Binghamton University - News Releases

"Encouraging Sustainable Communities" topic of Binghamton Community Lab

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

BINGHAMTON, NY – The Binghamton Community Lab will host a mixer and discussion titled, “Encouraging sustainable communities: Insights from public goods and common-pool resource economics” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 21, at the Lost Dog Café Violet Room, 222 Water Street in Binghamton. This event is free and open to the public. At 6 p.m., participants are welcome to purchase an optional self-pay dinner.

Guest speaker Robert Holahan, assistant professor of Environmental Studies at Binghamton University received his Ph.D. in Political Science working with Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom at Indiana University in 2011. His current research projects include an examination of property rights in oil and gas leases, a cross-state comparison of policies related to fracking, and a cross-national study of how and why political parties take positions on issues related to environmental policy.

Public goods and common-pool resources are all around us. Ranging from city parks and police patrols (public goods) to urban gardens and public water delivery (common pool resources), these two types of economic goods are available for everyone’s use and exemplify some of the most desirable qualities residents seek when choosing which neighborhood to live in. This Community Lab will explore these types of shared economic goods and discuss ways in which communities have had success (or failure) in improving the delivery of such goods to local residents. Key to the discussion will be in exploring ways in which governments, like city councils and state legislatures, can complement and reinforce the efforts of local governance, like neighborhood associations and grassroots volunteerism.

The Binghamton Community Lab is a gathering place for citizen investigators to create and support improvements that will grow a healthier, wealthier and stronger Binghamton region. The series, held regularly on the third Tuesday of each month will be facilitated by David Sloan Wilson, SUNY distinguished professor of biology and anthropology at Binghamton University and founder of the Binghamton Neighborhood Project, and David Currie, director of the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition.

For additional information, contact Hadassah Head at hhead1@binghamton.edu.

Binghamton University hosts the 36th Annual Poetry and the Children Day

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

BINGHAMTON, NY – Approximately 400 students from 33 schools and 12 school districts will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 22, in the Osterhout Concert Theater of the Anderson Center at Binghamton University for the 36th Annual Poetry and the Children Day. After the opening presentation, students will present their poems at 11 a.m. throughout the Fine Arts Building.

This year’s guest poet is Liz Rosenberg, author of more than 30 award-winning books, including novels, poetry, and more than 20 books for young readers. She is the editor of five prize-winning poetry anthologies and her work has been featured on Reading Rainbow, in The New York Times and in two documentaries about her life and work. She won an IRA-Children's choice award for her picture book, Monster Mama, which is currently under option to be made into a full-length feature movie.

Rosenberg has taught English and Creative Writing at the State University of New York for the past 30 years. She has won the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and she writes a monthly children's book column for the Boston Globe. Rosenberg has visited elementary schools, libraries and high schools all over the United States and as far away as Singapore and London.

The program, which brings students together for a day of poetry readings, was established as a memorial to Robert Pawlikowski. A published poet, creative writing instructor and campus administrative assistant, Pawlikowski drowned in 1975 while on vacation with his family. The event is a tribute to the efforts that Pawlikowski made during his lifetime in nurturing the expressive and intellectual powers of his students as well as those of his own children.

Four to receive honorary degrees from Binghamton University

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

BINGHAMTON, NY – Four honorary degrees will be awarded during Binghamton University’s Doctoral Hooding Ceremony at 3 p.m. Friday, May 17, at the Events Center on campus. Marilyn C. Link, Voya Markovich, Nancy Wackstein ’73 and George Whitesides will each be honored.

Marilyn C. Link
A pioneering pilot, educator, philanthropist, and managing director of an oceanographic institute, Marilyn C. Link’s illustrious career has given her a breadth of experience and inspired generations of students at Binghamton University and other educational organizations.

She attended Syracuse University and graduated from the aviation and flight training program at Stephens College. She earned her bachelor’s degree in education from New York University and her master’s degree from the University of Illinois-Champaign.

The first managing director of the Harbor Branch Foundation, now the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI), she is now director emerita. HBOI recovered remains of the Challenger and promotes exploration, protection and wise use of the oceans’ resources.

