6
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MAY 17, 2020
Con-grad-ulations
James Madison High School hangs portraits
outside to honor graduating seniors
The faces of James Madison High School’s 750 graduating seniors decorate the outside of the school.
Bruce Cotler
East Williamsburg clothier pivots from suits to face masks, medical gowns
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BY JESSICA PARKS
After Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s
May 1 executive order
shuttering public schools
through the duration of
the academic year, educators
at James Madison
High School launched a
creative effort to surround
the school with portraits
of their 750 seniors — paying
tribute to the soon-to-be
graduates, who won’t have
the chance to walk across
the stage and receive their
diplomas.
“We wanted to do something
to make them smile,”
said James Madison’s principal,
Jodie Cohen.
Seniors at the Sheepshead
Bay high school —
which has educated dozens
of notable alumni including
Vermont Senator Bernie
Sanders, Supreme
Court Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, and singer Carole
King — expressed sadness
that they wouldn’t set
foot in the building before
graduation, administrators
said.
“We have been hosting
a lot of meetings with our
seniors, and hearing what
they are saying, ‘If I would
have realized the last time
I was in the building would
have been the last time I
was there, I would have
treated that day differently,’”
said Cohen.
The project was the
brainchild of the parents,
said the principal, who
lauded the team for rushing
to bring the display to
fruition.
“I give all the credit to
our parents,” Cohen said.
“They were turning around
ideas of what schools from
outside of New York City
were doing.”
After several days of
printing, laminating, and
hanging the portraits, the
display was fi nally ready
for primetime on May 6
— when socially distant
visitors could walk past
the outdoor display, which
spans the entirety of the
school’s frontage on Bedford
Avenue and halfway
down Quentin Avenue.
“We kept telling everyone
we have a surprise
coming, we have a surprise
coming,” Cohen said, “because
we didn’t want anyone
to know what we were
really working on.”
Students have since
been visiting the school
to take pictures with
their portrait, and Cohen
said the project has even
brought joy to drivers and
pedestrians passing by.
“Seniors have been
showing up and taking pictures
next to their picture,”
Cohen said, “or looking at
other kids and saying, ‘I
know him, I know her.’”
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Talk about a seamless
transition!
Longtime East Williamsburg
suit makers
Martin Greenfi eld Clothiers
have pivoted from
sewing business apparel
to face masks and medical
gowns to help the neighborhood’s
vulnerable populations
and the city’s
frontline workers, according
to the company’s manager.
“It’s a breakeven at
best, but we’re doing a lot
of good for the local neighborhood
here and essential
workers,” said Tod
Greenfi eld, a second-generation
head of the family
business.
His father Martin
Greenfi eld, a 91-year-old
holocaust survivor, took
over the Varet Street factory
in 1977 and the outfi tters
have suited up a host
of famous clients like presidents
Bill Clinton and
Barack Obama, as well
as stars in TV shows and
movies, including Leonardo
DiCaprio in both the
Great Gatsby and the Wolf
of Wall Street.
But after Gov. Andrew
Cuomo’s order closing
all non-essential business
to stem the spread of
the novel coronavirus in
March, the custom clothiers
had to halt their sewing
machines and furlough
their workforce.
Inspired by an online
video tutorial of a woman
showing how to sew face
masks, Greenfi eld and his
brother Jay decided to resume
operations at the
end of March, but instead
of bespoke sports jackets,
they started making facial
coverings using the
same materials — complete
with pinstripe and
houndstooth patterns.
“I thought if she can
make masks we could do it
too,” said Greenfi eld.
The company brought
25 workers back to the factory
and has since sold
about 6,000 of the masks
and donated another 1,000.
They also set up mobile
mask carts for about half
a dozen elderly employees
to work from home, so that
they didn’t have to expose
themselves to the highlycontagious
bug.
The tailors make the
masks with a 100 percent
densely-woven cotton shell
and lining, along with a
polyester inside layer for
extra fi ltration and a solid
wire at the nose for a better
fi t and seal. But they
emphasize on their website
that they have yet to
get certifi cation for how
effective they are for protecting
against the pathogen.
The masks cost $18
apiece and the company
matches each purchase
with a donation of a mask
to frontline workers and
local do-gooders like the
community development
nonprofi t St. Nicks Alliance,
according to Greenfi
eld.
They’ve also partnered
with Brooklyn Navy Yard
tactical gear manufacturers
Crye Precision to sew
medical gowns, as part
of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
plans to increase homegrown
production of medical
protective equipment
in the fi ve boroughs.
Williamsburg suit makers Martin Greenfi eld Clothiers have started
making medical masks. Photo by LouLou D’vil