Live Music Returns to Kendal: Raritan Trio Concert in the Gathering Room May 16

The Music Committee is pleased to announce that our first concert since the pandemic began will be held at 3 pm on Sunday, May 16.

Because of limited capacity in the Gathering Room, admission will be by ticket only. A sign-up book will be available on the shelf in the Activities Alcove on May 1. 

The concert is open to residents only – no guests or aides.  It will also be broadcast live over Channel 970 so residents may enjoy it in their apartments.

Formed in January 2019 at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, the trio consists of pianist Alexander Bui, violinist Yu Ouyang, and cellist Jiun-Ru Wang. Born in three different countries, the artists combine their individual cultures and personalities to create wonderful music together. The trio will perform Beethoven’s Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70, No. 1, (“Ghost”) and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor.

In lieu of a reception, audience members may visit with the trio in the Gathering Room following the concert.

Kendal and the COVID Regulations

Life at Kendal is never boring. Even with the dark cloud of Covid-19, we keep moving ahead. With the increasing liberalization under the rules NY State has imposed upon us and the common sense that Management has used, things are beginning to open up ever so slightly to make our lives a bit easier and more enjoyable.

We recently received the following information from Management:

Kendal “news” on re-opening and moving forward to the next normal...

Fitness Center and Pool – New Opening Times – Beginning Monday, May 3:

Fitness Center: Monday – Friday 8:30 am – 3:00 pm

Pool: Monday – Friday 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

(Note: both areas are closed from noon – 1 pm for lunch)

Changes in Dining Room Use – Beginning Monday, April 26:

Formal Dining Room Monday – Saturday Adirondack Residents / Breakfast*

Transitional Area Monday - Saturday Staff Use / Breakfast and Lunch

*Note: this is an addition to the Adirondack lunch program.

Kendal Forum

A new series of monthly Zoom meetings has been announced by Kendal Executive Director Pamela Klapproth.

The Kendal Forum focuses on the work of our Executive plus that of the various departments. The second in the series will feature the work of the marketing staff and takes place on Monday, April 26, at 1:00 pm.

All residents with email have received an invitation.  Advance registration is required for this webinar through a link in the invitation.  After registering, registrants will receive an email confirmation with information on how to join the event.

Kendal Concerts Resume

With Kendal’s excellent record in keeping residents safe from Covid-19 and the liberalization of New York State rules pertaining to crowd size, the Music Committee has begun planning for concerts. However, in-person attendance will be limited.

The following dates have been announced:

Live Concert in the Gathering Room (limited seating) Sunday, May 16, at 3:00 pm: The Raritan Trio of the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. Members: Vietnamese-American pianist Alexander Bui; Chinese violinist Yu Ouyang; and Taiwanese cellist Jiun-Ru Wang.

Ticket sign-up sheet available on May 1.

Sunday Concerts on the Terrace (limited seating under the tent)

June 13 and 27, July 11 and 25, August 8 and 22, from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm: The Jazz Forum All Stars will perform six jazz concerts.

Courses: May, June, July

The Education Committee has announced the following courses for May, June, and July. All will be on Zoom starting at 2 pm.

May

New York City: From Colonial Outpost to Capital of the World

Instructor: Professor Edward Berenson. Four lectures on May 4, 11, 18, and 25.

June

Fundamentals of Criminal Law

Instructor: Professor Bennett L. Gershman, Pace University School of Law

This series will explore some of the central features of the American criminal justice system. A major focus will be on how prominently the U.S. Constitution figures in the investigation and prosecution of crimes and the limits it imposes on the enforcement officials.

June 8: Fundamental Features of Criminal
Law

June 15: Criminal Investigations

June 22: Introduction to the Criminal Justice
System

June 29: The Criminal Trial: role of the Judge,
Prosecutor, Defense Attorney, Jury

July

August Wilson – Chronicler of the Age

Instructor: Professor Kate Farrington

Few playwrights have achieved something as ambitious as August Wilson’s Century Cycle – a series of ten plays chronicling the experiences of African-American families and communities across the 20th century.

This course examines four of these plays, tracking his use of music, his perspective on generational growth of stagnation, and the myriad forms of both love and violence that shape his onstage worlds.

July 6: Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1986)

July 13: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1982)

July 20: The Piano Lesson (1987)

July 27: Fences (1985)

To sign up for courses, contact Fran Kelly.

Native American Life

On Thursday, April 29, at 10:00 am the Contemporary Issues Discussion Group (CIDG) will have as its lead discussant Jerry C. Straus, a noted authority on Native American life.

Mr. Straus has dedicated his career to representing Indian tribes in Washington for more than 50 years. His topic will be “American Indians – Tragic History and Bright Future…”

In 2012, Mr. Straus was named Lawyer of the Year in Native American Law by Best Lawyers. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the D.C. chapter of the Native American Bar Association in 2017.

Mr. Straus will also discuss his recent book Call me Mahtos: A Celebration of My Fifty-Seven Years as an Attorney for American Indian Tribes.

