The lower Manhattan community board 1 chair, Community Board 1, voted overwhelmingly to support the Islamic cultural center to be built two blocks away from Ground Zero when the project was presented to our board in May.

I stand by my vote.

That said, the project has now become a symbol of discord and dissidence, the white hot emotional center of a volcanic shouting match. Raw nerves have been exposed on both sides of an ugly religious and ethnic divide - and the gulf between supporters and opponents has only grown with each protest, each argument, each accusation.

Both sides claim the moral high ground - sustained on the one side by religious freedom and the other by preserving the sanctity of hallowed ground.

What started out as largely a local issue has now been overtaken by national partisan politics, with national politicians, many with their own agendas, weighing in on what is best for this community.
 
Now it is very clear that something must be done to address this dissension and to move to heal, not divide. I believe it is still possible to bridge the gap without compromising the core principles of what this project is about - not by moving the mosque further away from the site of the attacks, but by bringing other faiths in.

The mosque and community center near Ground Zero should not be enshrined as a battleground of discord, but rather be transformed into an inter-faith center for reconciliation and peace-containing nondenominational houses of worship to be shared by Muslims, Christians and Jews. Its purpose - to bring us closer together, not split us further apart - could be reaffirmed in modified plans.

Under this idea, there could be, as currently planned, two floors for the mosque - but there could also be a floor dedicated to an inter-faith, nondenominational space. In addition, a major national or local organization dedicated to spreading religious tolerance could establish a meaningful presence there. There are many such reputable groups that would surely welcome the opportunity to help heal.

The project, open to all, would celebrate all faiths and inter-faith understanding.

Government, of course, has no role, and should have no role, in determining the use of an as-of-right project (meaning, a project such as this that requires no city zoning approvals to be built.) This is particularly true when a religious use is involved. Only the developer of the project can and should decide what the use of the project will be.

With that said, the dissension surrounding this issue is simply not productive. We need to try to overcome the divide on this issue and teach the next generation how New York and America unified after 9/11 and how this country was founded on respect for all religions, freedom of religion and the right and ability for religions to peacefully co-exist in the melting pot that characterizes New York and America.
 
It may be hard for many to imagine in the wake of 9/11 that we can rise above gut feelings of pain and retribution. But we can take the harrowing horrors of 9/11 and bridge our differences, without erasing them.

There actually already is such a facility dedicated to bringing us all together. It exists on the grounds of the Pentagon, which was also attacked on 9/11. As part of an effort to heal and recover, an interfaith chapel was built on that hallowed ground. Its construction stirred no controversy. It is a place where Christians, Muslims and Jews can and do worship. 
It is a small interfaith chapel, but it shines as a bright beacon.

How inspiring it would be for a similar beacon of hope to shine in lower Manhattan. We are the survivors of two attacks by terrorists. We need to reach out once again to our better selves, find common ground that reasserts our commonality of purpose and that unifies our community, our city and our nation.

The proposed Park51 cultural center offers many benefits, including recreational, cultural, educational and meeting facilities that our growing lower Manhattan community needs. And a floor or two devoted to celebrate Jewish, Christian and Muslim worship in a nondenominational setting would not simply help to overcome divisions, but serve as a model to the world of the resourcefulness, harmony and strength of this city, and this nation of immigrants we call America.

Menin is chairperson of Community Board 1 in lower Manhattan.

There is buried treasure in lower Manhattan, hidden in a public place—some $275 million to be exact, not in the ground, but on the books of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

Provided by Congress for the post-Sept. 11 rebuilding effort, the money is gathering dust instead of generating jobs, housing or schoolrooms.

The very existence of the hoard has only come to light as a result of an accounting demanded by Community Board 1 to determine what the LMDC has spent, on which projects, and what funds remain unallocated.

At its inception, the LMDC was given the task of distributing $2.783 billion in Community Development Block Grants. Although a relatively small percentage of the total remains, $275 million is hardly a rounding error.

These are taxpayer dollars, and they are not at work. The public has the right to know why money explicitly intended to stimulate redevelopment languishes as though in a miser’s till. And the LMDC should be obliged to divert funding to more pressing needs if original plans no longer warrant the investment.

