QUEENS buzz FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.co MAY 5, 2016 • TIMES 29 BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport Students at Ridgewood‘s P.S. 239 got the chance to grow their minds and bodies during the “Get Focused on Reading” launch party earlier this month. The Get Focused on Reading campaign is a summerlong series of community book fairs that reaches across New York’s public schools to promote healthy minds and bodies by bringing reading, exercise and nutritious food to communities that need it the most. The series is hosted by Advocate Community Providers (ACP) and Get Focused, two local organizations that are committed to improving population health citywide, and to combat health challenges such as obesity and diabetes that disproportionately plague underserved communities. These community book fairs provide children with free fi tness and health education, while empowering them to not only “shop” for their favorite books, but earn them by completing exercise goals while being coached by certifi ed trainers. During the launch event at P.S. 239, students were able to shop from over 1,000 donated books, while parents spoke directly with local ACP network physicians for any healthrelated questions they may have had. “The purpose of the Get Focused on Reading campaign is to instill the power and knowledge of reading, exercise and community service into our youth and catalyze a movement in New York’s most unhealthy neighborhoods,” said Goldin Martinez, founder of Get Focused. “Since our establishment in 2009, Get Focused has completed over two dozen free programs and events, impacting nearly 50,000 youth and we are excited to further our impact with the support of Advocate Community Providers.” ACP and Get Focused are targeting neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of severe health conditions to address the racial and ethnic disparities that many low-income and minority communities face. “Diabetes and obesity are not only serious illnesses that disproportionately affect underserved communities, they are major fi nancial burdens on our health care system,” said Moisés The kids at P.S. 239 in Ridgewood got the chance to get t at the Get Focused on Reading launch event. Pérez-Martínez, director of workforce, community and government relations at ACP. “At a time when the city is working to transform health care delivery to achieve improved care, better health outcomes and reduced costs, innovative initiatives and partnerships such as this are critical to our collective success. ACP is Photos courtesy Advocate Community Providers thrilled to partner with Get Focused, and we look forward to the work ahead.” For more information on the Get Focused on Reading campaign, visit the ACP website (www.acppps.org) or the Get Focused website (www. getfocused.org). Kids and parents attended reading and exercise launch party at Ridgewood school Late-night comedy ‘Ike at Night’ comes to Bushwick BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport Get ready to laugh, Bushwick. Comedic performer and entertainer Ikechukwu Ufomadu, better known as Ike, is bringing his hit latenight talk show, ‘Ike at Night,’ to the Bushwick Starr starting May 18. Ike will be joined by his sidekick B. Brian Argotsinger and will feature Jonathan Jacobs, a.k.a. The Vintage DJ, as “bandleader.” Ike at Night perfectly blends the worlds of comedy and theater, often times blurring the lines between the two. Ike moved to New York in 2004 to attend drama school at New York University, and began working on mostly downtown, experimental theater. In 2010 he found himself in Bali, Indonesia, taking a summer dance intensive where he came up with the idea of bringing his comedic stylings to the stage. “I got interested in talk shows around the same time. I like talk shows, especially old ones. But they also strike me as really strange,” Ike said. “Coming from an acting background, it’s interesting to see a performer walk onto a stage and a few minutes after speaking, have the impulse to go sit at a desk in order to continue performing. It’s also interesting that a host with the impulse to make people laugh also has the impulse to wear a very nice suit. Those are interesting things to me, but I also like those things a lot.” With sold-out shows at the Brooklyn venue JACK in 2014 and The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival in 2015, audiences can expect a packed house each night of the show. Former special guests on “Ike at Night” include Brooklyn Borough President Erik Adams, entertainer Reggie Watts, comedian John Hodgman, photographer and MacArthur Fellow Carrie Mae Weems, fi ve-time OBIE Award-winner David Greenspan and more. Ike regularly performs on the MNN television show “The Special without Brett Davis” and does stand-up across New York. “Ike at Night” will run at the Bushwick Starr, located at 207 Starr St., beginning on May 18 and will continue through June 4 on Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. A full list of nightly guests who will appear on “Ike at Night,” as well as tickets, can be found and purchased at the Bushwick Starr website. Photo courtesy Adam Goins Actor/musician Reggie Watts (left) being interviewed by Ike (right) on “Ike at Night” at The Public Theatre in 2015.
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