Link has been integral to carrying out the mission of the Link Foundation which has provided grants totaling more than $13 million to universities, including Binghamton University, and non-profit organizations since its inception.

Her personal support in six figures, coupled with Link Foundation donations, has endowed the Edwin A. Link Organ Professorship, the Marion Clayton Link Endowment Fellowship in Creative Writing and the Marilyn C. Link Endowed Scholarship for Women in Finance, as well as the Edwin A. Link and Marion Clayton Link Collections at the Binghamton University Libraries.

Through the Link Foundation, Link supported establishment of the Edwin A. Link Instructional Laboratory for the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science.

She is a member of Binghamton University’s Esther W. Couper Heritage Society, a Leadership Society member, recipient of the Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Service and the Watson School Founders Award, and an honorary life member of the Binghamton University Forum.

Voya Markovich
A leading expert in advanced electronic packaging, Voya Markovich is known as one of the industry’s experts in laminate product materials and processes, and first- and second-level electronic packaging. In 2012, he retired from his position as senior vice president and chief technology officer at Endicott Interconnect Technologies, Inc., where he was responsible for all of EI’s research and development efforts.

He is currently working on new concepts for advanced packaging to be used in the next generation of supercomputing systems.

Markovich earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Belgrade, Serbia, immigrated to the U.S. from Serbia, and earned his master’s degree in chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of New York.

Prior to joining EI, Markovich held several senior-level positions with IBM, where he was a member of the elite IBM Academy of Technology and where he developed and implemented new technologies for IBM mainframes over three decades. He holds more than 240 patents and has filed 138 current patent applications. His inventions and the technology manufactured by their practice form the interconnection basis for all leading information technology and telecommunication systems today.

Markovich was instrumental in the establishment of Binghamton University’s Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing (CAMM) and has served on and chaired the CAMM’s board. He also chaired the Industrial Advisory Board for the Integrated Electronics Engineering Center and serves on the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science Industrial Advisory Board. He is current president of the International Microelectronics Assembly and Packaging Society.

Author of more than 50 technical papers and a book chapter, Markovich received the American Chemical Society’s Northeast Regional Industrial Innovation Award in 2006, and numerous other awards. He has also received the IBM Outstanding Innovation Award and the 2008 Inventor of the Year Award from the Southern Tier Opportunity Coalition.

Nancy Wackstein
A preeminent social worker and champion of the homeless and the disadvantaged of New York City, Nancy Wackstein is a 1973 graduate of Binghamton University, with a degree in history. She is executive director of United Neighborhood Houses of New York (UNH), a federation of 37 nonprofit settlement houses and community centers working at more than 400 sites to provide high-quality services and activities to half a million New Yorkers each year.

Elected to Phi Beta Kappa while at Binghamton University, Wackstein went on to earn her master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Social Work.

Always interested in advocacy and policy, she was senior policy advisor for human services in then-Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins’ Office for three years, as well as staff director for the Task Force on Housing for Homeless Families. She served as the first director of Mayor Dinkin’s Office on Homelessness and SRO Housing and has also been appointed to a number of boards and commissions by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Prior to joining UNH, Wackstein spent 11 years as executive director of Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, a privately run settlement house on Manhattan’s East Side.

Inducted into the Columbia University School of Social Work Alumni Association Hall of Fame in 2009, she was named a Top Leader in the Profession by the National Association of Social Workers, New York City Chapter, in 2011. Her creativity and innovation in addressing homelessness have earned her numerous awards.

Wackstein has returned to Binghamton University to speak about nonprofit management and philanthropy, has hosted students at UNH and has brought in peers from other agencies to discuss challenges in the nonprofit sector.

George M. Whitesides
A prolific and influential scientist, George M. Whitesides has changed the way surface chemistry and interfacial molecular design play a role in science. From new sensors and materials properties to thin film technologies that optimize cell phone performance, his many contributions to chemistry, materials science, physics and engineering are paradigm-shifting.

Currently the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor at Harvard University, he received an AB degree from Harvard University and a PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.

