Dr. James Cooper leads by example

As the rector and chief executive of New York City’s venerable Trinity Wall Street Church, Dr. James H. Cooper has overseen all aspects of the organization, from Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel to St. Margaret’s House, since his appointment in 2004.

Cooper, who received his Master of Divinity and his Doctor of Ministry from the Virginia Theological Seminary, has a long and distinguished record of service which spans more than 30 years in the clergy.

Among his past accomplishments, Cooper helped to grow his parish in Ponte Vedra, Fla., from a membership of 700 to more than 5,500, and he founded a nonprofit to provide quality health care to the region’s aging population.

In addition, he helped provide growth money for new churches in Nigeria, Kenya and Spain while also establishing missions and other facilities in Tanzania, Bolivia, the Bahamas and Cuba.
As the current head of Trinity, Cooper has helped to carry on the church’s original mission to serve the poor and isolated. The church was established in 1697, predating the city of New York.
Cooper has worked tirelessly alongside groups including the Downtown Alliance, an organization that provides funding to house the homeless in lower Manhattan. The church also gave a leadership grant to the Downtown Alliance’s Back to Business grant program, which is focused on helping small businesses in Zone A and lower Manhattan recover from the effects of Hurricane Sandy.

In addition, Cooper helped to steer funding of $250,000 to the Robin Hood Foundation, supporting the transition of veterans returning from active duty in Afghanistan.

Other initiatives Cooper has lent his time and talent to include a Relief Bureau to counsel the sick and jobless, food pantries and soup kitchens at Trinity chapels around the city, global grant programs that award millions both abroad and to vital programs in New York as well as the massive relief effort and shelter the church provided to the rescue workers at Ground Zero after 9/11.
When the John Heuss House, a day shelter for the homeless, was forced to close several years ago, Cooper and the church responded by opening Charlotte’s Place, a drop-in and welcome center for all visitors to the community. Further, a brown-bag lunch program was started on the front steps of Trinity, which distributes hundreds of bag lunches each week to anyone in need.

Also of importance is Cooper’s skill as a financial manager, carefully managing Trinity’s Grants Program, which has funded more than $72 million in programs in some 85 countries around the world since 1972.

But of all his responsibilities, perhaps the most important is the management of Trinity Real Estate, which handles the parish’s 6 million square feet of commercial real estate in Lower Manhattan. The income generated from the church’s real estate holdings, which Trinity has held for more than 300 years, enables the organization to sustain and develop programs and ministries around the world.
Honored recently at a Manhattan awards ceremony, sponsored by the Federation of Manhattan Welfare Agencies, Cooper made some thoughtful remarks.

“We have great expectations of each other,” Cooper said. He noted that while Trinity has “wonderful ministries, grand programs and buildings,” they will ultimately be known “not by those ministries and programs or buildings; we will be known by the love we have for one another.”

He added that “love endures all things, and it is only love that never ends. God will make the path straight again, will rise up the valleys and take boulders and mountains and throw them into the sea. … We are part of it simply because we love one another.”

Cooper is also known in the interfaith community for the work he began shortly after his arrival to push for increased communication and understanding of differences that arose among persons of differing faiths after 9/11.

He continues to reach out to those who speak out about both economic and social injustices.

I’m adding my voice to those predicting Denzel Washington will win Best Actor in this year’s Oscar competition for his role as an alcoholic pilot in the new film Flight.  I’ll even the score with my ex-husband who, after leaving Training Day, days after the terror attacks in September 2001, correctly declared that the famous black actor would get that top honor for his role as a corrupt L.A. Detective.  Coinciding with the release of Flight, if there was a greater disaster than Hurricane Sandy since 9/11 in the New York area, I can’t name it. By chance, I was taken to see both films soon after these devastating events. As a bookish, white woman in her forties, action movies are never my thing. I’m more likely to be tucked in at home, re-watching a DVD of Howard’s End with my cat, Monk. Unforeseeably, Denzel’s characters in these two films mirror the zeitgeist of America with alacrity. They also seem to offer cogent evidence of synchronicity.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Denzel now appears onscreen as a would-be hero who miraculously saves a plane full of people in a daring move that no other pilot could maneuver, but which  still claims the lives of six people. He performs this feat high on cocaine and booze. Despite the terrible storm and the mechanics of the plane failing, because of litigation he is scrutinized for pilot error and his alcoholism comes to light.  We can’t help but root for Denzel, who starts out badass and sinks lower as the film progresses. I see him as a symbol of our own nation, weary from a decade of war and a failed economy. Yet we were once so drunk on international power and bravado that we still wonder; how did we get here? Our hero, Atlanta-based pilot Whip Whitaker, seems to be equally confused. He did everything right- so why is this happening? Assisted by his attorney, played by the excellent Don Cheadle, he manages to both squash the post-crash toxicology report and enter “Act of God” as a factor in the plane coming down. Whitaker’s co-pilot, whose legs are crushed, echoes this will of God argument, and the film’s story is touched throughout by a southern Christian sentiment applied in brush strokes too subtle to ever really take hold, let alone exonerate our hero. As I watched the film, the “Act of God” rationale echoed strongly for a New Yorker like me, as my home city struggles with the disaster and loss of life currently surrounding us.