Here is the LMDC’s accounting of unspent funds:

$150 million to $170 million for utility expenses: Congress funneled money to the LMDC to distribute to utility companies to repair damaged infrastructure, but approximately $150 million to $170 million remains unallocated. This money could be appropriated to launch a project such as the Performing Arts Center, which would create immediate construction jobs downtown and fill in an important missing piece of the revitalization plan for the neighborhood.

$28.6 million for cultural programming: This pot includes almost $10 million initially allocated to the Drawing Center, which apparently no longer intends to relocate to lower Manhattan. These and the remaining funds should be reallocated to any number of productive cultural purposes.

$4 million in economic-development (small-business) funds: Many small businesses are struggling to overcome adverse impacts from the long period of post-Sept. 11 rebuilding and reconstruction activity. Their needs are particularly urgent, given today’s challenging economy, and the funds—which the LMDC transferred to the city through a subrecipient agreement—should be made available promptly through small-business loans and grants.

$12 million for affordable housing in lower Manhattan: Downtown faces an acute need for affordable housing, and these funds could be used to develop sites, including World Trade Center Tower 5, under the 80/20 affordable-housing program.

$3 million for education: These funds, which the LMDC transferred to the city, should be immediately allocated to our local public schools, which are threatened with crippling cuts in the upcoming budget round.

$14.3 million in the Fulton Corridor grant program: This program for retail-shop owners to improve their storefronts has only paid out $270,000 to date. We are told that some $2 million will be allocated to cover cost overruns for parks in the area, but the limited use of the funds thus far may indicate insufficient demand. Unneeded funds should be reallocated to other transit improvements.

The balance of the unspent pot is made up of $30.8 million for transportation improvements, $37 million for economic development and $5.64 million to cover administrative fees. Again, are these funds still needed, or can they be utilized elsewhere?

According to the recent U.S. census, lower Manhattan is the fastest-growing residential neighborhood in New York City. Our booming population growth has far outpaced the development of schools, community centers and other needed facilities—and we just lost a major medical facility. School overcrowding has reached a crisis point, and after-school and other needed programs are threatened by proposed budget cuts.

In the face of such urgent unfulfilled needs, it makes no sense for the LMDC or the city to sit on these funds—for years. It is time, indeed long overdue, to act now.

Julie Menin is chairperson of Community Board 1 and a board member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

I helped find $150 million, and it belongs to you - that is, to all New Yorkers. It is rare in any government endeavor to unexpectedly find funds that are allocated but may not be needed, but that is exactly what has occurred at the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., on whose board I sit.

Several weeks ago, as chairwoman of Community Board 1, I asked the development corporation for a public accounting of any unutilized funds related to the project. Corporation President David Emil indicated that his agency’s board had indeed allocated approximately $150 million to go to utilities such as Con Edison and Verizon for emergency work to repair damaged infrastructure and restore service after 9/11 and to conduct permanent repair work.

The money was set aside as part of a larger pot intended for a series of purposes - but that has not been used by the utilities.

These funds should be reapplied - immediately - to the redevelopment of lower Manhattan. Specifically, they should be used to jump-start the construction of a world-class performing arts center. This is a project that will create construction jobs, attract needed new businesses to downtown and leave a legacy to the next generation. And the ideal site is about to be ready: We can build it on the former site of the Deutsche Bank building- 130 Liberty St. - with minimal delay.

Why? Because the demolition of 130 Liberty St. is finally expected to be completed this year. Rather than have a blighted plot of land where that tower once stood, we need a plan.

Some want to develop the performing arts center at what’s called “Site 1b,” which is where it was set to go under the original master plan. But that site cannot be developed until 2017 - at best - because the work on the transit hub designed by Santiago Calatrava, which is seriously behind schedule, must occur first. As we know, delaying the construction of key components of the World Trade Center site may mean that they are never built. Waiting years to build there does not make sense when we could allocate the unutilized $150 million now on a site that is ready.

In cities all across the country, cultural centers have revitalized neighborhoods. For example, in San Francisco, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art have transformed a formerly blighted downtown district. In Los Angeles, the Walt Disney Concert Hall has sparked a commercial, retail and cultural resurgence.

