Book Review - 'Challenging Words For Smart People'

BOOK REVIEW

‘Challenging Words for Smart People’ - By Richard Lederer 

162 pages – Marion Street Press

Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur 

When famed wordsmith, columnist, and presidential speechwriter, William Safire, died in 2009, I had just completed my second reading of his wonderful book on the English language. The title of the work that had mesmerized me so is ‘What’s the Good Word?’ and I remember wondering whether any Wizard of Idiom would ever be able to replace him. That seemed an unlikely prospect at the time. Safire was not merely a punster and a wordaholic, he was a linguist of the first order … and anyone who was serious about writing looked to him for guidance.

In my own case, I had embarked on what seemed a near-impossible task when, at the urging of my literary agent, Alfred Hart, I wrote the first of three word-oriented novels. That initial tale was driven by Palindromes, and thanks to William Safire’s influence, ‘The Palindrome Plot’ was eminently successful.

“Why not publish a wordplay sequel?” said Al, the agent. “How about using Anagrams?”

I re-visited my Safire source for inspiration, and with the master’s help, was able to crank out a story whose plot depended on the shifting of letters within a given word (or word’s) and the resulting novel was ‘Calamity Hook,’ set in Oklahoma. Even the title of book number two is an Anagram … for Oklahoma City.

At the urging of my ever-confident Publicist, Debbie Lange Fifer (all good promoters are thus staunchly sure of their clients) we rounded out the trilogy with ‘Frisco,’ a thriller dependent on a sophisticated form of Anagram known as the Charade. Imagine the term amiable together breaking into six words without changing the sequence of letters … am I able to get her … heady stuff, for which I am indebted largely to Safire.

But my question as to whether anyone would ultimately match, or replace the great linguist was answered over this past weekend when I was presented with a slender volume that is the subject of this critique. I immediately thought of a quote from the Washington Post: “Columnist and punster, Richard Lederer, may be William Safire’s only living peer at writing about grammar, word usage, and derivations.” 

How very true.

Just as was the case with the inimitable Safire, Lederer’s books are acknowledged on a cover note as being, ‘not for everyone’ … though with nearly fifty titles to his credit, one would think that any reader should find some book or other in Lederer’s oeuvre to his liking. For the purposes of this review, however, we will stick to the considerable qualities to be found in the pages of ‘Challenging Words…’

Here you will be treated to a primer on spelling, linguistic curiosities, wordplay … and included are even a number of delightful erudite quizzes on all those categories and more. As author John Vorhaus has observed, “When I picture Richard Lederer’s mind, I see leprechauns with lexicons. Man, there’s a lot going on in there!”

I would question one aspect of this little jewel of a book, however. The title of the work is ‘Challenging Words for Smart People,’ but in actuality that banner is a bit pretentious. After all, what criteria are used to determine who is a ‘smart person’? And exactly what degree of intelligence makes one a ‘smart person’? A better way of defining Lederer’s book as it relates to intellect (it seems to me) would be to state that one is quite likely to become a smarter person (at least in terms of understanding our English language) for having read it.

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Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of a dozen novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His newest book, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Ladouceur’s recently completed thriller, THE SOUTHWICK INCIDENT, is due next month. It involves a radicalized Yale student and his CIA pursuers. Mr. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - SMITHTOWN FOIL GRADE "B" ISLANDIA "F"

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

                                                By Karl Grossman

Smithtown: B

That’s the score of the Town of Smithtown in the extraordinary investigation conducted by the Press Club of Long Island (PCLI) on compliance by 195 governments and government agencies on Long Island with the New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). 

“We emailed our request in two parts to the town clerk. The town scored points for emailing the minutes on the same day that we requested them and acknowledges the request for the other documents a day after it was made,”  stated the “Open Records Report Card” issued by PCLI.  “The town also got points for email its payroll list.”

The report card went on that Smithtown “lost a point for not providing a written FOIL policy, which we later found in the town code. It got a point in the helpfulness category for its speedy reply and having information on its website on how to file a FOIL request.”

FOIL, enacted in 1974, is the main state law seeking what these days is termed “transparency” in government. It’s a state version of the U.S Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which was signed into law in 1966. Counties, cities, towns, villages, among other governmental entities are legally considered “creatures” of a state and must abide by the Freedom of Information statute in that state. The probe of how governments and government agencies on Long Island are following FOIL was conducted by journalist Tim Bolger, Freedom of Information chair for PCLI.

