New York City's waterfront spaces used to be heavily utilized shipping ports, but these days they've all been put to new uses.  Image from Wiki Commons

Brian Fidelman is New York City's Roving Runner-- for the duration of the summer, he's been making trips to a different neighborhood of New York City each week and writing about them in a column for the New York Times. 

It's great that the Times is putting out a column that deals with the intersection between sports, history, and politics. That is, after all, what we're all about here on Play City. 

Last week, Fidelman took a run through Red Hook, the neighborhood I worked in all summer, and noted what unbelievable changes the area has seen.  What used to be a shipping and receiving community full of dockworkers in the Civil War era is now home to many eco-friendly projects, including a community farm where local teenagers learn the skills of harvesting food and the business savvy of marketing it.

In another Times article, Jim Dwyer recounts the story of a Brooklyn teenager whose family made their living trafficking Heroin, but began working at the community farm when he learned what kind of value could be created through growing and selling food products.

Check out the series of Roving Runner articles on the Times' website and you'll get a sense for the kind of observation you can make on a neighborhood only when you take a stroll or a run through it leisurely. 

When most New Yorkers go to Red Hook, they visit the giant Ikea or the monstrous Fairway grocery store-- but do they notice the history and the local lifestyles?  Sports can help you experience spaces differently!  Go for a roving run of your own, in a neighborhood or town that you're not familiar with.  You could learn a lot!

http://www.daemen.edu/water

http://www.blueplanetrun.org

 

Run like water! Run for Water!!!

The Daemen College Water Project held it's inaugural DC*5K*4*H20 on November 16, 2008 to benefit the Daemen College Water Project to address the global water crisis!  The Daemen College Water Project was formed by the students of the Daemen College Environmental Club in conjunction with the Blue Planet Run Foundation! 

As for the race, it was a typical Buffalo beautiful, blustery, and balmy 35 degree autumn day for the first ever DC*5K*4*H2O (Daemen College 5K Run & Walk for Water). The race was put on by the Daemen College Water Project as the groups major fundraiser to provide better sanitation facilities at a community school in the village of Pulay, Guatemala. The installation of a rain catchment system with handwashing station will be directed by Agua Para La Salud, a nonprofit BPR-Peer Water Exchange Partner in Guatemala, which has successfully completed over 200 projects related to school facilities.

Over 300 runners and walkers registered for the DC*5K*4*H2O, with 250 finishers braving the weather. The course started and finished in front of Daemen College on Main Street and quickly turned ino the tree lined residential streets of Snyder, NY.

Racers found the course to be fast and flat with a water station set up at the half way point. Some intrepid spectators even made their way outside to cheer the racers along the course. The male winner was Matthew Roberts with a time of 16:41 for a very impressive 5:22m/mile pace. The first female to cross the line was Jessica Gorski with a time of 19:41. The course was heavily populated with volunteers who made sure to keep the traffic at bay and racers on track.

The entire event was planned to be as environmentally friendly as possible with runners’ race packets consisting of reusable totes instead of plastic bags. The post-race party food and drink was also served using reusable plates and glasses.

Speaking of post race party The DC*5K*4*H2O included a post race event called Water Fest. Water Fest featured a festive water themed atmosphere and fun for all. "Water" movies made by Dr. Young's Global Water Issues Class students were screened on a continuous loop. There was a Chinese Auction with a bevvy of awesome donated items. Free massage's were available to weary racers. And this was all outside the main auditorium! Inside the auditorium was plenty of seating and a beautiful array of food and drinks, inluding beer for those over 21. There were also tables set up for vendors to sell their wares. Entertainment included the classic Frank Sinatra-esque crooning of Alex Frankish. The Daemen College Step Team also put on a lively performance. The event concluded with an awards ceremony - with commemorative BPR baton/plaques going to the 1st 3 male and female finishers in 5 year increments from under 15 to over 70. The top male and female finishers also received BPR fleeces.