The landmark new performing arts center could have the same effect in lower Manhattan, especially if we secure additional world-renowned cultural anchor tenants that would complement the Joyce Theater - the dance institution that’s already signed on to be part of the project.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. recently completed a feasibility study on Tower 5 as a site for the project. It has not been publicly released, and it should be now, as the public has a right to know if we can indeed build the center there. But I have seen the document, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it supports the case for putting the performance arts center on the former Deutsche Bank site.

The study says it would cost $325 million to build the center there. Given that the development corporation has already allocated $50 million to the project, the additional $150 million would get us most of the way there.

In contrast, development of the performing arts center at Site 1b, where it was originally planned, has been estimated to cost $450 million, and the site will not even be ready until 2017. Given the tortured history of the WTC site, it is likely that by that time, the costs will have increased significantly, and with each passing year, it will only become more difficult to build.

The development corporation board, Gov. Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg should get behind applying the $150 million in “found money” to seed the immediate construction of a landmark performing arts center downtown. It’s a way to get a vital piece of the WTC development completed and help a key part of the city’s economy at the same time.

At a time when we have an unemployment rate in New York City of 10%, there is no excuse not to move forward with a shovel-ready project, helping to draw residents, workers and businesses and providing a much-needed boost to businesses.

Build this project now.

In the words of Coretta Scott King, “Martin Luther King Jr. Day is not only for celebration and remembrance, education and tribute, but above all a day of service … it is a day of volunteering to feed the hungry, rehabilitate housing, tutor those who can’t read, mentor at-risk youngsters, console the broken-hearted and a thousand other projects for building the beloved community of his dream.”

In the wake of this week’s tragic earthquake in Haiti, I can almost hear Dr. King’s voice asking us to serve this Monday on the day that we remember this great man’s life.  On the news, we have been looking at images of the incredible destruction and sadness, from families who have lost their homes, to families and friends who have lost their loved ones. For this magnitude of devastation to hit Haiti, already the fourth poorest country in the world and the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, it is incomprehensible.

Monday, we celebrate the life and legacy of a man who taught us not to fear the incomprehensible in life, but to realize our power to make a difference.  We know what Dr. King would tell us.  He would tell us that all of us can do something to help.  That each of us must reach out to those in need. He would help us realize our incredible power in the face of life’s most uncontrollable moments.  That power is the gift of service.

It should not take a tragedy of this week’s earthquake in Haiti to wake us all up from our own personal day to day challenges, to look beyond ourselves, and be moved to ask “how we can help.”

It has always been my dream that we would help children to realize we all have this power through service to make the world stronger and to lessen another’s suffering in a time of need.  I think Dr. King’s dream was a world where all children grew up knowing how to extend a hand and feeling responsible to do so.

Each year, Children for Children, an organization near and dear to my heart, celebrates the life of Dr. King by providing opportunities for young people to volunteer and discover their power and potential to make a real difference in the world.  With over 4,000 young people volunteering at large service events in New York City, to small groups of children gathering around the country, young people are realizing their ability to contribute to the greater good in all sorts of ways.  From packing toiletry care kits for shelters, to holding read-a-thons to fundraise for Red Cross relief efforts, kids are showing that you are never too small to make a big difference.

Dr. King’s life of service showed us the power of one individual to make a difference.  But his legacy and his dream of the “beloved community” was a vision of what could be if we all came together to build a better world.

I believe that in 2010, we will see more Americans than ever before showing our strength as a society through service.  I hope you will choose to be a part of this.  If you are looking for ways to volunteer, you can visit www.childrenforchildren.org; www.handsonnetwork.org; and www.mlkday.gov or use some of the ideas below:

Children for Children

The Youth HandsOn Network

31 Ways to Teach Kids the History of Dr. King through Service

Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service 2010 marks the beginning of a year of service as millions of Americans honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by volunteering in their communities.  The day builds upon the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., along with President Obama’s resonant call to service.

Our Goals:

• To lead the younger generations in celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s visionary leadership and values and honoring his legacy.
• To present a public event that engages people in communities across our nation in powerful conversations about issues that shape our nation.
• To create a platform for family volunteering.
• To empower parents to teach their children about Dr. King’s legacy of nonviolence, equality and respect.

