![](http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/newyork/file-172-.jpg")
The Cat in the Hat
You gotta give Media Unit founder Walt Shepperd credit for keeping his award-winning teen performance and production troupe in the public eye, even if it means making himself the center of fundraising attention. In 2010 Shepperd spearheaded a benefit roast of himself that lured a roster of local pols to the podium for potshots, and who knew that District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick could be the Salt City’s very own Don Rickles?
Shepperd’s next benefit brainstorm concerns his imminent retirement—of his hat, that is, a natty chapeau he has kept on his noggin for 18 years, and purchased from the downtown, down-wit-dat style gurus at Bergan’s Urban Fashions on South Salina Street. The rite will be conducted on Thursday, Jan. 12, 6 to 8:30 p.m., at Pensabene’s Banquet House, 135 State Fair Blvd.
Many locals have likewise been wondering for 18 years just what the hell is that thing, decorated with feathers from various birdies, that rests atop Shepperd’s head? Did a Shriner lose his fez during a circus? Was it once part of a costume worn by an organ grinder’s monkey? Nope, Shepperd said it’s just a pork-pie hat, kind of like the one that Gene Hackman’s Manhattan cop Popeye Doyle sported in The French Connection, which means the accoutrement shares its own quasi-haberdashery connection from one urban legend to another.
Aside from hat histrionics, Shepperd has booked musical interludes from the Black Lites, Five to Life and Anna Hoffmann, plus a silent auction involving lids from local and international celebrities. Of course, you never know who Shepperd has corralled for the guest list: If Fitzpatrick turns up at the fete, maybe the DA will launch an investigation that concerns Colgate alum Shepperd’s alleged involvement in the Red Raiders basketball team that last beat Syracuse University. And if Shepperd pulls off this hat trick, perhaps he’ll next think about retiring his pastel purple suit. Too bad Barney the dinosaur already owns one.
Tickets are $10. For reservations, call 478-UNIT or email roughtimeslive@yahoo.com.
—Harlan Felch
Tome Sweet Tome
To Generation X-ers across the country, Seattle in the 1990s will forever be remembered for giving us grunge. For librarians, however, late 20th-century Seattle produced a movement equally as important and long lasting: the One Book, One Community program.
Nancy Pearl (the Kurt Cobain of librarians) and Chris Higashi (her Eddie Vedder) developed the One Book, One Community model for the Seattle Public Library in 1998. The concept is simple: The entire community is invited to read a predetermined book. Programming and events throughout the community are planned around the book, such as discussion groups, lectures and contests. The book provides a common interest and point of discussion for everyone in the community.
The duo’s program found immediate success in Seattle, the only city in America cloudier than Syracuse (After all, what better way is there to spend a sunless afternoon than with a book?). Word soon spread to libraries throughout the country. In 2000, shortly after the advent of the program, Syracuse University brought the idea to upstate New York. After a few years spent getting the program up and running, SU handed the program over to the Onondaga County Public Library, which remains in charge today.
Kathy Osmond chairs the CNY Reads Consortium, which runs Syracuse’s program: CNY Reads One Book. She said the program centers on fostering discussion. “It gives people something to talk about,” she noted. “You can discuss the book with co-workers, neighbors, friends, family or even strangers.”
The CNY Reads Consortium selects which book the community will read, arranges lectures and discussions and plans book-related events throughout Syracuse. The consortium includes community organizations and individuals, but the primary agencies involved are the Onondaga County Public Library and WCNY.
The consortium chooses one book each year around which to focus its activities. Past selections include fiction, non-fiction and even works of poetry. The more popular choices have been Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying and North Star Conspiracy, a novel by local author Miriam Grace Monfredo.
This year, the committee chose The Book Thief (Random House) by Markus Zusak. The 2006 young adult novel has won numerous awards, including the Publishers Weekly Book of the Year Award. The novel takes place in Nazi Germany and follows a young girl who finds strength and comfort in books amid tumultuous times. Osmond hopes the book will, not so subtly, encourage people young and old to read.
“It’s an incredible story and it’s perfect for teens and adults,” Osmond said. “There’s an ongoing theme of courage and perseverance through difficult times. It really speaks to Syracuse.”
Osmond admitted the group doesn’t always choose books with themes pertinent to the local community, but its choices typically have universal appeal and broad, overarching themes. Often, books are chosen based on the Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series, which brings nationally acclaimed authors to Syracuse. In the past, books by authors committed to visiting Syracuse have been selected and the lectures incorporated into the program. This year, however, the group went a different route.
“We tried to get Markus {Zusak} to come speak here but it didn’t work out,” Osmond said. “He’s from Australia, so getting him to come to upstate in the winter was next to impossible.”
While Zusak will remain Down Under through the Syracuse winter, locals will still have the chance to discuss The Book Thief with the Aussie author. The consortium has arranged a Skype discussion with Zusak on April 5 at the Liverpool Public Library, 310 Tulip St.
To encourage people to read the book, the Onondaga County Public Library has beefed up its supply of The Book Thief copies. In addition to 108 hardcovers and paperbacks, they’ve purchased the book on CD and made it available for download on a Kindle, Nook or similar device.
