It’s sturm-und-drang time in figure skating at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, not that there hasn’t already been enough drama with the flameouts, the dark horses, the falls, the wardrobe malfunctions – and Tara and Johnny’s excellent “Will and Grace” adventure.
But tonight begins what for many figure skating fans – and, indeed, Olympic viewers – is the glamour event of the Games, the ladies’ championship. ...
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One of the things that has always fascinated me as an arts writer and singer is performance anxiety. Why do some people rise to an occasion when others, perhaps more talented, shrink?
Nerves have a lot to do with it and, as with most challenges, only you yourself can overcome them. No one can do it for you. Indeed, others, however well-meaning, may only make it worse.
In the men’s figure skating free program, Nathan Chen – who had turned in disastrous performances in the team competition and short program – put on a skating clinic, executing six quad jumps and earning the fifth highest score in Olympic history. What made the difference? ...
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When we were casting about for a cover for February WAG, American Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin seemed like a natural. Wine & Dine columnist Doug Paulding, an avid skier, had seen Shiffrin – the best slalom skier in the world – in action at Killington in Vermont on Thanksgiving weekend and agreed with the experts he talked to: This was her moment.
She delivered in the giant slalom – an event she has wrestled with – with an aggressive, technically proficient, come-from-behind victory that is a testament to her talent, discipline and hard work.
But then she failed to medal in her best event, the slalom. Illness, nerves, a combination of both? ...
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On Oct. 25, 1995 – one day after the United Nations turned 50 – then New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani threw Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat out of a concert at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall that ironically featured Ludwig van Beethoven’s great ode to humanity, his Symphony No. 9. The Clinton Administration then criticized Giuliani for an egregious breach of international diplomacy, but Giuliani said he could never forgive Arafat’s terrorist past, even though at that point he had been praised by both the Americans and the Israelis for his role in the Middle East peace talks.
It’s an age-old problem. We have our values. Do we cast them aside in social situations? We do not. But neither do we make a mockery of our values by punctuating them with rudeness.
Impolite behavior seeks to ridicule and humiliate others. But it is really only a reflection of those who advocate it.
I thought of this while watching the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang as Vice President Mike Pence avoided contact with Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, even though he was sitting right in front of her and the president of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, had shaken her hand. ...
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Was that a great Super Bowl game or what? It had everything – an underdog (the victorious Philadelphia Eagles), a villain (the New England Patriots and Mr. “I’m Tom Brady and you’re not”), seesaw drama, frustrated placekickers, sleight-of-hand plays in the end zone and a modest hero (Eagles quarterback Nick Foles, the un-Brady). It was a most satisfying night, one that proved, as my beloved Aunt Mary always said, that if something is meant for you, it will be there for you – even if you’re an improbable second-string QB like Foles ...
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Writers like my pal novelist Barbara Nachman https://www.fashionmystery.net/ were front and center Sunday as Barnes & Noble Eastchester’s Local Author Festival came to a close. But the fun continues.
Join me and other writers whose work appears in the new edition of Westchester Review as we read from our works Thursday, Sept. 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. I’ll be reading from the story that became the basis of the second chapter in my new novel “The Penalty for Holding,” about a gay, biracial quarterback’s search for identity in the NFL. ...
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For me, it was the equivalent of an actor bowing on Broadway or an entertainer headlining Vegas – a reading at Barnes & Noble in Eastchester, N.Y.
On the evening of Sept. 7, I read the second chapter from my new novel “The Penalty for Holding” (Less Than Three Press), which describes the hero’s early years in Indonesia, before an audience of some 50 admirers. ...
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