The Importance of Family Service

Engaging parents and their children in service together has important positive outcomes for everyone involved. It benefits:

• Children and youth by cultivating positive values, such as caring and empathy, and by developing a commitment to service both now and in the future.
• Parents by giving them more quality time with their children and all the other benefits of volunteering for adults, including increased interpersonal skills and improved mental and physical health.
• Families by increasing their sense of cohesion, well-being, and connection to the broader community.

The 31 Ways

The “31 Ways” below are service projects that teach young people about Dr. Martin Luther King  Jr. through service-learning.  The thirty-one “Ways” correspond with the thirty-one days in January.  A family, school or group can mix and match their service projects from the list, and towns, cities or school districts may choose to complete one service project each day of the month.

Youth and Family-Friendly Service Projects for MLK Day: Specific to Dr. King and His Movement

1. 31 Days of Peace, Kindness and Justice - Read a different quotation on peace, kindness, diversity or justice over your school’s PA system every day in January.

2. Welcome Cards - Celebrate diversity by making cards to welcome new immigrants to your city.  Include information such as important local phone numbers and recommendations of places to go and things to do or see in the area.

3. MLK Day Book Club - Read Martin’s Big Words, by Doreen Rappaport (grades K- 5), and discuss the book as a group.

4. Dream to Read - Organize your children or group to read books with children younger than them, on the topic of Dr. King.  (See book list, below.)  This promotes literacy by creating enthusiasm for all that we can learn from books, through Dr. King’s inspiring story.

5. Creative Expressions of Dr. King’s Legacy - Research the history of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s movement and teachings.  Think about what significance or importance they have to you or your world and express this creatively through poetry, art, writing, or another creative medium, teaching this history to others in your community.

6. Wall of Dreams - Read Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.  Trace yourself on large paper and cut the shape of your body out.  Draw your clothes and features on the shape, and choose excerpts from the speech to write and illustrate, along with dreams of your own.  Display all of the papers on the wall to make a “Wall of Dreams.”

7. Opinion Letters - Keep Dr. King’s message of civic engagement alive by writing a letter to President Obama or a local government official to express your opinion on a topic of your choice.

8. The Power of Peace Cranes - Read Sadako and the Thousand Paper  Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr, and make peace cranes as a symbol of your commitment to peace.  Display in your school or community.

9. Diversity Quilt - Make a Diversity Quilt celebrating diverse cultures, nationalities, and appearances, and donate it to a community location or organization for display.  Include drawings, stitching, quotations, or short statements of what you will do to celebrate diversity and keep the peace.

10. Bookmarks - Create bookmarks celebrating reading in a variety of languages and give them to the public library for distribution to library patrons.

11. Buttons - Make buttons with civil rights symbols and slogans.

12. A Benchmark for Social Change - Design bus seat covers that allow people to better understand what is possible when they make a commitment to social change.  Have the covers placed on functional school or city buses.

13. Inspirational Dr. King Murals - Help paint a mural bearing an inspirational Dr. King quote to beautify a local community center or school, while inspiring other youth to make a difference.

14. Civil Rights Activity Books - Use a computer program to create word searches, crossword puzzles, mazes, and matching games on the theme of Civil Rights and Dr. King.  Compile the activities and design a colorful cover to attach, creating an activity book. These books can be donated to afterschool programs, hospitals, or transitional housing.

15. Food for Thought - Use diverse foods as a discussion-starter on the topic of diversity.  Work with your family or group to make “Earth Cookies” using vanilla and butterscotch chips in addition to chocolate, and an assortment of white and brown eggs.  Or, make trail mix with a variety of ingredients.  Use these recipes as metaphors for diverse peoples working well together or coexisting in harmony.

16. Host a Read-a-thon or Essay Contest - Organize a read-a-thon, essay contest or other academic contest or on the topic of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or civil rights, or service and civic engagement.  Utilize the book list below for possible essay topics, or choose Civil Rights quotations as themes.

Youth and Family-Friendly Service Projects for MLK Day: Other Community Issues

17. Fleece Scarves - Make a fleece scarf to donate to the homeless or anyone else in need of support in the winter.

18. Tactile Valentines for Blind Senior Citizens - Make a tactile Valentine, using raised letters, to be given to a blind senior citizen on February 14^th.  Optional: Make a lavender sachet to accompany the card, appealing to the senior citizens’ senses.

