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wMelissa's AP stories |
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Here are my stories whose links are no longer available. Only the ones with bylines are included here, for the non-bylined ones that I found more interesting, go to melswar.blogspot.com. Thanks! Let me know what you think!
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wWednesday, January 05, 2005 |
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Babies welcome at special screenings
BY MELISSA MANSFIELD=
Associated Press Writer=
RHINEBECK, N.Y. (AP) _ Monte Romero sat on his mother's lap, looking up at the movie playing on the big screen and chomping on popcorn. After a few moments, he rubbed his eyes, hopped back out into the aisle and went exploring. The 2-year-old stopped and shouted, "Go!" while pointing to the screen, then returned to his mother.
Nobody shushed him. No rolled eyes or piercing stares accused Monte's mother Marika of ruining "Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst" by bringing along a toddler.
"See why you can't bring him to the mall?" Marika said, scooping him up onto her lap again. "He gets very excited."
The Romeros were at a "Bring Your Own Baby" movie at Upstate Films. Joining small movie houses and national theater chains, the Rhinebeck theater has begun to show special screenings just for parents and children.
The first-run films are the same ones the theater offers the rest of the week. Patrons can pick up a bottle of ginger ale or root beer, a homemade cookie or popcorn with real butter. When the movie starts, the lights dim, but do not turn off entirely. The soundtrack is loud enough to hear, soft enough for babies to sleep through.
Marika Romero recalled bringing Monte to a recent screening of "Ray," about music legend Ray Charles, at a regular theater. She hoped he would sleep if he got bored.
"Once the first band started, he went `Drums, mama! Drums!'" she said.
The two spent the rest of the movie outside with the carpet sweepers.
"I do miss the big screen," she sighed, as she waited for the matinee to start.
Upstate Films has shown three "Bring Your Own Baby" movies so far, with hopes of continuing the program through the next year. Parents pay regular matinee admission; the babies get in for free.
"The people who come are really happy," said Steve Leiber, who co-founded the nonprofit arts organization with his wife Dede in 1972. There is no one to say `Shhhh ... be quiet.'"
Leiber heard of other theaters with matinees for moms, and wanted to try it. "It gives us a chance to get the people who were movie goers," before they had children.
Midwestern chain Kerasotes Theatres holds "Matinee Movie Magic for Moms (and Dads)" weekly at four of its 75 theaters, featuring a stroller valet outside the theater to help accommodate the new parents.
Loews Cineplex Entertainment launched a program called "Reel Moms," three years ago, and now operates in 20 cities. Loews spokesman John McCauley said "the moms are also able to be very current, seeing the latest movies."
Many of the moms who contact the company say they feel isolated after having children and it helps to interact with other new parents in a social setting.
"We get to bring moms together, going through the same life stage," he said.
Carrie Gonzalez, who brought her 8-month old daughter Ellie to see "What the Bleep Do We Know?" in Rhinebeck, said she and her husband, "used to go (to the movies) every week, and we don't make it out anymore."
On this day, about two dozen moms and a dad chose between two documentaries: "What the Bleep Do We Know?" a story involving quantum physics, and the Patty Hearst picture about the Symbionese Liberation Army.
"I don't necessarily want to see Aladdin," said Tara Shafer, a Rhinebeck mom who brought her 22-month-old son Reid Curran. She prefers the types of movies shown at the independent movie theater, located 105 miles north of New York City.
Bridget Doxsee and Nicole Swander, both 30, arrived at Upstate Films together, toting diaper bags and their babies bundled up in carriers. Doxsee, with 5-week-old Ella, and Swander, with 5-month-old Ethan, get together most days.
Doxsee admits she used to be annoyed with parents who went to adult movies with unruly kids.
"A regular movie? No, I wouldn't do that," she said, as Ella let out a tiny cry.
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On the Net:
Upstate Films: www.UpstateFilms.org
Loews: www.EnjoyTheShow.com
posted by
Melissa at 7:44 PM
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wMonday, January 03, 2005 |
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Jan. 2, 2005
Unique community challenges residents to make do with less
By MELISSA MANSFIELD
Associated Press Writer
ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) _ When Laura Beck and Greg Pitts realized their marriage was falling apart, one thing was clear: They would work together to maintain a loving, supportive environment for their young son, Ethan.
In June 2002, the couple had moved from Austin, Texas, to EcoVillage at Ithaca, an "intentional community" in central New York where environmentally friendly neighbors share space, meals, chores and generally look out for each other.
Today, with divorce bringing its own distinct challenges, the couple continue to live in separate homes in the community and Ethan divides his time between them. With neighbors knowing their struggles after a 16 year relationship, that makes for some awkward encounters but Beck accepts it.
