BY AIDAN GRAHAM
A Park Slope theater
class is inviting youngsters
to don gender-bending costumes
and perform on stage
as characters of the opposite
sex on Nov. 7.
The event at Brooklyn
Arts Exchange on Fifth Avenue,
dubbed “Drag Performance
Workshop,” is designed
as a fun, playful way
to introduce children to the
complex issues surrounding
gender identity, according to
an organizer.
“We’re using theater and
performance as a vehicle to
Dr. Enrico Ascher provides the best vascular care
COURIER L 6 IFE, OCT. 11-17, 2019
explore important issues of
identity,” said Lucia Scheckner.
“By participating in this
workshop, and by trying on a
notion of gender that is more
fl uid than the traditional
‘male and female’ — you start
to actually understand these
issues more.”
At the workshop, the kids
will learn the ins-and-outs of
theater-based drag, including
acting classes, makeup
tutorials, and dance instructions
to ensure they look —
and feel — like members of
the opposite sex, according
to Scheckner.
“There’ll be dance activities
as well — fi guring out
how you’re going to be in
your body as a character,”
she said. “It’s a chance for
kids to move around to different
songs and feel liberated
in their bodies.”
Children ages eightand
up can attend the workshop
without a parent, and
younger Brooklynites can
attend with a guardian —
where they will learn and
engage in a variety of activities
centered around gender
fluidity, said Scheckner.
“It will begin with an introductory
ice-breaking experience,
that will transition
into...actually creating
content with each other,”
she said. “And then, there’ll
be group work and a period
of performance and reflection.”
Scheckner expects between
20 and 25 people — including
both children and
parents — to attend the workshop,
where thespians young
and old will gain a more indepth
understanding of gender
roles than they would by
attending some stodgy lecture.
“A lot of the time in schools...
it might be more like a town
hall, or an instructive experience,”
she said. “This is more
creative and exploratory.”
The progressive theater class
follows the rise of Kings
County drag kid Desmond
Napoles, 11, who made headlines
in December after preforming
at Meserole Street
gay bar 3 Dollar Bill in Williamsburg.
That appearance sparked
intense controversy from conservative
and pro-life news
sites, and Napoles’ family
was subsequently bombarded
with death threats and forced
to endure months of drop-in
visits from social workers .
Scheckner said she understands
the possibility
of backlash from some less
open-minded community
members — even in the comparatively
liberal Park Slope
— but so far the reception has
been positive.
“There may be people who
are upset by it, and I guess
we’ll deal with that,” she
said. “As of now we haven’t
received any controversial
remarks.”
“Drag Performance Workshop”
at the Brooklyn Arts
Exchange 421 Fifth Ave. near
Eighth Street in Park Slope.
www.youth.bax.org/home.
Nov. 7 at 5:30 pm. $5–$25.
The Brooklyn Arts Exchange will host the “Drag Performance Workshop,”
which they hope will engage local youth in an important conversation
about gender identity. BAX
DRAG
SHOW Park Slope theater organization
hosts drag workshop for kids
BUS I N E S S , B ROOK LYN S T Y LE
We don’t have to travel to Manhattan
to get the best vascular medical
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Ascher, Chief of Vascular and Endovascular
Surgery at NYU Langone
Hospital-Brooklyn, and founder of
the Vascular Institute of New York.
Dr. Ascher is an internationally
recognized vascular surgeon who pioneered
several techniques that are
now utilized worldwide. In addition
to being one of the most experienced
surgeons in this country with over
25,000 procedures and operations performed
over a 3 decade span he finds
time to author and co-author over 300
scientific articles in addition to be the
Chief-editor of a classic textbook in
vascular surgery. His enormous contributions
to the minimally invasive
management of vascular diseases
including aortic aneurysms, stroke
prevention, wound care, varicose
veins and angioplasty and stenting
for PAD have not gone unnoticed. Dr.