19. Cat Toys and Dog Bandanas - Assemble cat toys and design “Adopt me!” dog bandanas for residents of a local animal shelter.

20. Canned Food Collection - Organize the canned food in your kitchen and take the extras to an MLK Day food drive - or, organize your own food drive for MLK Day.

21. Food Bank Bags - Take your food drive a step farther by decorating paper bags with positive messages about healthy eating and packing the canned goods in them. Include print-outs of healthy eating tips, recipes, and exercise ideas. Donate finished bags to a local food bank.

22. “Lights Out!” Light Switch Plates - Create “Lights Out!” light switch plates to remind your family to turn off the lights when leaving a room.

23. The Voting Patrol - Talk to adults about voting and make sure they are registered.

24. Peace Bracelets - Make peace bracelets to be donated to victims of domestic violence, bearing white or dove-shaped beads to symbolize young people’s commitment to working toward peace.

25. Environmental Coloring Books - Assemble home-made coloring books with an environmental theme, to be donated to children in the hospital with a packet of crayons, as a fun and educational activity.

26. Birthday Cards for Homebound Seniors - Color birthday cards to be given to elderly homebound individuals along with their Meals on Wheels meals.

27. Paper Flowers - Create paper flowers out of colorful tissue paper and chenille sticks to be donated to a community center, hospital, or nursing home. Write positive messages in cards to accompany the flowers.  Optional: flowers can be combined to form centerpieces for soup kitchen tables.

28. Peace Garden - Turn a vacant lot into a garden or bird sanctuary or create a garden at a local shelter or childcare center. Partner with neighbors or the receiving organization to engage the community in planning and helping.

29. Create Environmentally Friendly Household Cleaners - Make a kit containing safe and healthy household cleaners for friends and family.

30. Community Pancake Breakfast - Organize a free pancake breakfast for community members to celebrate MLK Day, a day when students will not be at school to receive free breakfast.  Fundraise for the necessary ingredients and resources, and allow families to make donations at the door if they choose.

31. Stimulate through Art - Give low-income preschoolers a head start by creating felt boards that stimulate curiosity, creativity and learning about the world around them.

Children’s Books on Dr. King:

Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport (grades K- 5)

Martin Luther King Jr. Day by Linda Lowery (grades K-5)

Lives and Times Martin Luther King, Jr. by Emma Lynch (grades K-3)

A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Robert Casilla (grades K-3)

Who Was Martin Luther King Jr.? by Bonnie Bader (grades 3-5)

Martin Luther King, Jr. by Amy Pastan (grades 5-8)

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King Jr. and Clayborne Carson (grades 7-8)

Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Life by Marshall Frady (grades 7-8)

M.L.K. Journey of a King by Tonya Bolden (grades 8-12)

A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King and James M. Washington (all ages)

Copyright 2010 (c) Children for Children/Youth HandsOn Network

“Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s “Theory of Relativity” to serve. You don’t have to know the Second Theory of Thermal Dynamics in Physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love, and you can be that servant.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Imagine that you recently had a baby through a cesarean section and had planned on taking off a few years to stay at home to care for your new baby. Now with the economic recession forcing many women back into the workforce, you find that you too need to re-enter the workforce to help your family make ends meet. The problem? Good luck finding health insurance. Insurers in most states are permitted to consider gender when determining both individual and group rates and therefore women are frequently charged much more than men for premiums.  Moreover, a C-section can be viewed as a “pre-existing condition” and insurers can now refuse to pay for future C-sections or deny a women who has had a prior C-section from health coverage entirely. Equally abhorrent, in eight states and in the District of Columbia, insurers can legally deny a woman’s health insurance application if she has been the victim of domestic violence.

In actuality, the impact on women from our current health care system is even worse than just the odious discriminatory practices mentioned above. Skyrocketing health care costs and a lack of access to affordable health care have had a greater impact on women than men according to a Commonwealth Fund study that examines how our current health care system affects women in this country. The statistics cited in the study are staggering: seven in ten women have no insurance or are underinsured, face medical debt or are facing a cost-related issue affecting their access to health care. More than half of all women in the Unites States have had to refuse necessary care due to cost. Many women are simply not able to find coverage for maternity care at all.