But in Flight, it is Whip’s weakness, his moral failure that brings his problems to a head. In the comeuppance scene, played before the NTSB investigation panel, Whip finally comes clean and, as he bravely admits, stops lying about his drinking. “Act of God” takes a distant place behind his admission of free will and personal responsibility. This film soberly straightens out the apparent chaos of life to reveal the connection between our moral failures and hubris that begets the lot that God, or karma, sends our way.

Eleven years earlier, the ultra talented Washington boldly strutted through the film Training Day. As Detective Alonzo he embodied the paternalistic, American foreign policy that has historically been in evidence since Theodore Roosevelt’s Big Stick ideology of 1901 and carried into modern times via Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs fiasco, Ronald Reagan’s Iran/Contra venture and up through the Bush Administration’s invasion of Iraq. With that “right justifies might” mentality on his side, Alonzo treats drug dealers the way our military took out Saddam Hussein – live outside the law and you will be taken out, due process be damned.

The only problem with that “by any means necessary” policy is it eventually catches up with the perpetrators. Alonzo, having made too many enemies of the same ilk, is gunned down at the end of the film.  I find this a sad corollary to our military men and women sent to do another clean up job in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to lose their lives in a lawless land. But Alonzo is fighting on a smaller playing field than that of the leaders in the White House and Pentagon who have innocent minions to fight their battles.

Is it a coincidence that Denzel shares his surname with our nation’s capital and helm of power? I know I’ll be keeping a close eye on Washington’s next move. After seeing Flight and living through Sandy, I can’t help but hope he will stop putting in these Oscar-caliber performances.  I don’t think New York can handle another of his cinematic hits.

Union worker leads NYC memorial ride to honor first responders, returning vets

Most New Yorkers have vivid recollections of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But for Gregg Nolan, then a foreman with Local 15 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, the images of working down at Ground Zero are indelibly etched in his mind.

In an effort to temper those memories as well as honor the rescue workers who helped recover the site, Nolan, 56, will return to Ground Zero this September, just as he’s done for the past decade, to lead more than a thousand motorcycle riders on a 42-mile trek from Manhattan to upstate New York, as part of the NYC Ground Zero Independence Ride.

Nolan spoke to Our Town, recalling some of his difficult experiences working at Ground Zero in those first few weeks following 9/11 as well as how his upcoming NYC memorial ride is helping to support veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

How did you end up working at Ground Zero on 9/11?
Gregg Nolan: I was the foreman for local 15 of the Operating Engineers and I was at a contractors meeting when the planes hit. I went home at first to be with my family because I didn’t know what was going on. I got home and we were watching it on TV and I just decided to go back that night and help out any way I could. I’d been working in construction in NYC my whole life, so it seemed that I could probably be of use there.

What did you see when you first got to the “pile” or Ground Zero?
I got there about midnight or 1 a.m. and all I saw was fire and devastation. We were completely astonished. There was nothing left of the trade center—it was a mountain of rubble. It was just unbelievable.

What was your key responsibility at Ground Zero?
In the first day we were down there, our big job was to organize the chaos … obviously there was death everywhere, but to get this thing under control—it had to be taken under control—and that’s pretty much what we were doing.

In the first few weeks, we worked with the National Guard to set up a perimeter around the whole site because there were people at the site who were unknown. At first, we thought there could even be terrorists still at the site to try and do secondary damage—we just didn’t know until we set up security. And, bringing in a union workforce that was known was a plus.

