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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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wFriday, July 25, 2003 |
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Combining gravity and grace, school teaches art of trapeze
By MELISSA MANSFIELD
Associated Press Writer
July 25, 2003
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. (AP) _ Chalked hands visibly shaking, I stared straight ahead, knowing a glance downward would not be helpful. I focused on breathing, hoping I wouldn't hyperventilate. My head was already feeling light.
"Why am I up here again?" ran though my head as I stood 23-feet above the ground, looking out over the Trapeze Club at Stone Mountain Farm and preparing to "fly" on a trapeze.
Knees bent, toes dangling slightly over the platform, wanting to curl tight to it, I took the swinging bar with my left hand, and held my breath for the signal from instructor Megan Dwyer, who held me from behind as I leaned over the edge.
"Hep!" she said, circus talk for "do it!"
My right hand joined my left on the cool metal. I raised the bar, grasping tightly, pushed my hips forward, and was off.
I was flying.
I let out a short scream, and my arms tightened as I swung about 20 feet above the ground like a pendulum. Swinging forward and back, feeling weightless, I knew my arms couldn't hold much longer and signaled to the second instructor, David Pakenham, who held the ropes of my harness. I waited to hear another "Hep!"
I let go and fell onto the white net, grateful I went through with it, my body slowly relaxing.
Since the Trapeze Club began teaching the art of combining gravity and grace, many have willingly jumped off that platform.
"Anybody can do it," Dwyer, 35, said. Pupils of all ages, sizes and physical abilities have flown.
Even those who attend only one 2-hour session can get a lot out of it, she said. "It makes you feel that you can do things you never thought you could."
For many, once is not enough. Flying for three years, 33-year-old Lexsea Linardakis still gets the jitters when she jumps, often without a harness.
"I feel like it breaks up patterns in life, it wakes me up," she said. Before a first swing, fliers practice on a swinging bar closer to the ground. Savannah O'Malley kicked up and positioned herself as instructed _ dangling from the bar by her knees upside down.
Minutes later, the 13-year-old climbed the ladder and did it again, this time 23 feet up.
"It was scary when you had to grab the bar," she said, eager to go back up.
Pakenham said he enjoys seeing how different students progress on the trapeze.
"If it wasn't so diverse, we wouldn't be doing it. We would just be using it ourselves," he said. Pakenham, who has trained with Ringling Brothers, directs positions from the ground.
Pakenham and Dwyer also work with non-profits, youth at risk and girls' empowerment camps.
"The kids find something really special _ a sense of strength and courage," said Dwyer.
Sophia Ryzy-ryski followed Pakenham's directions and dismounted with a flip. When she was younger, she told her mom she wanted to be the girl who rides elephants in the circus. After the 13-year-old landed from herfirst try at flying, she smiled and asked, "Do you think I can be the elephant girl yet?"
Her mother, Aleta Wolfe, reassured her it would take some more practice.
Sophia's 9-year-old brother Forrest giggled a lot while hanging above the net. To him, the swinging itself wasn't the best part.
"I like climbing up the ladder," he said, "and falling, and bouncing and just laying on the net."
Dwyer compares jumping to a meditation that allows you to only focus on one thing.
"You can't keep up with your thoughts, you have to trust your body more," she explained.
Stone Mountain Farm, located 85 miles north of New York City, also has festivals, rock climbing, biofeedback counseling, and other activities.
Sarah Charlop-Powers, another artist-in-training, has seen children fearlessly try the trapeze, while athletic adults have frozen at the platform.
"It's not so much about strength," the 24-year-old said. "It's about timing and listening."
"It's just so different from everything else," she said ... and everybody dreams of flying."
^___=
On the Web:
www.trapeze-club.org
posted by
Melissa at 3:51 PM
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Bar braces for nonsmoking days ahead
By MELISSA MANSFIELD
Associated Press Writer
July 23, 2003
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ As the statewide smoking ban loomed, bar manager Michael Proctor wasn't worried about business. "Where else are they going to go?" he asked, since virtually all bars will be the same _ smoke free.
"This is a big change," Proctor, who works at the Lionheart, in Albany, said. "It's on the same level as bars becoming 21 and over."
The Lionheart hasn't always been a smoker's haven. When it first opened in 1995, owners Jerry Aumand and Eric Shilling decided to make it tobacco-free.
"We wanted to try something different," said Aumand, who has worked in the restaurant business for 11 years. Since the bar served food and was relatively small, Lionheart Blues Cafe patrons had to step outside for a cigarette.
"We had a very positive response from both nonsmokers and smokers that grew to be regulars, even though it was a little inconvenient for them," he said.
After five years, the bar closed its kitchen and put out the ashtrays.
Kelly Sayward, who was enjoying a cigarette with his tall glass of beer, said the ban won't curtail his desire to go to the bar. "I don't go out to smoke," the 25-year-old student and Army reservist said. "I can stay home and smoke a million cigarettes."