One of the main problems facing women in obtaining health care is that women still earn 78 cents for every dollar that men earn. Yet women use more health care than men, in large part because of women’s reproductive care needs. Exacerbating the situation are the higher premiums many insurers charge women and thus the impact is that women have more trouble than men obtaining the critical health care that they need and therefore more women than men end up being underinsured.

When women make the majority of health care decisions for families (which they do) and when women are more likely than men to visit the doctor more frequently and be proactive about their health (which they are), we as a society are making a grave mistake in not putting quality, affordable health care for women at the top of the agenda in the health care debate.

Women are a majority of the country’s population (52 percent) and constitute more of the overall vote nationwide than men (in every Presidential election since 1980 more women than men proportionately have voted-8million more in the 2000 election and 9 million more in the 2004 election.) Yet where are the advertising campaigns in the health care debate targeted to women or the grass roots mobilization of women’s groups? I have never seen such a blizzard of ads in a non-Presidential election year as we have seen in this current health care debate, yet I have yet to see an ad geared to women. Women have the most to gain by a passage of a health care bill (a prohibition against insurance companies charging more for premiums for women than for men as many currently do, a reversal of the policy allowing insurers to deny coverage based on a prior C section or domestic violence incident, universal coverage of maternity care, premium subsidies which will make health care more affordable for women and families.) Women also have the most to lose if heath care reform fails yet you wouldn’t know it from the paucity of dialogue on this issue.

The messaging from the Obama Administration on what women stand to gain and lose in the health care debate has been terrible. We are the only industrialized nation in the West that does not provide universal health care, and yet, the dialogue out of Washington has focused on everything but the impact to women. The President should stand up and say how can we as a society tolerate a system that so blatantly discriminates against a group that comprises over half of our country and that clearly is not putting women’s health on equal footing. If the Administration fails to pass a strong plan for universal health care, our nation’s chance at ever doing so will be severely comprised for years to come. We are overlooking one of our best assets to get the message out–women–who will raise their voices loudly as they have for generations to protest the perpetuation of a system that does not properly treat women equally and that blatantly does not put proper value on maternity and a women’s overall health.

Recently, two friends of mine have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Both were non-smoking women with children who ate a healthy diet and exercised. Each confided to me that they wondered why them?

As recent reports show that cancer death rates have only fallen 5 percent in the past 50 years, versus a 64 percent plunge in heart disease death rates, I find that women are often left with conflicting data about what to do to be proactive in protecting themselves against cancer. After my friends’ diagnoses, I decided to return to a topic I had read much about: the association between alcohol consumption for women and cancer.

For years, studies would tout the benefits that consuming moderate quantities of red wine (the proverbial glass with dinner) in protecting against heart disease. Then this year, came a stunning study that showed that even the consumption of a glass a day of wine or other alcohol can considerably increase a woman’s cancer risk. Here is some valuable information from WebMD about the latest studies that you should know about:

Previous studies have linked alcohol intake with an increased breast cancer risk. Alcohol may change the way the body metabolizes estrogen. Many breast cancers are fueled by the hormone estrogen. Therefore, regular use of alcohol is thought to increase the risk of breast cancer by increasing blood estrogen levels.

The new study tracked the health of 122,000 women since 1976. They were free of cancer at the start of the study. Every four years, the women were asked how much alcohol they had used during an average month in the past year.
By 2002, nearly 6,000 of the women developed breast cancer.
When compared with teetotalers:

• Women who drank the equivalent of a half glass of wine a day were 6% more likely to develop breast cancer.

• Women who drank a glass or two a day faced a 21% increased risk of breast cancer.

• Those who drank more than two drinks a day were 37% more likely to develop breast cancer.

However, the risk was much greater in menopausal women:

• Menopausal women who drank a half glass of wine daily increased their chance of breast cancer by 18%.

The elevated risk was also more pronounced for women whose tumor growth was fueled by the hormones estrogen or progesterone — a group that accounts for about 70% of women with breast cancer.