He held endowed professorships at MIT before moving to Harvard University and assumed his current role there in 2004.

Whitesides has published almost 1,000 papers and is among the world’s most frequently cited chemists, best known for his work in the areas of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, organometallic chemistry, molecular self-assembly, microfabrication, microfluidics and nanotechnology. His work has helped advance the development of sensors, new materials and thin film technology, and has resulted in more than 50 patents.

He has collaborated actively with Binghamton University Professor of Chemistry Omowunmi Sadik, has been an outside reviewer on personnel cases and has been involved in symposia organized by students and faculty from Binghamton. He has also played an important advisory role in the development and continuing improvement of the Center for Advanced Sensors and Environmental Systems (CASE) at Binghamton.

Whitesides has co-founded over a dozen companies and the nonprofit Diagnostics for All organization, which provides inexpensive, easily usable diagnostic devices to the poor in developing countries.

Whitesides has received numerous awards, including the National Medal of Science, bestowed by President Bill Clinton in 1998.

Binghamton researcher studies oldest fossil hominin ear bones ever recovered

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Recently published paper indicates discovery could yield important clues on origins of humankind

BINGHAMTON, NY– A new study, led by a Binghamton University anthropologist and published this week by the National Academy of Sciences, could shed new light on the earliest existence of humans. The study analyzed the tiny ear bones, the malleus, incus and stapes, from two species of early human ancestor in South Africa. The ear ossicles are the smallest bones in the human body and are among the rarest of human fossils recovered. Unlike other bones of the skeleton, the ossicles are already fully formed and adult-sized at birth. This indicates that their size and shape is under very strong genetic control and, despite their small size, they hold a wealth of evolutionary information.

The study, led by Binghamton University anthropologist Rolf Quam, was carried out by an international team of researchers from institutions in the US, Italy and Spain. They analyzed several auditory ossicles representing the early hominin species Paranthropus robustus and Australopithecus africanus. The new study includes the oldest complete ossicular chain (i.e. all three ear bones) of a fossil hominin ever recovered. The bones date to around two million years ago and come from the well-known South African cave sites of Swartkrans and Sterkfontein, which have yielded abundant fossils of these early human ancestors.

The researchers report several significant findings from the study. The malleus is clearly human-like, and its size and shape can be easily distinguished from our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. Many aspects of the skull, teeth and skeleton in these early human ancestors remain quite primitive and ape-like, but the malleus is one of the very few features of these early hominins that is similar to our own species, Homo sapiens. Since both the early hominin species share this human-like malleus, the anatomical changes in this bone must have occurred very early in our evolutionary history. Says Quam, “Bipedalism (walking on two feet) and a reduction in the size of the canine teeth have long been held up as the “hallmark of humanity” since they seem to be present in the earliest human fossils recovered to date.

Our study suggests that the list may need to be updated to include changes in the malleus as well.” More fossils from even earlier time periods are needed to corroborate this assertion, says Quam. In contrast to the malleus, the two other ear ossicles, the incus and stapes, appear more similar to chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans. The ossicles, then, show an interesting mixture of ape-like and human-like features.

The anatomical differences from humans found in the ossicles, along with other differences in the outer, middle and inner ear, are consistent with different hearing capacities in these early hominin taxa compared to modern humans. Although the current study does not demonstrate this conclusively, the team plans on studying the functional aspects of the ear in these early hominins relying on 3D virtual reconstructions based on high resolution CT scans. The team has already applied this approach previously to the 500,000 year-old human fossils from the Sierra de Atapuerca in northern Spain. The fossils from this site represent the ancestors of the Neandertals, but the results suggested their hearing pattern already resembled Homo sapiens. Extending this type of analysis to Australopithecus and Paranthropus should provide new insight into when our modern human pattern of hearing may have evolved. The study has just been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Binghamton University to hold Commencement ceremonies, May 17-19

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

BINGHAMTON, NY -- Binghamton University will confer more than 3,000 degrees for bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral candidates during Commencement ceremonies to be held May 17-19.