"Being in the community gave us a chance to be honest," she said as she sipped a cup of tea.
Moving out was not an option when talk of separation started.
"This is all (5-year-old Ethan) knows," his mother said. "The community, they kind of hold Ethan through it. It's an extended family ... It's a constant."
Like thousands of intentional communities around the world, people come to EcoVillage knowing they will be more than homeowners and neighbors, understanding that change in a community of environmentalists means trimming the fat _ making do with less and ignoring traditional beliefs.
"I see it as a challenge," said Michelle Nolan, who has lived in EcoVillage for eight years.
"This place has a way of making it easier on people to do the right thing, environmentally speaking," she said. "When you are ready to raise the bar a little bit more for yourself, someone is always there to share information and give support."
Descended from communes, hundreds of these alternative communities are developed annually and many more go unreported, said Laird Schaub of the Fellowship for Intentional Community, a Missouri-based advocacy group.
More than 100 adults and 60 children live in EcoVillage's 60 homes, which are clustered together in two existing neighborhoods on a hill overlooking downtown Ithaca. The houses, which cost between $120,000 and $185,000, surround a sandbox and gardens where black-eyed Susans grow near mint plants and rhubarb. Cars are parked on the periphery and gravel paths snake through to front doors.
When the community was designed in 1991, residents integrated some old ideas about community-oriented housing and sustainable living. After five years of public forums and meetings with architects and environmentalists, the first residents moved in.
Families fill a single 108-cubic foot Dumpster with garbage each week, about a quarter of the amount typically generated for a development of this size. Everything else is composted on site or recycled.
"People are searching for a better way of living on the planet, and we are an example," said Liz Walker, a co-founder and director of EcoVillage.
Once construction of a third neighborhood is completed, 80 to 90 percent of the village's 175 acres will remain open space.
In general, Americans reject a commune starting up next door, but once a community is in place for a couple of years members become part of the "local social fabric," said Tim Miller, a University of Kansas religion professor and author of "The '60s Communes."
"Established societies tend to fear the 'different,'" Miller said. "Intentional communities are not the norm, and are therefore inherently suspect."
In EcoVillage at Ithaca, the common house serves as a meeting place, with shared laundry facilities, a full kitchen and a dining room where residents can gather for four weekly meals.
The neighboring West Haven Farm produces enough crops on 10 acres to feed 1,000 residents every week. With a bountiful tomato harvest, the community dinner one night included homemade hummus with tomato chunks and quinoa taboule, a wheat-less grain salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.
Linda Glaser and her daughters, 6-year-old Elisheva and 9-year-old Tzipora, sat down at a table with their neighbors, the girls munching on rice cakes with jelly. Before moving to EcoVillage, the Glaser family had been living _ unhappily, Glaser said _ in the suburbs of West Orange, N.J.
Glaser, wearing a T-shirt with the slogan, "Democracy is not a spectator sport," said there can be no better place than EcoVillage to raise children because of the focus on family. Children don't have to cross streets to play and Glaser said she hasn't once hired a baby sitter because neighbors trade tasks with each other.
"Sixty households full of mothers and grandmothers," Elisabeth Harrod said, "... you can't get away with anything."
Adults are required to work two to four hours a week on a team, each of which is responsible for chores such as cooking, maintaining outdoor spaces and cleaning the common house.
If someone wants to use Harrod's car, he or she only needs sign it out and get the keys. In return, Harrod might ask for a gallon of milk or that the neighbor fill the tank.
In Los Angeles, Eco-Village gives a discount to renters who don't own a car.
Lois Arkin got rid of her car in 1999 and discovered that many of her social interactions were connected to it _ from costs and repairs to traffic and parking. More reliant on bicycles, the Los Angeles community turned one apartment's kitchen into a bike-repair shop.
Many homes in the Ithaca community have energy efficient utilities, including smaller ovens.
Though 68-year-old Sara Pines at times wishes she had her own washer and dryer, she had a stronger desire to live in a community that appreciated her. She cleans the common house refrigerator weekly as one of her chores _ and in exchange gets her lawn mowed and snow shoveled.
Pines believes her neighbors help her avoid many problems seniors face.
"When I observe the loneliness and isolation of many seniors, I feel sad," said Pines, founder of Friendship Donations Network, a nonprofit organization that distributes food and unused items to the needy. "I wanted to be in a community that appreciated me for who I am, what I do and how I can contribute."
___
On the Net:
http://www.ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us/
posted by
Melissa at 1:28 PM
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