer squash and roughly chopped artichoke hearts. While I’m boiling the pasta, I turn up the heat and add purple cauliflower florets, broccoli rabe and a little salt and finish the dish by throwing in the pasta and adding a handful of grated pecorino off the heat.

This deserves a wine with a lot of fruit and personality, like the Cline Viognier 2009 ($13.99 at Beacon Wines and Spirits, 2120 Broadway at 74th St., 212-877-0028). The richness and slight fruitiness of the pecorino matches amazingly with the full-throttle tropical fruit in the viognier.

You don’t have to give up the meat completely for summer. Where would this great country be without hot dogs and hamburgers grilling on the coals? But if you decide to lighten up and turn down the heat in your kitchen, you’ll still have plenty of drink options besides a watery beer with lime.

Follow Josh on Twitter: @joshperilo.