I will be exploring this issue and other topics related to what measures women can take to be proactive about their risk of cancer. Let me know your thoughts and any personal experiences you or family members or friends have had.

As I set out to enjoy some vacation time on Long Island with my husband and 3 young boys, I made sure that we were vigilant about tick checks.  I have had too many friends over the years whose children have had Lyme disease.  What I didn’t think to be concerned about is spider bites.

As I ate dinner outside one night at a local restaurant, I felt something bite me on my foot.  Thinking it was a mosquito, I swatted away at my foot and didn’t think much more of it.  When I came home that night my foot was slightly swollen, red, painful and itchy.  I put some hydrocortisone on it and went to bed.

When I woke up in the morning, my foot was severely swollen and throughout the morning began to throb, and the swelling coupled with the pain, made it difficult to walk on it.   In the place where the bite had occurred there was a large quarter shape size yellow blister.  I went to see the doctor and he quickly determined that it was a spider bite and that it had, even in such a short time, become infected.  He put me on antibiotics and drained the blister.  Within a day or two I felt much better.

While most spider bites are not harmful to humans, there are 2 types of spider bites that can be:  the black widow spider and the brown recluse spider. As the Mayo Clinic website points out:

Black widow spider

The female black widow gives the more serious bite, but its bite is rarely lethal. You can identify this spider by the red hourglass marking on its belly. The bite feels like a pinprick. You may not even know you’ve been bitten. At first you may notice only slight swelling and faint red marks. Within a few hours, though, intense pain and stiffness begin. Other signs and symptoms of a black widow spider bite include:

• Chills

• Fever

• Nausea

• Severe abdominal pain

Brown recluse spider
You can identify this spider by the violin-shaped marking on its top. The bite produces a mild stinging, followed by local redness and intense pain within eight hours. A fluid-filled blister forms at the site and then sloughs off to leave a deep, enlarging ulcer. Reactions from a brown recluse spider bite vary from a mild fever and rash to nausea and listlessness. On rare occasions death results, more often in children.

However, even if you are not bitten by one of these types of spider, it is very possible that a spider bite from any type of spider can get infected as mine did.  Here, fast action is critical.  If the area around the bite becomes red and hot to the touch, you should seek medical treatment as I did.  The bottom line is that if you or your children have any of the symptoms I have outlined above, be proactive and see a doctor.

Any student of urban planning or New York City’s history, has encountered Robert Caro’s epic biography of Robert Moses, the aptly titled “The Power Broker.”  I read this book in my college Urban Sociology class at Columbia and recently re-read it last year.  One point about the book that has recently been raised, is that the book strangely omits any reference to civic activist Jane Jacobs who repeatedly battled Moses over his ill advised plan to build a four lane super highway through Washington Square Park in New York City or his plan to erect a 10 lane elevated highway (dwarfing the FDR Drive in comparison) through the hearts of Soho, Little Italy and Chinatown. Thankfully Jane Jacobs won these battles.

A new book by Boston Globe reporter Anthony Flint, entitled “How Jane Jacobs Took On New York’s Master Builder and Transformed The American City,” profiles these herculean struggles.

One such battle particularly caught my eye.   Jacobs had organized rallies, protests and political opposition to Moses’s Washington Park superhighway. The opposition worked and, as the New York Times notes in a recent review of Flint’s book,  Moses angrily exclaimed “There is nobody against this. Nobody, nobody, nobody but a bunch of, a bunch of mothers.”

I have found that on too many occasions to count, people have overlooked the power that mothers have when they organize around an issue.  Whether it is building a new school or park, fighting against overcrowding of the schools or lobbying for equal wages, it is frequently mothers who are at the forefront of these battles, yearning for better conditions for their children.  If Robert Moses only knew the power that women exert in society today, he would have never said those words.  Just think–nine million more women than men voted in the last 2 Presidential elections,  proof of the strong civic and political involvement of women in American society.

The notion that Moses had of “mothers”– that their opinions didn’t matter, that they weren’t politically potent, that they were weak, was proven wrong time and time again by Jane Jacobs.  She demonstrated that these women’s opinions did matter, that they were terrific organizers, and that ultimately they were successful in fighting the ultimate power broker in New York.