Who else was down at Ground Zero, and how dangerous was it working there?
There were so many people down at the site that didn’t belong there and didn’t know what they were doing. Many of the volunteers down there were getting hurt because they had no idea what they were doing. It was office workers and non-construction workers and even some of our own guys got hurt—it was just such a dangerous place to be, we had to get rid of any people who didn’t know what they were doing. And, at the same time, we’re recovering bodies—looking for people who may still be alive.
For more information on the NYC Ground Zero Independence Ride or to participate, visit groundzeroindride.com

A survey of how New Yorkers will observe the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks

Sunday, Sept. 9

9/11  2012
Icahn Stadium, Randall’s Island, 911heroesrun.com;
9 a.m., $35 per person
The Travis Manion Foundation is sponsoring a 5K run on Randall’s Island to honor the heroes of 9/11. Half of all race proceeds go toward charity.

9/11 Memorial Community Evening
9/11 Memorial, Albany Street (betw. Greenwich and Washington streets), 911memorial.org; 6-8 p.m.
In commemoration of the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the 9/11 Memorial will be open to lower Manhattan community members for the evening. Passes are reserved for lower Manhattan residents only and can be picked up at CB1 offices or via email prior to Friday, Sept. 7. Email community@911memorial.org for details.

Premiere of ‘9/11 Dust: A Healing Journey’
Kraft Center Gallery at Columbia University, 606 W. 115th St. (betw. Broadway & Riverside Dr.), 911dust.org; price TBA.
Filmmaker Penny Little will premiere her film 9/11 Dust: A Healing Journey in conjunction with the Pause Press Play Project on Sunday evening prior to a Sept. 11 news conference at 1 p.m. Additional film times will also be announced.

Monday, Sept. 10

9/11 Exhibit at the Trinity Museum
Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall Street, trinitywallstreet.org; Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Free.
Artifacts from the eight-month-long 9/11 ministry at St. Paul’s Chapel will be displayed in the exhibit. According to the church’s website, “St. Paul’s, part of the parish of Trinity Wall Street, became a place for Ground Zero recovery workers to eat, sleep and try to understand what had happened on Sept. 11, 2001.”

9/11 Remembered at the New York City Police Museum
New York City Police Museum, 100 Old Slip at FDR Drive, 10 a.m. daily, $8 adults $5 seniors and children
This exhibit explores the NYPD’s response to the disaster, featuring testimonials and artifacts. Children under 6 and members of the NYPD get in free.

Tuesday, Sept. 11

September 11th Commemoration Ceremony
WTC site in lower Manhattan, cityhall.nyc.gov; 8:46 a.m. first moment of silence
The September 11th Commemoration Ceremony is for the family members of Sept. 11 attacks and features a reading of all memorial names with six interspersed moments of silence and a music program in the background. The program is scheduled to conclude around noon.

Steve Reich: Complete String Quartets Performed By ACME
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St. (betw. Sullivan & Thompson streets), lepoissonrouge.com; 6:30 p.m., $35 table seating. $30 standing room
The American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) will perform, with composer Steve Reich in attendance, WTC 9/11, which was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by various musical foundations.

Why Cuomo, Bloomberg and even Christie should be talking that day

The plan for this year’s 9/11 commemoration sounds an awful lot like last year’s, especially since word came down that no public officials will deliver remarks. No speeches, especially anything deemed “political,” shall mar the reading of the names of those lost on that terrible day.

This news has been cheered, especially by some newspaper editorial boards that should know better. Newsday, in particular, says the reading of the names has an “elegant simplicity.” That’s in line with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who last year told NY1 that the families of the dead “don’t need political lectures,” as if any speaker would aim to annoy the crowd.

The reading of the names, which at this stage seems to do little to put a still-raw historical act into present-day context, is considered sacrosanct. But our elected officials have been silenced again. Not to mention—although someone should—our poets, academics and religious leaders, probably in order of importance.

The no-speakers stand seems tremendously popular. But it’s also ridiculous.