A kickoff event is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 12, 7 p.m., at Barnes & Noble, 3454 Erie Blvd. E., DeWitt. The event will feature local personalities reading excerpts from the novel, including author Bruce Coville, Post-Standard columnist Sean Kirst, actor Frank Fiumano and County Executive Joanie Mahoney. Following the readings, attendees will be treated to refreshments, prizes, accordion music by Julie Schmid and caricatures by local cartoonist J.P. Crangle.
“It’s all centered around the book,” Osmond said of the cartoonist and choice of musical entertainment. “You’d be amazed how hard it is to find an accordion player around here, too, so we got lucky.”
Over the next three months, events will be held throughout Central New York that relate to themes from the novel. CNY Reads One Book will also hold a writing contest for high school students. The contest involves writing a story as Death, the narrator of the novel. “This is a communitywide literacy effort,” Osmond added. “And this book really illustrates how lives can be changed by reading.”
Future event information can be found on the CNY Reads One Book website: onlib.org/cnyreads.htm#consortium.
—Chris Baker
SU Hoops: Winning!
The No. 1-ranked Syracuse University men’s basketball team had just defeated No. 20 Marquette 73-66 on Saturday, Jan. 7, at the Carrier Dome, and Orange coach Jim Boeheim was asked for the umpteenth time this season about SU’s penchant for making dramatic runs such as its 23-1 spurt in the first half. And for the umpteenth time this season, Boeheim shrugged off the question like a cop telling rubberneckers “there’s nothing to see here.”
“I think runs are a part of basketball,” Boeheim said. “I think they always are, always have been.” Next question.
In the SU locker room, sophomore guard Dion Waiters said the players don’t talk about the runs and only learn details from media types after the game. “I can’t tell you how the runs go, it just happens,” Waiters said. “We’re out there playing basketball, and when you get told afterward it’s like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that.’”
As it turned out, SU needed every point of that 23-1 run because the Golden Eagles responded with a spurt of their own that sliced the Orange lead to 59-57 with five minutes, 15 seconds left in the game. Two Baye Keita free throws and a Waiters block and layup gave SU some breathing room and the Orange held on before a lively crowd of 25,412—the largest in the nation so far this season.
“We know we’re capable of making runs at some point in time, and throughout the season we’re going to play good teams that are going to make runs back at us,” SU senior guard Scoop Jardine said. “It’s about keeping our poise, defending the basketball, and a never-say-die attitude and we can come out with the victory and {Saturday} we did.”
Runs like the 23-1 spurt against Marquette have been common for an SU squad that sits at 17-0 and two wins shy of tying the best start in program history: 19-0 in 1999-2000. And the runs have been necessary: In six games—Virginia Tech, Stanford, Marshall, North Carolina State, Tulane and Marquette—the margin of SU’s biggest run tied or exceeded the margin of victory.
For example, the Orange had an 18-5 run to end the game in a six-point win against Stanford, and a 23-0 spurt against N.C. State in the first half of a 16-point win. When SU gets on that kind of roll, “It seems unreal, like a video game,” sophomore forward C.J. Fair said. “One minute you’re up five, and you look two minutes later and you’re up 17. We have players who can get points in spurts, like Dion and James {Southerland}.”
SU’s runs are triggered by defense—the Orange tops the Big East Conference in steals and blocks—and that leads to easy baskets. SU’s superior depth also comes into play because the runs usually happen when bench players like Waiters, Fair and Southerland are in the game and either the opponents’ starters are tiring, or their bench players just aren’t as good.
“When our defense is tough, we’re able to get a lot of stops,” junior guard Brandon Triche said. “And when stops happen, the offense triggers and we start turning them over and get in transition and that’s a good thing.”
In many non-conference games this season, SU was able to use a spurt to get a big lead and then shift into cruise control. But that’s not going to happen in the Big East Conference, as Marquette answered SU’s 23-1 run by outscoring the Orange 45-24 over the next 17 1/2 minutes.
“We knew they were going to make a run,” Waiters said. “We came out lackadaisical {in the second half} and not really playing defense, and it hurt us. We turned it into a ball game. We talked to each other, and we had to keep our composure. Things like that can help us become a better team, facing adversity.”
Clinging to a 59-57 lead, Boeheim said he wanted to call a timeout when the Golden Eagles started to trap on defense. But Keita, a 69 percent free throw shooter who had attempted four free throws in about a month, was fouled before Boeheim could get the timeout.
Keita, who has been bothered by a bruised hip, sank both free throws. Waiters followed by blocking a Darius Johnson-Odom 3-point shot, retrieving the ball and taking it in for a layup. The four points sparked a 13-6 run that clinched the victory and avenged Marquette’s 66-62 win over the Orange in the second round of last year’s NCAA Tournament.
“Baye made the two shots of the year,” Boeheim said. “Then when Dion made that block, that gave us separation. Big plays.”
Clearly, Boeheim wanted to talk more about SU’s play down the stretch than the 23-1 run in the first half. While the Orange needed that run to win, it also demonstrated a late-game toughness that will be needed to win the close games in March. “Yes, that shows the character and heart we have,” Fair said. “We don’t want to lose.”
—Matt Michael