The University is introducing a new model for Commencement this spring, with each school and college, as well as the three divisions of Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, holding its own ceremony. Honorary doctorates and doctoral degrees will be awarded during the first-ever Doctoral Hooding Ceremony, at 3 p.m. Friday, May 17, in the Events Center.

Honorary doctorates will be awarded to pioneering pilot, educator and philanthropist Marilyn C. Link; scientist and inventor Voya Markovich; preeminent social worker and champion of the homeless Nancy Wackstein; and scientist and scholar George Whitesides.

The 2013 Commencement ceremonies schedule:

All of the following ceremonies will be held in the Binghamton University Events Center:

Friday, May 17
3 p.m. Doctoral Hooding Ceremony

Saturday, May 18
8:30 a.m. Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, Science and Math Division
Student speaker: Danielle Leavy
Alumni award recipient remarks: Lisa Benson, MS, BS ’81, MA ’83, and Lee Guterman, MD, PhD, BS ’81, MA ’83

12 p.m. College of Community and Public Affairs
Honorary degree recipient remarks: Nancy Wackstein, BA ’73

2:30 p.m. Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science
Student speakers: Victoria Tagarelli, undergraduate student, and Lauren Huie, graduate student

6:00 p.m. Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, Fine Arts and Humanities Division
Student speaker: Jessie Rubin
Alumni award recipient remarks: Ruben Santiago-Hudson, BA ’78

Sunday, May 19
8:30 a.m. School of Management
Student speakers: Jeffrey Marks, undergraduate student, and Kaitlyn Orr, graduate student
Alumni award recipient remarks: John Lyons, BS ’94

12 p.m. Decker School of Nursing
Student speakers: Taryn Lindquist, undergraduate student, and Tim Leonard, graduate student

2:30 p.m. Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, Social Sciences Division
Student speaker: Leonard Simmons
Alumni award recipient remarks: Linda Riefberg, BA ’81

The Educational Opportunity Program will recognize its graduates in Watters Theater of the Fine Arts Building from 3-5 p.m. Friday, May 17; and all residential communities will hold recognition ceremonies from 5-7 p.m. Friday, May 17, in their communities.

Binghamton University Alumni Association presents Special Recognition Awards

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

BINGHAMTON, NY – The Binghamton University Alumni Association presented its 2013 Special Recognition Awards at a ceremony on Saturday, April 27, held in the Mandela Room of the University Union.

The signature award recipients were:

Donna A. Lupardo, MA ’83, who received the Edward Weisband Distinguished Alumnus/a Award for Public Service or Contribution to Public Affairs for her service as a New York State Assemblywoman, through which she has been instrumental in securing funds that will fuel the University's continued growth.

Sheldon Goldfarb ’73, who received the Glenn G. Bartle Distinguished Alumnus/a Award, for his achievements as an attorney in the financial services industry as well as his longtime support of Harpur College.

Arel Moodie ’05, who received the Lois B. DeFleur Distinguished Young Alumnus/a Award, for his inspiration to young adults as a motivational speaker and best-selling author.

In addition, the inaugural Medals of Distinguished Service were presented to the following alumni, recognizing their outstanding and tireless efforts as volunteers and advocates for the University, while excelling in their respective professional endeavors.

Richard L. Alpern, Esq. ’69

Jenny N. Barbee ’07, MS ’09

Daniel R. Black ’94

Elizabeth Kay Boland ’79, MS ’82

Bruce Cameron, MAT ’88

Howard B. Eisen ’87

Carl T. Ernstrom ’61

Dr. Joseph M. Kolly ’88

Elaine M. Miller, MA ’83

Donald A. Mones ’85

Dr. Hugo J. J. Uyttenhove, MS ’75, PhD ’78

Virginia P. Walker, MSW ’12

To learn more about the Alumni Association’s awards program, visit the “About Us” section of binghamton.edu/alumni.

Binghamton University student philanthropy program awards $13,000

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

BINGHAMTON, NY -- Binghamton University philanthropy students have announced the recipients of $13,000 in grant awards for 2013.