For eons, and in cultures of all sorts, leaders have been expected to draw conclusions and share them with the people they are elected to serve. It’s one of the responsibilities of leadership, to find words in impossibly difficult situations, to give voice to our common experience.
Sure, it’s hard. And yes, leaders mostly fail to meet the challenge. The exceptions, though, create historical moments. What if someone had told Abraham Lincoln not to give the Gettysburg Address because nobody wanted to hear him tackle a hot-button issue? Can you picture Franklin Roosevelt, during World War II, being given a list of names of deceased soldiers to read and told to say nothing else?
Sixty-seven years after FDR’s death, though, our politicians are terrified of politics, or at least being deemed “political” by the dumbed-down culture that confuses the words “politics” and “partisan.” Ours is a world with little interest in the common good or even the slightest healthy debate about what that might mean. The civics class belongs to another age, not ours. We love our cell phones, not our post office. We outsource wars or figure someone else can volunteer. Somewhere along the line, the Me Decade became a new Me Century. “Don’t be political” is pretty much our only rallying cry.

It’s been this way for a while now, so it is unsurprising to see us privatizing our grief, too, and wrongly insisting that 9/11 events belong only to the deeply affected families. The reading of the names has been a powerful and valuable tradition and should continue if others want it to, but when do our leaders lead and take the ceremonies on that awful anniversary to another level? Never?

The irony is that we have a couple of politicians around who might be able to speak a memorable phrase or two. Gov. Andrew Cuomo gives good speech. Bloomberg has a talent for telling people what they don’t want to hear. That might help inspire something substantial. Give, gulp, Gov. Chris Christie a chance to say a few words. Maybe he won’t even call anyone an idiot during his turn on the dais.
Throw in a few others, knowing that picking and choosing is an admittedly messy business. Then let the speakers dare to give us a slightly new way of thinking of that horrific moment and this anxious one.

The point isn’t the quality, year to year, of the speeches. It is that in decrying politics of all kinds in any sensitive situation, we create a content-free culture. No wonder we wind up with political campaigns about peripheral issues.

There is no getting around the need for politics or political speech. Banning it is a lousy way to commemorate anything in a democracy.

Christopher Moore is a writer living in Manhattan. He is available by email at ccmnj@aol.com and on Twitter @cmoorenyc.

Edie Falco with the 30-pound cat Sponge Bob

Zadroga Bill to Cover 50 Types of Cancer
Fifty types of cancer have joined the list of covered conditions for the World Trade Center Health Program linked to the Zadroga Bill that was passed in early 2011. The coverage comes after Dr. John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, reviewed the link between exposure to the toxins at the World Trade Center site and cancers affecting the digestive and respiratory systems. He recently issued a proposed rule to accept all of the Science/Technical Advisory Committee’s recommendations.

Sens. Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand released a statement Friday following the decision. “We thank Dr. Howard and the Science/Technical Advisory Committee for their hard work and diligence, which will get more of our 9/11 heroes suffering from cancer the treatment they deserve,” they said.

Two more peer-reviewed scientific studies will be done to determine if any additional cancers should be included in the list.

“We are confident that with the benefit of new peer-reviewed studies to come, we will be successful in ensuring that first responders and community survivors suffering from other cancers will also get the access to the program they so desperately need,” said Schumer and Gillibrand.

City Has Too Many Bee Hives, Say Experts
If dodging speeding cabs, wayward cyclists and lost tourists on the city’s sweltering streets this summer isn’t enough, here’s another thing to look out for: bees—a whole freakin’ lot of them.

Honeybee swarms of cinematic proportions have terrified citygoers this spring from Brooklyn to the Bronx. They have bombarded a fire hydrant at the South Street Seaport, crowded the Bowery and even trapped a family in a Volvo at Pier 92.

The source of these swarms is one of the city’s fastest-growing hobbies: beekeeping. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani banned honeybees from New York City back in 1999 along with cheetahs, elephants and other exotic pets, but the relegalization of beekeeping in 2010 ushered in a new trend. The New York Post reports that since the ban was lifted, the number of registered hives in the city has increased from three to 161. Hives range in size from small rooftop collections to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which boasts the city’s largest habitat with 20 hives and 20 million bees.

Andrew Coté, founder of the New York City Beekeepers Association, said. “There are too many hives right now. As it increases in popularity, it will be more and more difficult to control.”

