Buffalo Schools: Sleeping Giant or Giant Mess?

by Jamie Moses and Peter Koch

All eyes were on Buffalo Public Schools superintendent James A. Williams. “I am the CEO of a $1.7 billion operation.” He paused to allow the weight of that to sink in. Unfortunately, the fact didn’t register much on the hundred or so folks who had gathered for the free breakfast at the Polish Cadets Hall on Grant St. Standing in the center of the room in a smart-fitting brown suit, and looking very much like a retired NFL linebacker, Williams scanned the crowd hunched over their waffles and coffee and gave it another shot, punctuating his words by slowly jabbing two beefy fingers in the air. “A $700 million school budget and $1 billion schools building project. That’s $1.7 billion.”

While no one would dispute Donna Fernandes’ commitment to the Buffalo Zoo, her return in no way ensures that animals still living in concrete and iron cages will be afforded relief anytime soon (“Donna Fernandes returns to the Buffalo Zoo,” November 10-16, 2005). Despite promises, hopes and dreams, animals at the zoo still languish in substandard and inhumane conditions. More and more people believe there is no justification for keeping animals in cages for our fleeting distraction and amusement.

Mass Departure

by Ken Ilgunas

Like an exodus out of Egypt, Catholics are leaving Buffalo churches in droves. According to the Buffalo Diocese, over the past decade mass attendance has dropped 15 percent while baptisms and marriages have declined by more than 33 percent. The waning numbers have caused the Diocese to consider the consolidation and closing of 60 to 100 churches in the next two to three years. The trend of empty pews and half-filled churches is not just a local phenomenon, but a national one. The Vatican’s rigid stance concerning who may enter the priesthood threatens to alienate potential churchgoers. A recent document issued from the Vatican prohibits priests “who are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’” The Church’s unbending position on several hot-button issues has caused many people to believe that organized religion is becoming archaic and outdated. Should the Vatican make an attempt to modernize? What will happen to all the empty churches in Buffalo?

Halls of Fame: What Do the Arts Mean to Us?

by Lauren N. Maynard

Abolitionist Mary B. Talbert, co-founder of the Niagara Movement which later became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is one of Buffalo’s most honored citizens and one of America’s greatest human rights activists. She died in 1923, but on a chilly afternoon this October, she made her way through an excited crowd in Rockwell Hall as Buffalo State professor Geraldine Bard officially dedicated the Western New York Women’s Hall of Fame.

A Republican Thanksgiving

by Michael I. Niman

There’s no limit to the amount of mischief wolves can get into when left alone in the henhouse. Wolves, you see, eat hens and chickens. They can’t help themselves. Likewise, we shouldn’t be surprised at the damage anti-government Republicans can cause when left in charge of all branches of government. They just can’t help themselves.

by Cynnie Gaasch

New Look for Sabres Telecast

by Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell

Talk to Kevin Sylvester (above, far left), the new Studio Host for Sabres game-night telecasts on the Madison Square Gardens channel, and he’ll tell you about the empty cardboard box in his office. “In this business, you never know when you’ll have to pack your things and leave in a hurry,” says Sylvester.

by M. Faust

To state the obvious: this whole TV-series-on-DVD thing has gotten completely out of control. Among the releases that are likely to show up on the shelves of mainstream renters and retailers in the next two weeks, nearly half are collections of television shows.

Noah Baumbach: My Brother Didn't Do Those Things

by M. Faust

The so-called independent film boom of the early 1990s, when every young director wanted to be the next Quentin Tarantino or Whit Stillman and every financier wanted to start the next Miramax, left a lot of casualties. Many a young filmmaker got the chance to make a movie, only to have it indifferently released to home video or cable.

InAdaze

We have been entertaining local audiences in packed houses at area music scene landmarks such as The Tralf, Sphere Entertainment Complex and Nietzsche’s for years and look forward to continuing. We can provide our own professional sound equipment and a full-time sound engineer. With a diverse music sound, inAdaze is able to go from rockin’ at a festival or local bar, to breaking it down to an acoustic show for a more intimate experience.

by Chuck Shepherd

■ “Cow-tipping” (the legendary prank of sneaking up on a dozing cow and pushing her over) was exposed as a near-impossibility by researchers at the University of British Columbia, according to a November report in The Times of London. Calculating the newtons of force required to topple an average cow (estimating the angles between left hooves, right hooves and the point of push; and the resistance of the cow to downward pressure), Dr. Margo Lillie found that two people could exert the required force only if the cow made no reaction at all to the initial touch, but that more than likely, a successful tipping would require at least five people.

by Rob Brezsny

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In her profile on poet John Ashbery in The New Yorker, Larissa MacFarquhar reports that his Manhattan apartment is deeply chaotic. “Everything needs to be open and nothing is ever closed,” she quotes Ashbery’s partner as saying. “Drawers. Cabinets. Closet doors. Everything! All possibilities must be available at all times.” This happens to be my exact prescription for you, Sagittarius. Make your heart as innocent as possible. Suspend your opinions. Judge nothing. Be hungry for the raw truth and beauty that can be captured with the aid of naked receptivity. Oh, and keep all your cabinets and drawers open.