The University’s Philanthropy Incubator program consists of undergraduate and graduate students from three separate courses who learned about community needs, the role nonprofit organizations play in addressing those needs, and ways in which to manage and lead nonprofit organizations effectively. The students also learned the importance of contribution philanthropy, the giving of time or money, to ensure charitable organizations have the resources they need, in order to make a difference for communities.

The undergraduate philanthropy class is funded by the Learning by Giving Foundation (www.learningbygivingfoundation.org). The graduate courses were funded with money raised by students earlier this year. Organizations receiving grants were selected for funding based upon issue areas of concern to students, assessment of community needs and the performance of selected organizations in addressing those needs.

This year the students have selected the following organizations for grants:

SOS Shelter - $ 4,200. The SOS Shelter provides a safe and secure housing for women and children who have been victims of domestic violence. The organization will use its grant to improve the security of its shelter.

Family Enrichment Network (FEN) - $2,300. FEN is dedicated to enhance family development. FEN will use its grant to expand the playground utilized by children in its Head Start and Early Head Start Programs.

Hope Dispensary - $2,000. The Hope Dispensary of the Southern Tier, operated through Lourdes Hospital, is committed to provide affordable medical care. The organization works with each individual extensively through medical assistance and advocacy. The organization will use the grant to cover expenses need to operate the dispensary.

Kopernik Observatory and Science Center - $1,500. The grant will be use towards repairing their telescope. The lens replacement will help Kopernik expand its capacity to utilize all of the telescopes.

VINES - $3,653. Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments, INC (VINES) is an organization committed to developing a sustainable and just community food system. The organization advocates for social and environmental justice. VINES brings together diverse groups of people with a focus on youth development, to establish community gardens, urban agriculture and community green spaces. VINES also strives to develop and beautify urban sites and empower community members of all ages and abilities.

For more information, contact David Campbell at dcamp@binghamton.edu.

Auditions slated for 2013 Summer Youth Musical Theater Workshop

Mon, 06 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

BINGHAMTON, NY – Binghamton University’s Summer Youth Musical Theater Workshop will present “In the Heights” – a Tony Award-winning musical about life in the tight-knit community of Washington Heights. The production will be sponsored by the Music Department, Anderson Center for the Performing Arts, and Continuing Education and Outreach. Auditions will be held Sunday, June 2 and Monday, June 3.

This three-week intensive musical theater workshop runs from July 21 through Aug. 11 for students 12 to 18 years of age. There will be two sessions to choose from including a morning session from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. and an evening session from 6 - 10 p.m. Each session will feature its own production, culminating in two performances.

The workshop will focus on individual and group voice training, acting and improvisation, movement and dance, stagecraft experience, makeup and costumes. Optional add-on classes and private voice lessons are also available for an additional charge.

Currently staffed with the talents of musical director Brenda Dawe, conductor Todd Robinson, program director Elaine Laramee and director James Everett Lortz, the Summer Youth Musical Theater Workshop has been attracting some of the best theater students in the area since 1998. A fully staged production of “In the Heights” will be held Saturday, Aug. 10 and Sunday, Aug. 11 in the Watters Theater at Binghamton University.

The cost of the program is $425. A deposit of $100 is required for the registration and audition. The deadline for registration is Sunday, June 2. For more information or to register, visit http://summer.binghamton.edu/symtw/ or call (607) 777-6857.

Binghamton University conducts community-wide disaster drill

Thu, 02 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

BINGHAMTON, NY – A community-wide disaster drill coordinated by Binghamton University’s Decker School of Nursing students, faculty and staff will begin at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, May 7, in the University Events Center.

Over 300 people are expected to participate in the drill, which will incorporate a mock scenario of a radiological emergency at Nine Mile Point nuclear power plant in Oswego County, New York. The injured residents, played by students, children and adults from the community, will need to be transported to a surge facility (Binghamton University Events Center), as people require evacuation from the radiological “hot zone,” eliminating the use of nearby major hospitals. These “victims” will be decontaminated and triaged per actual radiological emergency protocol by trained students upon arrival at the events center.