If you are not on the CIDG list but wish to receive an invitation, please contact Gene DuBow.

The History of Rockwood Hall

An interesting lecture about Kendal’s next-door neighbor Rockwood Hall will take place on Monday, April 26, at 7:30 pm via Zoom.

Begun in 1886, Rockwood Hall, adjacent to present-day Kendal, was home to the William Rockefeller family. It consisted of over 200 acres, with winding carriage trails and a 204-room Gilded Age mansion. Frederick Law Olmsted designed and laid out the park-like landscape.

When William Rockefeller died in 1922, the mansion was turned into a country club. Later, the Rockefeller family bought it back, and the mansion was demolished in 1941. In 1999, the Rockefellers donated the land to New York State and, fortunately for us, it became part of Rockefeller State Park Preserve.

On Monday evening, April 26, Peter Iskenderian, Park Manager of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, will share the history of Rockwood Hall from the time of Native Americans to the present. Iskenderian was the former manager of the Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park and assistant manager of the Rockefeller Preserve from 2004-2007 when he left to become Moreau Lake Park’s manager. He assumed his current position in 2019.

Residents with email will receive a Zoom invitation to the lecture. Be sure to join and learn a little more about our historic neighbor.

A Coffee Chat with Pamela

This is a great opportunity for residents to chat informally with Pamela Klapproth, Kendal’s Executive Director

A Coffee Chat with Pamela, which is open to all residents, will take place on Tuesday, April 20 at 10:00 am in the transition dining area of the Bistro.

Please register with Jordan DiPaolo.

Saturday Opera

Kendal’s Opera Group is grateful that attendance limits have been eased, allowing up to 32 persons in the Gathering Room. Beginning Saturday, April 17, at 1:00 pm, open screenings of operas on DVD will resume and continue weekly unless announced otherwise.

The opera this Saturday is Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos (with English subtitles) in a 1989 performance of the Metropolitan Opera. The principal singers are Jessye Norman (Ariadne), Kathleen Battle (Zerbinetta), James King (Bacchus), and Tatiana Troyanos (the Composer); James Levine conducts.

For background and story of this work, please consult the Music Library on the “balcony” of Mary Powell overlooking the reception area, or Wikipedia, a valuable information source.

Please wear your masks and arrive a few minutes before 1 pm to claim the best seats in the house.

Book Review - "Amnesty"

The Kendal Residents’ Website is delighted to offer you another book review by resident Hope Cooke.

It follows:

“Recent acquisitions of the KoH library include Amnesty by Booker Prize winner Aravind Adiga, Scribner 2020.

“I found myself literally holding my breath reading the last chapters of this taut thriller which also happens to be the most powerful tale of the ‘undocumented’ I have ever read despite the blooming of the canon as desperate global migration grows. In the case of Amnesty, the undocumented protagonist is not one of the world’s most wretched refugees by the harsh standards of today’s asylum rules, simply a lower middle-class Sri Lankan who happened to be on the wrong side of its civil war, a Tamil casually tortured in the cause. Danny, as Dhananjaya Rajaratnam is known, is not one of the miserable boat people trying to reach Australia by sea who get stuck for their lifetime on miserable ministate islands paid by the Aussies to defend its shores, but a student with funding to buy his way out of danger in Sri Lanka by enrolling in an Australian college sight unseen.

“The college turns out to be a scam, so Danny forfeits his student visa for life without papers after failing an official refugee screening. Forced to work at menial jobs off the books due to his lack of legal status, Danny, despite his penchant for libraries, his middle-class Australian girlfriend, his essentially knowing, cosmopolitan views, has to live as a chameleon dodging eye contact with brown skinned Sydney dwellers who might sense his illicit status, kowtowing to employers who know his vulnerability, pretending he’s a vegetarian to fit his girlfriend’s idealized notion of him. Even the vacant but relentless stare of a (blue-eyed) baby on a tram frightens him. Even non-human beings connected with the State have this power: the flare of a police horse’s nostrils a danger signal to his limbic brain.

“Midpoint in this slim novel Danny has the misfortune not just to witness a homicide, or to believe he does, but to alert the possible killer (who is known to him) that he has witnessed the deed. His already hypervigilant brain grows fervid with fear as he races through the city haunted by a possible killer as well as an unforgiving government with possibly the harshest migration laws of any ‘western’ land. The exquisitely observed detail of Sydney’s neighborhoods that Danny runs through is like Leopold Bloom’s tour of Dublin on speed combined with a bad acid trip. (I’m told.) Through his heightened subjectivity the city undulates into a terrifying inscape lending no shelter. There is a Dostoevskyan twist however—as much as Danny wants to hide, his middle class morality wants to see justice served or, even more deeply, some part of him wants to assume agency. BUT, if he turns the murderer in, the authorities will learn whom he is: not a civic do-gooder, not even a man, simply an ‘illegal’—what should he do? His pursuer can’t be far; the taunting cellphone calls come closer and closer…even writing this now I can scarcely breathe.

TEN STARS out of FIVE.”