Sponge Bob, the 30-Pound Cat, Finds New Home
Sponge Bob, the 30-pound feline media sensation, made his debut with his new owners last week on the red carpet at Animal Haven’s second annual Performance for the Animals benefit concert and auction at City Winery in Tribeca.
Two months ago, Sponge Bob’s previous owner went into hospice and left the nine-year-old cat with Animal Haven, a nonprofit cat and dog shelter on Centre Street in Soho. The shelter started a blog about Sponge Bob to aid his adoption that won him instant fame last week, including press coverage in the UK and an appearance on the Today Show. He is likely the world’s largest living cat.

Sponge Bob now belongs to Courtney and Matthew Farrell, a young newlywed couple who live on the Upper East Side. They hoisted Sponge Bob up for the cameras on the red carpet—no easy task.

Courtney Farrell said she and her husband had occasionally talked about getting a cat, but did not want to bother with a kitten or anything too out of control. When she first read about Sponge Bob, she sent her husband a picture as a joke. A few conversations later, they knew they had found the perfect match.

When asked about the cat’s health, Matthew Farrell promised, “We’re going to whip him into shape.” He and his wife both exercise regularly and believe in promoting healthy lifestyles.

“He’s already on a no-carb diet,” he said with a smile. “Catkins.”

Compiled by Paul Biscegio and Adel Manoukian

50 types of cancer have joined the list of covered conditions for the World Trade Center Health Program linked to the Zadroga Bill that was passed in early 2011. This comes after Dr. John Howard, Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, reviewed the link between exposure to the toxins at the World Trade Center site and developing cancer affecting the digestive and respiratory systems. He recently issued a proposed rule to accept all of the Science/Technical Advisory Committees recommendations.

The Zadroga Bill expands death benefits to workers assumed to have died due to the exposure of toxins at Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks.

Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand released a statement Friday following the decision: “We thank Dr. Howard and the Science/Technical Advisory Committee for their hard work and diligence which will get more of our 9-11 heroes suffering from cancer the treatment they deserve,” they said.

Two more peer-reviewed scientific studies will also be done to determine if any additional cancers should be included in the list.

“We are confident that with the benefit of new peer-reviewed studies to come, we will be successful in ensuring that first responders and community survivors suffering from other cancers will also get the access to the program they so desperately need,” said Schumer and Gillibrand.

DANCE NEW AMSTERDAM RESCUED FROM GETTING THE BOOT
State Sen. Daniel Squadron and Executive Director of Dance New Amsterdam (DNA) Catherine Peila announced last week that the performance center in Lower Manhattan has reached an agreement with its landlord to lower its monthly rent and rental debt. This announcement comes after a three-year effort by local elected officials, residents and cultural representatives to keep the valued dance education center open.

DNA has been serving the Manhattan community for 28 years through public performances, artist services and classes and has worked with roughly 32,000 artists and performers. It was the first nonprofit organization to move into the area, from its former Chinatown location, after the 9/11 attacks.

“This lease amendment lowers our rent and debt tremendously. We are now better positioned to further stabilize, implement educational programs and support the artist’s creative process from studio to stage and beyond,” said Peila.
Since 2010, DNA’s monthly rent has been $70,000, a number that would have risen to $90,000 by 2020 if not for the new agreement. In 2010, the company was unable to pay a month’s rent, which resulted in their possible eviction.

“Over the past 10 years, as Lower Manhattan has recovered, a burgeoning cultural center has come back stronger than ever—and DNA has been a key part of that transformation,” said Squadron. “This agreement is a testament to the fact that it’s possible to find paths forward for community-based cultural organizations and the invaluable work they do.”

9/11 ANNIVERSARY RECOVERY EFFORTS SPURS HONORS
Speaker Sheldon Silver, Assemblyman Michael DenDekker and Minority Leader Brian Kolb announced the passage of an Assembly resolution yesterday at a ceremony honoring volunteers, including residents of the area, who worked on recovery and salvage efforts at the World Trade Center site in the wake of 9/11. Thursday, May 30 marked the 10-year anniversary of the completion of those efforts.

“In pausing to pay tribute to those heroes who courageously and selflessly gave of their time, their energy and even their personal health to support these efforts, we are inscribing in the record books that their courage and sacrifice is forever respected and appreciated by all who call New York State their home,” said Kolb

A copy of the resolution will be held in the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

The museum also recently launched a web-based interactive timeline of the rescue and recovery events that took place after the 9/11 attacks to honor the efforts of first responders and volunteers.