Participating community organizations include the American Red Cross, Vestal Emergency Medical Service, Harper’s Ferry Emergency Medical Service, Binghamton University Police, Broome County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), United Health Services, Lourdes Hospital, Susquehanna Nursing Care and Rehabilitation Center, Broome County Health Department, Broome County Medical Reserve Corp and Broome County Emergency Management Services.

Participants will utilize the Incident Command System (ICS) as an education tool. ICS is a standardized; all hazard incident management system used throughout the United States.

The purpose of the mock disaster drill is to educate and prepare nursing students and community partners in response to unforeseen disasters. Nurses and members of the community are welcome to join. For more information, contact Laura Kasey at kasey@binghamton.edu or Margaret Decker at mdecker@binghamton.edu.

Binghamton University professor reads from latest novel

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

BINGHAMTON, NY – Binghamton University Professor Liz Rosenberg will offer a reading from her latest novel, “The Laws of Gravity,” at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 5, with a book signing to follow. Free and open to the public, this event will be held at RiverRead Books, 5 Court Street, Binghamton.

Liz Rosenberg’s latest novel, The Laws of Gravity, scheduled for publishing on May 1 by powerhouse publishing giant Amazon, pits two cousins against each other. One has cancer; the other holds a possible cure, in the form of umbilical cord blood he has banked for his children.

Rosenberg, a professor of English at Binghamton University, says she found inspiration for the book in a real-life drama she heard about more than 30 years ago. A Pittsburgh man sued his cousin for a bone marrow transplant after the would-be donor changed his mind about the procedure. “It was just an instant novel in my head,” Rosenberg recalls. “What would it be like to be the surviving cousin? What would that do to a family?”

Rosenberg wrote to the justice who handled the case. They exchanged letters — this was before the days of e-mail, she notes — and he shared his views on the lawsuit. She even drove to Pittsburgh to discuss the case with him. “He knew that he could not force this person to do good,” Rosenberg says. “The powerful are sometimes powerless. And the seemingly powerless are sometimes powerful.”

Life and other projects got in the way, and Rosenberg shelved plans to write the book. But after her first novel, Home Repair, was published in 2009, Rosenberg’s thoughts returned to the project. “I was at a book club meeting in Binghamton for Home Repair when a book club member suggested to me, ‘What if it were cord blood?’ And I thought, ‘Wow, that’s really interesting.”

That was just one of the crucial changes Rosenberg made for the novel. In the Pittsburgh case, two male cousins went to court. Her story would have one male cousin and one female cousin. And she decided it would take place in the present day on Long Island, where she spent the first 18 years of her life. “It felt remarkable to me to be able to go home in my fiction,” she says. “This is my hymn to Long Island.”

As Rosenberg describes the importance of place to her story, she refers to Eudora Welty’s views on the subject. It’s one of at least half a dozen references she makes to well-known authors in an hour-long discussion of her writing, moving effortlessly from Welty to J.K. Rowling and back to F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The setting, Rosenberg explains, allows her to explore the intense family connections of suburbia, differences in wealth and attitude and even the challenges of driving on Long Island. Indeed, traffic serves as a unifying metaphor in The Laws of Gravity. “There’s always something in your daily life that is an obstacle,” she says. “In Binghamton, it’s the weather. On Long Island, it’s traffic. You have to plan around the traffic.”

Rosenberg finds remarkable texture and vitality on Long Island, and she dismisses the idea that the suburbs are nothing more than a bland string of strip malls, diners and gas stations. Her novel fairly bursts with lively secondary characters: an eccentric aunt, a romantic rabbi and a scheming judge, to name just a few.

“The suburbs get short shrift,” she says. “I grew up in suburbia. It’s full of passion and it’s full of intrigue and suffering and beauty. It’s not as easy as it looks. People are on the verge of wealth or they’re on the verge of bankruptcy. They’re rushing to get to the train on time. There’s a certain kind of energy. Maybe it’s a little dog-eat-dog, but there’s also something that emerges from that energy. There are those surprising moments where the loyalties align in ways that defy gravity. Moments of beauty, of clarity, even of redemption, come out of feeling pressed all the time.”

Rosenberg is a poet, as well as the author of more than 20 award-winning books for children.