The average grade for Long Island governments and agencies was a C. Suffolk County government received a C+ in the investigation.

As for villages in the Town of Smithtown, Nissequogue received a B and the Village of the Branch a D.

Said the report card regarding Nissequogue: “Three business days after we emailed out request to the village, it scored points when the clerk emailed its payroll list and board meeting minutes. It lost a point for not maintaining a subject matter listing….In the helpfulness category, it got a point for its speedy reply and sending the board meeting agendas that it’s not required to maintain but got no points for not having information on its website on how to file a FOIL request.”

There was a follow-up by PCLI asking for comments by all governments and government agencies on their ratings. Nissequogue Village Clerk Maryjane Kenney said: “Hopefully, this information will help in raising our score.”  

As for the Village of The Branch, “Nine business days after we emailed our request to the village, its clerk wrote back to acknowledge it and note that the 17 pages of documents will cost $4.25. After we mailed the check, the village scored points for sending its payroll list and board meeting minutes,” said the report card. “It got a half point for partially emailing its response. It got a half point for its response time. It got a half point because we had to follow up once for missing documents in its initial reply. It lost a point for neither providing a written FOIL policy nor maintaining a subject matter listing. It got a point in the helpfulness category for having information on its website on how to file a FOIL request.”

Mayor Mark Delaney of The Branch was not happy with its grade: His comment: “If you or your organization is looking to grade municipalities on transparency then I would give yours an ‘F’ as we hold advertised public meetings regularly (which I have never seen you at), we have office hours where you can come and ask any question you like (again to my knowledge you have never availed yourself of that) and my cell phone number is on the website for anyone to use (I have never received a call from you that I am aware of). Utilizing FOIL requests instead of simply “showing up” is certainly within your rights but puts an unnecessary burden on a part time office staff that, like the rest of us in small village government, are largely volunteers. We would prefer to spend our time serving our residents and I think they would agree. I would argue that our residents enjoy a level of transparency that county and state government are simply incapable of.”

(The Town of Smithtown “did not respond to a request for comment on its grade,” said the report card.)

Receiving an F was a village just to the south of Smithtown—Islandia, in northern Islip Town. Said the report card: “After we emailed our request twice, sent a copy by mail and called, the village sent a letter indicating that we would receive a response in 20 days, but that deadline passed without an update. For that, the village lost a point for response time, lost another point because we had to follow up more than three times, and, because the lack of response was considered a denial, it lost another point because we had to file an appeal in which it neither provided a written denial nor identified its appeals officer….The village did not respond to a request for comment on its grade.”

On a personal note: I am very proud of this investigation by PCLI. In 1974, I led the founding of the press club, now one of the biggest chapters in the Society of Professional Journalists, and was its first president. I moved on this after reading an article about a reporter jailed for not divulging a source. I thought there was a need for the excellent journalists on Long Island to get together in the cause of freedom of the press and the media’s role to watchdog power. A sterling example of this is the FOIL investigation by PCLI.

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.

"We Ain't Gonna Take It" 2017 The Public Finds It Voice

“Oh we’re not gonna take it. No, we ain’t gonna take it. Oh we’re not gonna take it anymore. We’ve got the right to choose it.There ain’t no way we’ll lose it. This is our life, this is our song” We’re not gonna take it, Dee Snyder, Twisted Sister 1984

America today is very different from the way it was in 1984 and yet the words written by Dee Snyder in 1984 seem to fit 2017 perfectly. With every new day comes  a news story that motivates people to take action be it speaking out at a town hall meeting, rallying or marching. People who have never spoken out at a public hearing are showing up to question and share their opinions with elected officials.

Intergovernmental Relations spokesperson John Marafino discussing the County Executive’s position on bill 1190A public hearing on legislation presented by Suffolk County Executive Bellone was before the Suffolk County Legislature Tuesday afternoon. The legislation (1190), an attempt to assess a fee on public gatherings to cover police costs, drew people from all walks of life young, old, from eastern and western Suffolk. Fifteen speakers with little to no advance notice about the public hearing showed up, waited their turn and spoke with confidence about their opposition to the proposed legislation.