Ascher is the only surgeon in the tristate
region to be elected as President
of the Society for Vascular Surgery as
well as The World Federation of Vascular
Societies. During his tenure as
leader of these societies Dr. Ascher
was able to help shape the specialty
and reached out to the medical community
in a partnership to improve
the vascular health of the US population.
Dr. Ascher conceived and develop
the first clinical guidelines for
the management of vascular diseases
and he is recognized by his peers as a
superb surgeon with tremendous talent.
As an example of one of his creative
contributions one can describe
his technique of performing balloon
angioplasty and stenting (in patients
who experience pain in the legs upon
walking) without the use of potentially
harmful contrast material and
with no exposure to radiation!
Dr. Ascher also developed the
mini-incision carotid surgery where
a life threatening plaque can be safely
removed from the artery via one inch
small cut instead of 5-7 inch incision
in the neck. “We have the lowest rate
of complications in the country since
I have not had a single major issue
with hundreds of patient treated with
this technique” - says Dr. Ascher
His groundbreaking techniques
have been adapted worldwide as they
causes less trauma to the patient.
Limb salvage is yet another field
in which Dr. Ascher has earned acclaim.
“We are the first to create a comprehensive
care plan that has vascular
medical specialists and surgeons
working together to treat patients,”
he says. For the most part, vascular
surgeons elsewhere work separately
from vascular medicine physicians,
he says. But by working as a team,
the patient is assured of optimum,
unbiased treatment.
Patients from New York City and
surrounding states have sought Dr.
Ascher’s services, after being told by
other institutions that their limbs
could not be salvaged, and that amputation
was the only option. Yet,
Dr. Ascher and his team were able
to transform their lives by utilizing
techniques they developed to save
the limbs.
“These patients are now walking
on their own two feet,” he says.
Research, studying, and learning
are Dr. Ascher’s passions. He
was the first to perform bypass to the
plantar arteries of the foot, and this
is now widely considered standard
procedure for limb salvage.
Swelling of the legs is a common
problem that causes tremendous
pain, inhibiting lifestyles. This is
another area in which the Vascular
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published extensively on the subject
of varicose veins. He and his team of
board certified vascular specialists
have performed more than 15,000
laser procedures for the treatment
of varicose veins and leg swelling,
offering several different devices to
customize treatment plans for the
patients who come to his Vascular
Center for relief of symptoms or
for aesthetic reasons. He notes that
swelling of the legs can be caused
by veins that are not visible, so a
thorough examination is really important
to detect the cause of these
problems and to fix them to obtain a
meaningful result.
More than 20 years ago Dr. Ascher
was helping people with aortic
aneurysms — ballooning of the arteries
in the stomach or chest.
“We are so comfortable with
the new, modern techniques, we
are sending patients home the same
day. Just 5 years ago we were keeping
patients for at least 2 days in the
hospital,” he says. “They leave with
a small puncture in the groin, go
home with no pain, and have dinner
with their families.”
This potentially life-threatening
issue is more common than people
realize, he says, and is often found
accidentally when patients undergo
ultrasounds or CAT scans.
“When it becomes painful, these
aneurysms (ballooning of the arteries)
are ready to pop with critical
consequences. So it’s better to fix
them when they achieve a certain
size,” he says.
Notably, the Vascular Institute
was the first wound care center in
New York, and remains one of the
busiest wound care centers in the
area.
Dr. Ascher’s esteemed staff includes
Dr. Anil Hingorani, Dr. Natalie
Marks, Dr. Sareh Rajaee, and
Eleanora Iadgarova, a nurse practitioner.
The practice is open every day,
including weekends, and the staff
can always find an opening to ac -
commodate patients who need immediate
treatment, says the doctor.
Vascular Institute of New York
960 50th St.between Ninth and
10th avenues in Borough Park,
(718) 438-3800, www.vascularnyc.com.
Open every day, 8 am – 5 pm.
Additional locations:
Queens; 97-32 63rd Rd.,
Queens; 432 E. 149th St. in the Bronx.
/home
/www.vascularnyc.com
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