The timeline, which starts at Sept. 12, 2001, and goes to May 30, 2002, uses images, oral histories and never-before-seen videos by the public to depict the heroic rescues, relief efforts and milestones that followed the attacks.
The museum will also feature a Scroll of Honor, an installation displaying a list of names of all who died on Sept. 11, 2001. In addition, there will be a Recovery and Relief Workers Registry.

“The Scroll of Honor and interactive timeline will be innovative tools for teaching that the story of 9/11 is not just about that one day, but also about the way people came together in the days, weeks, months and years after 9/11 to contribute to the recovery and revitalization of lower Manhattan,” said Alice Greenwald, director of the museum.

COUNCIL SPEAKER CHRISTINE QUINN RESPONDS TO DOMA’S REPEAL
Last week, the Federal Appeals Court repealed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which outlaws gay marriage, deeming it “unconstitutional.”

In response to the announcement, Council Speaker Christine Quinn released a statement today, agreeing with the decision.

“I’m pleased we’re one step closer to overturning harmful federal legislation that denies same-sex couples the right to wed, depriving them of the security and benefits of marriage,” said Quinn.

“I’m proud of the work we have done, and will continue to do, to ensure equal rights for all people, and I thank everyone who has fought so valiantly to repeal DOMA for their efforts and for their tireless work to end this discriminatory policy once and for all.”

Shifting elections away from anniversary date is a mistake

The move is shortsighted and contrary to the public interest.

The decision in question: shifting the state primary from Tuesday, Sept. 11 to Thursday, Sept. 13. The governor and the state legislature have decided that Sept. 11 is, as the New York Times put it last week, “a day for reflection and not for politics.”

The mindless attack on anything deemed political really needs to stop—especially when it comes to this significant anniversary on the national calendar. There are political implications to almost everything, but especially to the most serious attack against Americans on their own soil.

The governor and the legislature have it exactly wrong. Sept. 11 is a perfect day to go out and vote. To exercise freedom. To express opinions. To take part in the democratic process. One of the terrible little realities of Sept. 11, 2001, a day of much bigger atrocities, was that voters were stopped in their tracks. It was, after all, a municipal primary day.

Granted, this year, New Yorkers statewide are being asked to vote in too many elections. The state needs a sensible, streamlined approach, voting machines that inspire confidence and an open-minded attitude about same-day registration, among other electoral innovations. Not needed: any more of this reflexive, silly and downright dangerous dislike of anything deemed “political.”

I use the quotation marks on purpose, since almost everything falls under the definition of politics, according to what they say in freshman year poli sci classes. Politics is about the struggle over limited resources and who gets what. Politics is sometimes, but not always, about partisan struggles, although that’s the way it’s usually viewed today. In truth, there’s nothing more political than a lively Board of Education meeting or a bad personal relationship, even if nobody is ever outwardly aligned with a political party.

Too bad the anti-politics crowd has got hold of the way we talk about public affairs. Cynicism increases and the people who love low turnout rates wind up being thrilled that they can keep running the nation. When you say you don’t like politics, you begin to opt out of self-government. When you don’t vote, you fulfill someone else’s agenda.

In reality, politics is a thrilling and all-encompassing business. In a new play about newspaper biggie Joseph Alsop by David Auburn called The Columnist, the famous scribe takes aim after hearing someone decry politics. “My boy,” Auburn’s Alsop says, “politics is life! Politics is human intercourse at its most sublimely ridiculous and intensely vital. You may as well say you don’t very much care for sex.”

These words are thrillingly on target. I recently finished—thanks be to God—a semester teaching college students in New Jersey. So many of the most conscientious students kept telling me that they don’t like politics. They refuse to read about it or follow it. I wanted to quote Auburn’s line about sex, but worried about winding up on the evening news.
It breaks my heart. We need our most nimble minds to embrace the public sphere, the ongoing fight over limited resources in a changing society. We need smart people of all ages to think and rethink about military misadventures and health care funding and library hours and marriage rights and class size. There’s nothing we need more than an informed, active citizenry.

Sept. 11 does not now—and never did—need to become another day for people to sit on their butts and eat hamburgers. Like many Martin Luther King Jr. Day advocates understand and insist, we need days on instead of days off. We need engagement. We need participation.

We need to vote.

When it comes to shifting the election date, the governor and the legislature are pandering, pure and simple. Is it too much to ask our politicians to stand up for politics?

