28 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • JANUARY 14, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
‘It’s a new day in Queens’: Mets fans rejoice over blockbuster trade
BY JACOB KAYE
jkaye@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Mets fans around New York have
proven that a smile is highly contagious.
Th e long-suff ering legion of fans — a
group this journalist proudly considers
himself a part of — has expressed unbridled
Queens College to honor MLK with virtual celebration
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th is year’s presentation of the annual
Queens College Martin Luther King
Jr. Day commemoration is a free, virtual
event on Sunday, Jan. 17, at 3 p.m. and
will celebrate King’s legacy and connection
with today’s student activism and
engagement.
Queens College President Frank
Wu and President of the QC Student
Association Zaire Couloute will serve as
co-hosts of the livestreamed event, Th e
Time is Now: Forward!
“So much of what we do on our campus
today continues to echo Dr. King’s message
— a tangible commitment to an environment
that is respectful and supportive
of our diverse student body, the ongoing
work of our Center for Ethnic, Racial
and Religious Understanding (CERRU),
and the maintenance of a special collections
archive in the Benjamin J. Rosenthal
Library that chronicles the extensive civil
rights activism of our alumni,” Wu said.
Th e commemoration will evoke King’s
1965 appearance at the college, where he
emphasized the power of peaceful resistance
in his address to students as the
inaugural speaker in the John F. Kennedy
Memorial Lecture Series, with today’s
Queens College students quoting passages
from his speech.
Musical, dance and spoken word performances
are planned, as well as a special
video presentation highlighting the college’s
history of activism. Additionally, a
panel of distinguished educators will discuss
King’s enduring legacy.
Special guests will include Queens
Borough President Donovan Richards,
the fi rst African-American man to be
elected to the offi ce, who will off er welcoming
remarks.
Queens College Professor Antonio
Hart, who directs the jazz studies program
in the college’s Aaron Copland
School of Music, will perform on saxophone.
Hart has long been recognized as
one of the most talented instrumentalists
of his generation, and is widely considered
one of the top alto saxophonists in
jazz today. Aft er graduating, Hart earned
his master’s degree at Queens College,
where he had the opportunity to learn
from the great Jimmy Heath and Donald
Byrd. Hart’s 1997 release, “Here I Stand,”
was nominated for a GRAMMY Award
for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo.
Vocalist, songwriter and entertainer
Alita Moses will perform a musical selection.
She has performed with a long list
of household names in both the jazz
and pop worlds, including legends like
Shawn Mendes, Al Jarreau and Dee Dee
Bridgewater. Moses recently completed
a new project with the Louis Armstrong
House Museum (LAHM) under its now
program, “Armstrong Now!” In this integrative
video series, contemporary Black
artists respond to Louis Armstrong’s legacy
by creating new works.
Queens College students Alisha
Anderson and Kayra Th eodore will present
dance and spoken word performances,
respectively.
Th en, Queens College History Professor
Deidre Flowers, interim director of the
college’s Africana Studies Program;
Queens College History Professor Sandy
Placido, inaugural Dominican Studies
Scholar at the CUNY Dominican Studies
Institute; and Rabbi Moshe Shur, former
director of Hillel at the college, will
discuss King’s enduring legacy and relevance,
and eff orts to achieve racial justice
in higher education.
Queens College has a longstanding
history of involvement in the struggle
for equality and social justice. In
1964, Queens College student Andrew
Goodman was slain, along with fellow
civil rights workers James Chaney and
Michael Schwerner, during a voter registration
project in Mississippi.
Th e following spring, as the inaugural
speaker in the college’s John F.
Kennedy Memorial Lecture Series, Dr.
King emphasized the power of peaceful
resistance. In 2015, at its 91st commencement
ceremony — and 50 years aft er Dr.
King’s address — the college awarded a
posthumous honorary doctoral degree to
Goodman.
joy over the acquisition of superstar
shortstop Francisco Lindor, who became
a New York Met aft er the blockbuster
trade was fi nalized on Th ursday, Jan. 7.
Th e trade for Lindor, nicknamed “Mr.
Smile,” represents the beginning of a new era
in Queens baseball, promised by the team’s
new billionaire owner Steve Cohen when he
bought the team late last year, fans said.
Th e deal, which also brings starting
pitcher Carlos Carrasco to Queens, fi lls
the team’s needs in the fi eld, in the lineup
and in its rotation. More importantly,
acquiring Lindor, who will become a free
agent by the end of the 2021 season, has
generated unprecedented excitement in
a fan base that hasn’t seen a World Series
trophy in over 30 years.
“I give that deal a 10 out of 10,” said
Dylan Hornik, a 23-year-old from Long
Island who bleeds orange and blue. “It’s
a new day in Queens, a new dawn. It’s
exciting, and we have every reason to be
excited.”
With Cohen at the helm, the team from
Flushing looks and feels diff erent than
it has in recent years, according to some
fans who spoke with QNS.
“Off the fi eld it does two huge things for
me,” said Dan Healy, a 28-year-old lifelong
fan from East Islip. “Lindor is going
to be one of the most marketable athletes
in all of New York City and it also proves
that the old guard is offi cially over.”
For many, the trade makes the Mets,
who fi nished a disappointing 26-34 in the
shortened 2020 season, an instant
contender.
“It feels like the missing piece to
this equation,” Hornik said. “Th is
feels like the piece that could really
make them contenders.”
Lindor, a 27-year-old four-time All
Star, said he was excited to begin playing
in New York during a press conference
on Monday, Jan. 11, his fi rst
appearance in the Mets’ orange and blue.
“Th ere’s been so much excitement
with the Mets that I couldn’t help myself
in being extremely excited,” Lindor said.
“I’m blessed to be able to play this game in
the biggest city in the world and in one of
the most fun cities in the world.”
In picking up Lindor and Carrasco, the
Mets parted ways with shortstops Amed
Rosario and Andres Gimenez, and two
minor league prospects in pitcher Josh
Wolf and outfi elder Isaiah Greene. But
while some fans are sad to see the four
players depart for Cleveland, they also feel
the Mets saw the better end of the deal.
“Gimenez was a nice piece. I liked him,
nice defense, he hit well and I’m going to
miss him,” said Matt Mancuso, a 21-yearold
from Bergen County, N.J. “But getting
Lindor means you have to send a package
with some notable names … Overall,
I really like the package. Th e Mets didn’t
sacrifi ce too much.”
With about a month left in the off season,
fans said they feel relatively content if the
Lindor trade ends up being the last major
trade or signing the Mets made prior
to the start of the 2021 season.
Prior to the Lindor trade,
the Mets notably picked
up catcher James
McCann
and reliever
Trevor May.
“I don’t necessarily
think
they need what
some would
consider a
‘major move,’” Healy said. “I’m still holding
out hopes for George Springer, but
at the end of the day, if it comes down to
just Springer, or Jackie Bradley Jr., another
relief pitcher, and one of the reclamation
starters, I’d prefer the three pieces to make
the roster deeper.”
For Mancuso, who attended game three
of the National League Division Series
against the Dodgers in
2015 at Citi Field,
the trade is one
of the greatest
moments of his
Mets fandom,
and has laid the
foundations for
many great memories
to come.
“Cohen is setting the
team up for a World
Series,” Mancuso said.
“Th is is up there,
in terms of
being a Mets
fan. I don’t
know if it’s
number one, but it’s definitely
up there.”
Additional reporting by Joe
Pantorno.
Courtesy of Kupferberg Center for the Arts at College Queens
Francisco Lindor is the Mets’ newest star.
Jay Biggerstaff -USA TODAY Sports
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