With the new anti-smoking law set to begin Thursday, Aumand was not worried about losing customers. "I have dealt with it before," he said. "It will be a greater inconvenience come wintertime when smokers have to
step outside into the cold air."
Bartender Megan Hamrahan, 26, said she still sees bar patrons smoking in New York City, where a similar workplace indoor smoking ban has officially been in effect for three months. "It's not going to fly. People are going to smoke in bathrooms and back rooms," she said.
Josh Turner, a bouncer at the downtown establishment and a self-proclaimed "jack of all trades," was concerned about security with this new ban, and smokers going in and out of the bar all night. Proctor agreed that the "levels of politeness" while implementing the new code will be delicate. Both worry about person-to-person complaints about the
law's enforcement.
As for the law itself, Turner, 25, said, "I think its an extension of government authority."
Aumand also expressed displeasure. He said, "I don't like them deciding what is best for my business and my clientele."
Eight years ago when the bar opened, skeptics scoffed but the voluntarily smoke-free experience worked. "With the trend we could see in the '90s," Shilling had said, "people were really pushing away from
unhealthy atmospheres."
Eight years later, within walking distance of the pub were a Southwestern restaurant that served drinks and had smoke-free Tuesdays, and a wine bar that smelled of wood, not smoke.
Yet Proctor, a former smoker, was worried about telling older patrons who have been smoking in bars for years that they have to step outside. He said, "Bars are a place where it's socially acceptable to engage in a
vice."
posted by
Melissa at 9:41 AM
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wThursday, July 10, 2003 |
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Monastery offers visitors window into Buddhism
By MELISSA MANSFIELD
Associated Press Writer
July 4, 2003
CARMEL, N.Y. (AP) _ The 37-foot Buddha sits atop a lotus flower, encircled by 10,000 smaller Buddha statues.
His hands _ the left index finger extended into the clenched right in a "knowledge fist" _ show this Buddha Vairocana represents the unification of compassion and wisdom.
The Chuang Yen Monastery houses this statue, the largest Buddha in the Western Hemisphere, on its 225 acres in Carmel.
With meditation programs in both English and Chinese, the monastery welcomes visitors to walk around the Seven Jewels Lake, meditate in its halls and learn about the principles of Buddhism.
Venerable Xin-Xing, a monk living at the monastery run by the Buddhist Association of the United States, emphasized the importance of meditation today.
"The people of America should meditate and cultivate compassion," he said. "When we meditate, the negative emotions will sometimes arrive. We have to transform them, then we can help other beings."
Visitors are invited to meditate with the 15 monks and nuns living on the site, and are encouraged to ask questions about the Chinese tradition of Mahayana Buddhism.
"I learned how to meditate with some assistance," John Fitzgerald said. He first visited the monastery with other students in his Tai-Chi class, but continues to return. Visiting the monastery "has opened my mind to many different aspects of life," said the 63-year-old from Yorktown Heights.
To help guests understand the principles and applications of the religion, the Great Buddha Hall has tables piled high with books ranging from "What the Buddha Taught" to "Finding Inner Peace." The books are available for visitors to take home.
The Great Buddha Hall, completed in 1997, was built around the finished Buddha statue. Photographs of the dedication, with the Dalai Lama, and the process of building the artificial marble statue adorn bulletin boards that also offer information on retreats, camps, classes and special events.
Kuan-Yin Hall, adjacent to the Great Buddha Hall, is used for daily meditations, special events and retreats. Housed inside is a porcelain statue of Kuan-Yin Bodhisattva dating back to the Ming Dynasty. The woman stands on a dragon's head, and reaches out, toward the ocean, which symbolizes compassion, according to Xin-Xing.
"What's most important," he said, "is the meaning, not the age" of the statue.
A short walk from the two halls is a larger Kuan-Yin statue beside the Seven Jewels Lake. The barefoot woman wears a smile, which Venerable Kong-Dow explained comes from the peace and happiness in her heart.
"She always appears to be smiling. Not like us who need to `say cheese' when we want to take a picture," said the 56-year-old newly ordained nun.
Within the cocoon of thick trees and underbrush, the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions relocated here from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The library holds 70,000 books on world religions, many of which are Buddhist reference books in various languages.
College students take advantage of the resource, according to volunteer Tsu-Ku Lee. He said the monastery also gets groups of senior citizens and special education students visiting the grounds. Lee said the association may build a college on the land in the future.
The monastery, 55 miles north of New York City, is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and offers vegetarian brunch on weekends.
___
If you go ...
INFORMATION: Phone (845) 225-1819 or www.baus.org
HOURS: Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., April through December; Vegetarian bunch is offered on weekends.
ADMISSION: Free. Groups of 10 or more can request a guided tour.
posted by
Melissa at 8:35 AM
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