I vote that we vote on Sept. 11. And every other chance we get.
Christopher Moore is a writer living in Manhattan. He can be reached by email
at ccmnj@aol.com and is on Twitter
(@cmoorenyc).

By Angela Barbuti

Warner Wolf

For over 50 years, Warner Wolf has been eyewitness to the world’s greatest athletes and seen some sporting events that have gone down in the annals of human history. His line, “Let’s go to the videotape,” which began as a practical cue to roll a clip, is one of the most recognized catchphrases in sports history. Wolf still entertains and educates audiences on Imus in the Morning, one of the most popular daytime broadcasts in New York City.

When he’s not giving play-by-plays, he’s at home on the Upper West Side, watching highlights on ESPN.com or his game of choice, pro football.

Did you always want to work in sports?

I knew when I was 7 years old, believe it or not. There was no question in my mind. My father used to buy me Ring, a boxing magazine. There was no television, so we used to hear Friday night fights on the radio. I used to listen to every sporting event.

What qualities do you need to be a sportscaster?

This sound obvious, but you have to know sports. Not just the rules, but the history, so you can relate the importance of what has happened. Otherwise, you might think, “This is the greatest play of all time,” when it has been done five times before. You also have to be fair and can’t have an objective before you go in.

What was your big break?

In 1976, I got an offer from ABC to come to New York and do the local news, Wide World of Sports and Monday Night Baseball. That was huge. The funny thing is, my dad showed me an article that said it takes 15 years from wherever you’re working to get to New York. I always carried that around with me. I started April Fool’s Day 1961 in Pikeville, Ky. The amazing part is it was 1976 [when I got the offer], exactly 15 years later.

How did you make the transition from radio to television?

I had been on the radio eight years before I was ever on television. In 1965, I was hired by WTOP, a huge radio station in Washington, D.C. They also owned a TV station, and the TV guy left. The president of the station said—it’s going to sound funny now—“Do you think you could talk to people about sports?” At that time, I think we were the second station to do this, aside from one in New York.

What’s the most significant thing you ever reported on?

9/11. My wife and I lived in Tribeca and the World Trade Center was 10 blocks south of our bedroom window. I saw it all, so I called in to Imus to tell him what was happening and he kept me on the air.

What is one major change you’ve seen in the sports industry?

Before 1975, a player belonged to a team forever. Ninety-eight percent of players did not have multiyear guaranteed contracts, which they all have today, so the incentive to play well was huge. They had a good concept, better than today. But the owners took advantage of it and didn’t pay what they should have. Mickey Mantle, the highest-paid player, made $100,000 once. The minimum today is almost $500,000. Mantle would have been a $30 million-a-year ballplayer today.

Who do you consider the greatest athletes of all time? 

Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Jim Thorpe, Jim Brown. They were great because they played more than one sport well. I always thought the most domineering player in basketball was Wilt Chamberlain.

What was your most memorable interview with a player?

Joe DiMaggio. It was a real thrill, because I had grown up watching him play. He was a great interview. But just before it, he had a PR man come over to me and say, “If you talk about Marilyn Monroe, the interview is over.” I wasn’t going to talk about Marilyn Monroe.

Do you root for certain teams?

No, because I want to be able to report objectively. That’s why I think it’s advisable for young fellows to avoid strong friendships with ballplayers, because there comes a time when you have to say something unfavorable about them. If you hesitate, your listeners or viewers are going to realize it. You absolutely have to be honest with your audience, because they’ll know if you’re not.

What’s it like to work with Imus?

Oh, it’s fun. You never know what’s going to happen. Each day is different.

How did you come up with your catchphrase? 

I was working in Washington and videotape had just started out. Before that, we used film or still pictures. We had some videotape of a basketball game. I would give the director a normal cue. Like, “In the third quarter, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored,” and they’re supposed to roll the tape. He didn’t roll the tape. So I said it again, and he still didn’t. Then, right on the air, I finally said to the director, “Hey Ernie, let’s go to the videotape!” And the play came up. Later, he said to me, “Do that again tomorrow, because I’m very busy in the control room.”

Do you recite the phrase for your fans?

Sure I do. I’m glad they remember. You can’t say it on the radio.

Listen to Wolf on Imus in the Morning, Monday-Friday from 6-10 a.m. on 77WABC.  The show is simulcast on Fox Business Network.