By the age of 28, Bob Denver was already famous around the world. He was recognized everywhere as a popular TV character, but worried that he’d never get a chance to play a different kind of role. Little did he know that his most famous role was yet to come. Robert Osbourne Denver was born in New Rochelle on January 9, 1935. His family soon moved to Texas, where Bob graduated from Brownwood High School. He moved to Los Angeles to earn a political science degree from Loyola University. As a stage manager for the school’s theater department, he caught the acting bug watching the other students r ..read more

Milton Rogovin’s career as an eye doctor seemed to be ruined when he was exposed as a Communist, but the scandal only led him to start a new career and win fame as an acclaimed photographer of working-class life. The son of Lithuanian immigrants, Milton Rogovin was born in New York City on December 30, 1909. He earned a degree in optometry from Columbia University in 1931, the same year that his father died and his family lost their dry-goods business. Seeing widespread poverty during the Great Depression made Milton a political radical. He became a union organizer for optical workers in New Y ..read more

For women in 19th century America, the struggle for voting rights was the cause of a lifetime. For Matilda Joslyn Gage, it was just part of a lifelong struggle for equality and social justice. Matilda Joslyn was born in Cicero, Onondaga County, on March 24, 1826. Her father, Dr. Hezekiah Joslyn, was an abolitionist – an advocate for an immediate end to slavery. Joslyn was a founder of the abolitionist Liberty Party and personally assisted escapees from slavery as they fled through New York State. Matilda followed her father’s example after marrying Henry Hill Gage in 1845. In Fayetteville, whe ..read more

The movie Soul is one of my favorite movies that was recently released. Soul is a Pixar animated film directed by Pete Docter, who is not only the chief creative officer of Pixar but also directed iconic movies like Monsters, Inc., Up, and Inside Out. Some of the people who starred in Soul include Daveed Diggs, Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, and Phylicia Rashad. Soul is a very detailed film with an incredibly written storyline. Soul opens with a man named Joe Gardner (played by Jamie Foxx). He is a music teacher with a goal to become a professional musician. He is very passionate about playing jazz and ..read more

I’ll never forget the first time I met my best friend, Ricky. It was at a farm in Pennsylvania, four and a half hours from where I live. You might ask, why would I go all the way to Pennsylvania to meet someone? This friend wasn’t just like any other. This was a friend that I wanted to have for a very long time. I could see him every morning when I wake up, and every night before I went to sleep. I wouldn’t have to Facetime him even though we were living in a crisis, because he would live, eat, breathe, and sleep right at my house. We would walk together and cuddle with each other. I’m not sur ..read more

It’s often said that behind a great man stands a great woman. In the history of American literature, behind two great women writers stood Almanzo Wilder, a real-life pioneer who became part of American folklore. Almanzo Wilder was born to a farm family in Burke, Franklin County, on February 13, 1857. In 1875 the Wilders went west, settling in Spring Valley, Minnesota. Four years later, Almanzo moved to the Dakota Territory, near the town of De Smet, where he claimed land under the federal Homestead Act. To encourage agricultural and economic growth, the Homestead Act offered free land to pione ..read more

For a brief time, William Van Alen could claim to have designed the world’s tallest building. Today, he gets credit for creating a towering icon of New York City. William Van Alen was born in Brooklyn on August 10, 1883. His interest in architecture led him to the Pratt Institute, a Brooklyn fine arts school, and a job working for residential architect Clarence True. William was intrigued by French ideas on modern architecture. He studied under the French immigrant Emmanuel Lewis Masqueray, who founded the first atelier (educational workshop) in the United States, devoted to architecture. As a ..read more

Do you love to design?  Do you love to write?  If so, the New York State Education Department invites you to enter the Write on, NY! Logo Design Contest.  The contest is open to all New York State students in prekindergarten through grade 12 who love to design and love to write!  The deadline for entries is February 28, 2021.  Winning logo designs will be announced in March 2021.  The winning designs will be used to promote the Write on, NY! initiative. Designs MUST include: the initiative’s name, Write on, NY! Designs MAY inc ..read more

In the early 20th century, Blanche Stuart Scott wanted fame and adventure. An automobile manufacturer and an airplane manufacturer wanted publicity. Everyone got what they wanted – and Scott made history as a technological pioneer for women. The daughter of a successful Rochester hoof-paste manufacturer, Blanche Stuart Scott was born on April 8, 1885. She grew up a “tomboy,” excited by technological breakthroughs in transportation. She learned to drive an automobile in her teens, and her enrollment in a genteel finishing school didn’t suppress her need for speed. As a young adult, she spent mu ..read more

The movie, “The One and Only Ivan” is directed by Thea Sharrock, who is an amazing English theater and film director from London, United Kingdom. This  definitely is not her first rodeo because she also directed the famous “Me Before You” and “The Hollow Crown: Henry V”. The movie has an amazing cast of actors including Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Angelina Jolie, Danny DeVito, Brooklyn Prince, Ariana Greenblatt, and Ramon Rodriguez. This wonderful movie is an emotional and heart felt film that is packed with very surprising parts and choices made by the characters in the movie. The movi ..read more