The event was completely organized by Daemen College students, and had over 80 volunteers. The overall project leads were; Joanna Barthelemy (Registration), Jason Gross (Oversight, Fundraising, PR), Tim Miller (WaterFest), Julie Neuhror (Marketing, PR), Amanda Townsend (Volunteers). Dr. Brenda Young was the faculty advisor and Chris Malik in the College's administration was very helpful in all aspects of planning. Through a lot of hard work and dedication the DC*5K*4*H2O raised over $6,000 for the village water project in Pulay, Guatemala. The students hope to continue the race for years to come and are in the midst of planning additional fundraisers for the spring semester!

The Daemen College Water Project was formed in the summer of 2008 at Daemen College, a small liberal arts college in Western New York, as a unique collaboration with the Blue Planet Run Foundation to help provide access to clean water to villages around the world. Daemen students are engaging in educational coursework, campus activities and fund-raising to not only increase awareness about the need for clean freshwater worldwide, but also help implement water projects in individual villages. It is hoped that similar models will be picked up by other educational institutions around the world.

Girls On The Run is an organization dedicated to using athletics to improve elementary-school aged girls' athletic abilities along with their self-confidence.  From the GOTR website, the organization's objective is to "provide a safe environment where girls can express themselves, build confidence, and learn from each other. We believe it is critical to reach girls at an early age in order to teach them these important life lessons and to prevent at-risk behavior such as eating disorders, substance abuse, depression, obesity, and adolescent pregnancies."

GOTR runs after-school programs twice a week in various towns and cities, led by dedicated athletes.  A number of GOTR's instructors also run for "Team Tiara", a fund-raising branch of the organization that uses mentors' love for running in marathons and triathlons as a way to finance the after school programs.  It's great to see mentors 'putting their money where their mouth is', so to speak, participating in the same activities that they're trying to get kids excited about.

Running is a great sport to get kids involved in because anybody can do it, and all you need is a pair of sneakers.  You don't need any special facilities either, so nobody is excluded.  If you want to run, you can run-- it doesn't matter if you don't have a lot of money, or if you can't get a ride to the field, or if you don't have a team to play with.  Girls on the Run organizes programs all around the U.S. and Canada, so check out their listings and see if it's something you'd like to get involved in-- if you're too old to enroll, you might be able to help out as a volunteer.  You could kickstart someone's lifetime of physical fitness and self-confidence.

    The presidential election is an American citizen’s big chance to participate in democracy.  Unfortunately, in our last presidential election, barely more than half of all registered voters actually made it to the polls.  There are a ton of causes near and dear to my heart, but the reality of life in America is that democratic process is supposed to be capable of judging the population’s opinion and guiding policies accordingly.  When nobody votes, it leaves our elected representative and officials without a public to answer to for their decisions.

 

A few years ago, John Williams ran across the nation.  In the process, he decided that he could make a positive impact as a teacher.  He got a job at Granville Central High School in Stem, North Carolina teaching Civics and coaching school the track team.  He and his mentor teacher, Ms. Hineline, realized that with their enthusiastic students, John’s experience running cross-country, they were equipped to do something amazing.

Run To Vote took place between June 14 and August 9 this summer, and it involved Mr. Williams and a group of 5 students traveling through the 48 continental states in a non-partisan voting drive, running a quarter mile for everyone they met who pledged to vote in November.  “People couldn’t really believe that we weren’t just working for one candidate”, said Stephanie, one of the student runners.  The goal wasn’t to sway people’s minds in one way or another, it was simply to encourage participation.

 

 

“Just because you’re not old enough to vote doesn’t mean that you still can’t have a say” Stephanie told me.  One of the other students created a poster listing the candidates’ positions on a number of issues.  Stephanie’s right—the idea of popular democracy is that when you get enough people together and inform them well, they will arrive at an intelligent decision.  As a kid, you might not be able to vote, but you can encourage your family and neighbors to get out on polling day.  The team of 5 students registered over 400 new voters during their trip, and received signatures from over 6000 registered voters pledging to exercise their voting rights.

Though they were sometimes met with disbelief, the group was warmly received by extended families, friends of friends, and people that Mr. Williams met on his first cross-country run, receiving meals and lodging.  They only had to pay for a hotel once.  Go check out the Run To Vote website and get inspired!  You don’t have to be 18 to make a difference.