Protest outside Renaissance Technologies in SetauketOn March 24 the North Country Peace Group (NCPG) held a rally on 25A in front of Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund investment management firm (RT) in Setauket. According to the NCPG,  “The North Country Peace Group organized the event to question the connections between Robert Mercer, co-CEO of Renaissance, Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s chief advisor and former Breitbart News executiv, President Trump and local Congressman Lee Zeldin – and what appears to be their shared role in implementing Mercer’s ultra- conservative, “alt-right vision and agenda for America.” Approximately seventy people walked from Bennetts Road to the Renaissance Technologies entrance on 25A carrying signs decrying the relationship between big money and government policy. In a press release the group said they were “Outraged by a local billionaire’s influence over the U.S. government and the social and economic direction of their country.” This week, according to Newsday, a rally was held outside Robert Mercer’s home in Smithtown. 

Congressman Zeldin’s Patchogue office Healthcare rallyCongressman Zeldin’s Patchogue office Repeal Obamacare marchersCongressman Lee Zeldin has been the subject of much of the angst of activists concerned about his position on the Affordable Health Care Act, Planned Parenthood, and President Trump’s agenda. Rallies have been held outside his Patchogue office and protestors have made appearances at events where Zeldin was in attendance. Constituents unsuccessfuly demanded Zeldin host a town hall meeting. The Congressman hosted a telephone town hall meeting. 

In 2017 people are not wringing their hands and whining, they are active. Receiving letters, post cards, phone calls and petitions is the new norm for elected officials. Congressman Peter King reportedly deleted comments from his facebook page. 

It is not only opposition that is mobilizing. On March 4th there was a pro-Trump rally on Veterans Highway in Hauppauge. Recently The Hill reported that the Mercer group will be running a $1M pro-Trump ad blitz to highlight President Trumps accomplishments.

Does speaking out work? It did at the Suffolk County public hearing where the legislation was tabled and legislators expressed their opposition.  Congress’ attempt to gut the office that investigates ethics was met with public outrage and resulted in the proposal being dropped. The Trump administration recently pulled legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Health Care Act after hundreds of thousands of people contacted their Congressperson with concerns.

Speaking out is as American as it gets, think American Revolution.  As one gentleman said at the Suffolk County Legislature public hearing, “Ignore your rights and they will go away”. As Dee Snyder wrote “We got the right to choose it, ain’t no way we’ll lose it.” In 2017 regular Americans have found their voice.

St. James Native Alexa DeAngelis Named Fulbright Scholar

Harbor Country Day School Alumna Alexa DeAngelis Named Fulbright Scholar

St. James native one of 11 Fulbright research scholars to study in Italy

Alexa DeAngelisSt. James, New York.  Alexa DeAngelis, a member of the 2008 graduating class of Harbor Country Day School and a graduate of St. Anthony’s High School and Georgetown University, has been granted a prestigious Fulbright scholarship to study cancer research at Sapienza-Università di Roma in Rome, beginning in October 2017. 

As a biochemistry major at Georgetown, Alexa was a member of the chemistry club and of the Georgetown University Research Opportunities Program. She also minored in Italian, studied abroad in Florence and took courses in economics and mathematics, among other subjects. She graduated Cum Laude from Georgetown in May 2016. 

Alexa credits her time at Harbor Country Day, St. Anthony’s and Georgetown as instrumental to being awarded such an outstanding honor as the Fulbright grant: “Probably one of the biggest influences in my life and work ethic comes from Harbor’s motto, ‘Sine Labore Nihil’ – ‘Without work, nothing.’ I definitely had it taught to me at a young age that anything worth having requires hard work. I still reflect on that often, and it gives me motivation to put in the extra effort in everything I do.”

Alexa continues, “And my college experience was nothing short of incredible, in large part because of the environment at Georgetown. I learned just as much, if not more, from my friends as I did in my classes.” Alexa says her immersive college education perfectly suited her “wonderful problem of being interested in too many things.” 

Throughout her academic career, Alexa’s relentless spirit and ambition has extended far beyond her classwork. While a student at St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington, she participated in the Student Ambassador Program, the Friar Quest Research Program and served as co-editor of the school yearbook, among her many other extracurricular activities. She also was a member of the National Honor Society, Math Honor Society and French Honor Society. Alexa was also actively involved with Relay For Life, an American Cancer Society program, for several years, even serving on its executive board for three years while at Georgetown. A current research technician at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Alexa is looking forward to using the Fulbright grant to further explore the area of cancer research in Rome.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Alexa and of everything she has achieved since she graduated from Harbor,” said Harbor Country Day School Head of School, John Cissel. “When she was a student here, she never stopped asking questions and exploring possibilities. I’m not at all surprised to see that she’s reached such a high level of success at this point in her life. I’m quite sure that this is just the beginning of even greater accomplishments for Alexa.”