Women across the country should sound a collective sigh of dismay at the antiquated and frankly harmful comments recently made by former GE CEO Jack Welch.

Speaking at a human resources conference, of all places, where one expects to hear more gender friendly rubric, Welch proclaimed: “There’s no such thing as a work-life balance,” going on to explain that a woman’s choice to have a family makes career advancement all but impossible.

What kind of message does this send to young girls today?  The message is essentially: Don’t even try because you can’t have it all - Choose one or the other.

I regularly interview women for my show “Give and Take”, who do have it all- they are mothers with high powered careers.  These women are resolute, dedicated and supreme multi-taskers.  Take the case of Liz Lange, who started a maternity fashion empire, all while raising two young kids AND battling the ravages of cervical cancer, which included grueling rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.  Campbell Brown, who hosts a national cable news show while raising two young boys, is another great example.  Both of these women demonstrate that, while it may not be easy, it is possible to flourish as a working mother.

While Welch focuses on the boardroom as a major obstacle to women who choose to raise kids while climbing the corporate ladder, there is a plethora of evidence that proves him wrong.  In my conversation with Alexandra Lebenthal, who is herself a prime representation of an accomplished CEO and mother, she pointed out that while some women have left Wall Street- many have done so to start their own companies, as evidenced by the fact that women employ more people than all of the Fortune 500 companies put together.  There are also a number of women who have briefly exited the career highway to start families only to make successful returns to the corporate world later on.

Despite the countless women who have proven it is possible to balance career and family, there are still significant roadblocks in corporate America.  According to a 2008 census of Fortune 500 companies performed by Catalyst.org, a leading non-profit organization that works to build more inclusive workplaces for women globally, the advancement of women in corporate leadership continues to stagnate, with only 15.2 percent holding board of director positions, as compared with 14.8 percent in 2007.  There has also been an increase to 66 from the 59 companies in 2007 with no women at all on their boards.

We still have a long way to go in providing more opportunities for women in corporate America but we will never get there if the attitudes that are passed down reflect the belief that a woman “can’t” have it all.

Despite an overall increase in the number of young females participating in competitive sports, there is still a great inequality in the athletic options available for young women in many of our public schools. Title IX, the 1972 law prohibiting gender discrimination in federally funded school programs has been a constant source of debate from elementary school to college level athletics, as the argument that females have less interest and therefore less need for involvement sports persists.

Yet, studies show that both sexes who participate in after-school sports programs have better grades, better conflict resolution skills, and better overall relations with their peers. There is ample evidence to support the idea that if young men and women are kept busy with structured activities outside of school, they are more likely to continue their education and stay out of trouble. In the last thirty years, girls’ sports programs have expanded in size and scope, with many schools reporting nearly equal numbers of female and male athletes.

However, as a recent New York Times article illustrated, these reforms have largely bypassed lower income, urban communities. Katie Thomas follows a day in the life of a middle school’s girls’ basketball team in the Bronx that is sustained through the sheer persistence of a coach and his players. Despite a lack of school funding, unforgiving schedules and parents who don’t always manage to provide the necessary support, these young ladies manage to keep their team alive, validating the fact that females have just as much need for sports programs as males.

With the current economic crisis affecting federal, state and city budgets across the board, funding for public school sports programs has been one of the first things to be cut. The meager resources that schools and parents retain are usually directed to boy’s teams, as there are far more scholarships and back channels for getting into college as a male athlete. Rebecca Lobo, Mia Hamm and the Williams Sisters may be celebrated role models but unless their daughters are well over six feet tall or preternaturally gifted with a soccer ball or tennis racket, it is unlikely that struggling parents will see the practical benefit of investing time and money in after school and weekend sports. The problem of lack of financing is compounded by the fact that traditional roles that may seem antiquated to modern scholars are still very much in place in immigrant and lower income households.

This means young ladies are expected to help with the childcare and domestic upkeep for their extended families, while young men are free to pursue athletics with their greater free time. As private and public efforts are made to shore up our public schools, this particular issue is often placed at the bottom of the list. Yes, math and reading are fundamental but athletics are also an essential component of the developmental process. As we fight for academic resources and better nutrition in our public schools, let’s not lose sight of this vital aspect of our educational system.