Girl Talk with Misty
Ballet star joins empowering conversation with teens
BY DEAN MOSES
NYPD Chief of Patrol
Juanita Holmes bestowed
a special holiday gift
upon the young women of
the Girl Talk program on
Dec. 15.
Girl Talk is a mentorship
program founded by Holmes
and designed for NYPD
offi cers to serve as surrogate
families to at-risk youth,
many of whom stem from
broken homes and a diffi cult
upbringing. Each month
police headquarters holds
a special discussion with
notable women in order to
inspire the female teens and
shine a light on their future
path. For the holiday season,
Holmes pulled out all the
stops and presented Misty
Copeland, the fi rst black
woman to be promoted to
principal dancer.
Excited to hear the worldrenowned
ballet dancer speak,
the girls danced in conga lines
before the presentation began.
When Copeland took to the
stage, she commented on this,
LOCAL NEWS
At NYPD’s latest Girl Talk gathering, teens were enraptured by a discussion with renowned
dancer, Misty Copeland on Dec. 15.
and shared that unlike other
ballet dancers who start at the
age of 4, she began practicing
ballet when she was 13 years
old. One year after she started,
she won her fi rst national
ballet contest. Throughout
Copeland’s tenure, she has
worked with the American
Ballet Theater as a soloist and
principal dancer, and in many
cases, she was the only black
woman on stage.
“I’ve been where you are
right now. I understand
what it is like to be a young
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
girl in this world to not only
have representation and
support,” Copeland said, “It
was dance, music, and having
a mentor that came into my
life that believed that I had
the potential to be more than
my surroundings. There was
a future for me to do great
things and to be a part of
something new for myself.”
In addition to the excitement
of listening to Copeland,
the young ladies and their
mentors in blue entered One
Police Plaza Wednesday
night to discover a Christmas
wonderland waiting for them.
Gigantic balloons in the shape
of candy canes and gifts
adorned the auditorium while
Santa Claus himself greeted
attendees with a wave and
his jolly laugh. But for many
in attendance, the holiday
cheer was secondary to what
has essentially become a
surrogate home for them.
“I have learned a lot from
Sam,” Razoya Palmer told
amNewYork Metro, looking
to her mentor, police offi cer
Samantha Mercado. “She
has taught me to be more
confi dent in myself. I was
a very closed-off person at
times, and she’s helped me
open myself up.”
Palmer beamed as she
spoke about the role the
offi cer has had in her life. The
feeling is also a mutual one.
Mercado says she has learned
just as much from the young
women.
“I look forward to it and
I come into work happy. It
feels like a sisterhood. We’ve
become very close, and I
literally look forward to every
meeting,” Mercado explained.
Season of giving for Village boaters
BY AIDAN SEIDEN
A cacophony of applause
and excitement roared
along Pier 40, at noon
on Dec. 19, as clusters of socially
distant spectators lined
the Village Community Boathouse
to celebrate the christening
and gifting of one of
their treasured boats to the
avid rower, Mayor Ed Glaser
of Rockland, Maine.
Sunday’s ceremony marked
the very fi rst time that the Village
Community Boathouse
(VCB) has donated one of their
prestigious handcrafted rowboats.
While the decision to give
the craft away was a harrowing
one, they believed there was
“no more appropriate home,” as
Mayor Glaser is a board member
of Station Maine, a nonprofi t organization
that, similar to VCB,
is “dedicated to offering boating
opportunities, at no cost, to
youth of all ages.”
With the approaching winter
season, all water-dependent
activities will be docking their
vessels —preparing them for
the freezing temperatures—and
taking stock of their equipment.
It was during this winterizing
process that Lorne Swarthout,
the head of the VCB’s boat
building program, recognized
that he couldn’t begin construction
on next season’s boat until
they created more space in the
boathouse; prompting the team
to conduct research into which
rowing program was most deserving
of their donation.
“We’re like people who have
to give away a beloved pet,” said
Sally Curtis, President of the
VCB. “We want our boat to have
a good home.”
Along with their free yearround
boat building program,
VCB offers a (also free) rowing
program to introduce the public,
“to the joys of rowing and sailing.”
These services allow those
who participate to get up close
and personal with New York’s
Harbor, while also having the
opportunity to learn from experienced
ship builders who can
pass their knowledge of the craft
onto those who are interested.
The specifi c boat that was
gifted to Mayor Glaser was
a Whitehall gig, which was
given the title GML after the
initials of the boat’s donor’s
children. The gig’s model is a
nineteenth century, traditional
wood crafted, four-oared boat,
“once used to ferry sailing ship
captains in from their moored
ships to the Whitehall Street
pier,” said VCB.
GML was one of four boats
constructed with the help of
sixth and eight grade children
The donated Village Community Boathouse boat.
from 203 street and Tenth Avenue,
coordinated by the two
non-profi t’s, New York Restoration
Project and Floating the Apple.
Before its offi cial relaunch,
GML was adorned with a crisp
layer of black paint and a yellow
racing stripe, making it the envy
of every boat it encounters.
PHOTO BY AIDAN SEIDEN
“GML has served VCB’s
public rowing program for more
than twenty years and the boat is
still going strong,” said Deborah
Clearman, Board member of the
Village Community Boathouse.
“We feel that GML will continue
to serve our mission in her
new home.”
8 December 23, 2021 Schneps Media