As a Fulbright recipient, Alexa joins a prestigious group of awardees, including actor John Lithgow, composer Philip Glass, opera singer Renee Fleming and economist Joseph Stiglitz. Since the United States Congress created the Fulbright Program in 1946, more than 360,000 individuals from around the world have participated in the program. Roughly 8,000 grants are awarded each year, involving more than 160 countries worldwide. 

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the largest U.S. exchange program offering opportunities for students and young professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide. The student program currently awards nearly 2,000 grants annually in all fields of study. Alexa received one of only 11 grants given out this year in the “research” category for Italy.

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - Access To Information Important To Free Society

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

The Press Club of Long Island (PCLI) has conducted an unprecedented investigation into compliance by 195 governments and government agencies on Long Island with the New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).
            FOIL, enacted in 1974, is the key state law seeking what these days is widely called “transparency” in government. It’s a state version of the U.S Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) signed into law on, meaningfully, the Fourth of July, Independence Day, 1966.   

FOIL declares that “a free society is maintained when government is responsive and responsible to the public, and when the public is aware of governmental actions. The more open a government is with its citizenry, the greater the understanding and participation of the public in government. As state and local government services increase and public problems become more sophisticated and complex and therefore harder to solve, and with the resultant increase in revenues and expenditures, it is incumbent upon the state and its localities to extend public accountability wherever and whenever feasible. The people’s right to know the process of governmental decision-making and to review the documents and statistics leading to determinations is basic to our society.”

Counties, cities, towns, villages, among other governmental entities are considered “creatures” of a state, so they must abide by the Freedom of Information statute in that state.
            The investigation into how governments and government agencies on Long Island are following FOIL was conducted by journalist Tim Bolger, Freedom of Information chair for PCLI.
            It is a very mixed picture. PCLI has issued an “Open Records Report Card” of its findings available in full online at http://www.pcli.org/open-records-report-card/
            Some governments and agencies were so good in compliance with FOIL that they received an A and some even an A+ by PCLI. Some were so bad that they received an F or D-.”
            The “Open Records Report Card” provides a detailed explanation in every case.
            Almost two-thirds failed to respond to requests for public records before the deadline. Records requested included payroll lists containing titles and salaries of employees, and copies of policies in responding to a records request, required under FOIL. 
             The average grade for Long Island governments and agencies was a C. 
          “”If the Long Island governments and agencies we tested were high school students with a cumulative grade of a C, they would not be getting into the college of their choice,” commented Mr. Bolger. “Many local officials are frequently quoted touting their commitment to transparency, but what we found is that actions don’t always match the buzzwords.”

PCLI is a chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the largest journalism organization in the United States. The project was the biggest in the history of PCLI since it was founded in 1974. 

Mr. Bolger identified himself as a member of the press (although anyone can make use of FOIL and FOIA) and his requests were mostly made via email except in the cases of agencies for which no email address could be found. In those instances, he mailed requests.
               Mr. Bolger noted that PCLI stopped short of taking nonresponsive agencies to court to ask a judge to compel them to release public documents, which is the next step under FOIL when an appeal of a records request denial is itself denied. Under FOIL, a judge can award attorney’s fees in such cases to the plaintiffs, should the case be decided in their favor. Judges sometimes order non-compliant agency staffers to take FOIL “refresher” courses conducted by the state Committee on Open Government, which also regularly publishes advisory opinions on FOIL issues brought to its attention.
              Suffolk County government received a C+ in the investigation. It “scored better than Nassau” which received a D+.  Both the offices of the county clerk and the clerk of the Suffolk County Legislature received an A+.
              Regarding the county clerk, the “Open Records Report Card” stated that “it got a point for its response time” which is 20 days under FOIL. Similarly, for the legislature’s clerk: “five days after we emailed our request, we received a letter of acknowledgment via certified mail.”

On the other hand, the county’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council “designed to foster cooperation and improve decision-making across agencies within the county’s criminal justice system” received an F. The explanation: “We sent our request to the office, but got no reply. When we filed an appeal based on the lack of response…our appeal was denied on the grounds that we didn’t file it within 30 days…Then, after we refiled the request and the office again didn’t respond, we filed another appeal, this time within the deadline, but the appeal was denied a second time.””
               More on the PCLI’s “Open Records Report Card” next week including how towns and villages in Suffolk did.