The First Few Paragraphs: An In-depth Dive into the Polar Bear Club

The ocean inhales and drags its liquid contents backwards as the water retaliates, standing up tall, but crashes to the shore with the ocean’s exhale. There is something about the ocean that is spiritual, but perhaps it is just the spirit of Coney Island.

Coney Island, the historical New York neighborhood, with its fantastical and nostalgic feel, is home to many annual festivals and events. One ritual, the weekly Polar Bear swim, that has been around for over one-hundred years is no expectation.

While most New Yorkers stay bundled up, beating the cold, the members of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club bare all, taking a weekly Sunday swim from November to April ever year. However, there seems to have been some drastic changes within the cub, since President Dennis Thomas has stepped up to the plate.

The members risen, as a wide range in age, race, ethnicity, and various economic classes have become to come together to form a tight knit community. The amount of members has increased in the recent years, thanks to the “second family” feeling that Thomas has provided. “A number of years ago we saw members dwindling. The current president really didn't want any new members and discouraged newcomers."

 "We were paying dues and couldn't get answers where they were going. We knew there should be elections every 2 years, and this guy refused to comply. Finally, he told us he considered himself president for life, and that was the last straw. I looked around at our dwindling membership and thought the club was going to die out after over 100 years, and that would be a sad thing to witness.”

 Dennis Thomas revealed the changes Coney Island and the Bears have faced over the years. “Coney Island was a very different place in those days. A mix of an environment dedicated to fun and at the same time incredibly dysfunctional, decaying and threatening. It was a very rich experience because of this contrast,” Thomas stated.

He concludes to say that the club is not just elderly men who seem crazy t...

However, there appears to be a trend occurring within the club, as members are making the Polar plunge for the cold swim's medical benefits.

Benarr Macfadden, also known as the “Father of Physical Culture”, founded the club in 1903, a firm believer in healthy lifestyle and natural healing. “Weakness is a crime; don’t be a criminal”, it a slogan he is reported to have stated.

The members of the Polar Bear Club are far from weak, although many members are of an older generation, and many suffer health complications.

Dozens of members of the club disclosed that after suffering from joint pains, arthritis and sore muscles, therefore, winter swimming in New York has its unexpected health perks.  The cold swim releases the body from all pains, as the water’s cool temperature, the swimmers bodies become numb, causing unstressed feelings in the body.

However, if not monitored properly, the swim can become dangerous; as members could be ask risk to drown. For safety precautions, the club hires lifeguards to survey in case of an emergency.

USA Today : "JetBlue captain subdued after erratic behavior on flight"

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2012-03-27/JetBlue-captain-subdued-after-erratic-behavior-on-flight/53811070/1?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=206567

The following article interested me very much, as JetBlue, in my opinion, is a safe and responsible airline. I have been flying JetBlue for years, starting back from when those soft, blue blanket and pillows were free. My father working for JetBlue as a federal custom agent only makes me more biased.

However, after reading this article, it alarmed me that there are no mental health evaluations for pilots. I would like to think the person operating the plane would be mentally capable of getting passengers to and from with complete safety.

"Aviation expert Michael Barr said there aren't any good procedures in place if a pilot has a meltdown in the cockpit and the cockpit door is closed," the article reports.

Noticing that this plane was heading from JFK and the pilot scared passengers and himself screaming there was bomb, I would surely hope that procedures are changed so that pilots can be evaluated psychologically to ensure they had carry out their duties. I can only imagine how fearful pilot have become post 9\11. With this said, I do not think it is co-workers responsibility to make sure that pilots are mentally stable. There should be some preliminary testing and some advice for pilots to aid them in keeping their cool while in the air.

I am interested to find out what effects will occur from this pilot's meltdown. If anyone has any comments, feel free to weigh in below.

<a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfueOmiL1Zw&feature=related>YouTube of Incident</a>.

NY Times Article -Shooter of Florida Teen Describes Assault

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/us/shooter-of-florida-teen-describes-assault.html

Performance Review: The Department for the Aging

According to the Agency Performance Report, the Department for the Aging has improved or remained stable with a fifty percent, but has declined with 33.3%.

When looking back at the previous fiscal year, hours of home care services provided decreased more than ten percent, as last year the numbers were 1,003,407, whereas this fiscal year to date provides the data of 275,490. What is more alarming is that the total annual recipients of home care services is at a -42.1%. The amount of senior center meals being served, namely lunches, has decreased less than ten percent, compared to the last fiscal year.

However, the Department for the Ages have made some improvements, as the total number of home delivered meals served increased by 2.5%, as about 1,250,862 meals for the elderly have been served thus far.  This month alone, 230,558 meals have been given to the aging community.

What is intriguing is that the number of completed customer requests for interpretation lies at 100% uncompleted requests compared to last full fiscal year's 2,008.00. Moreover, the average response time for letters\mail correspondence (days) went from 12.8800 to 13.4000. The percentage of e-mails responded to within fourteen days jumped slightly from 83.2 % to 88.1%.

Caregivers who received their casework services or training through DFTA's in-house Alzheimer's and Long Term Care Unit and Grandparent Resource Center has improved with the stats of 23.1%. So far this year, these numbers are approximately half of the number of caregivers from last years 9,359. However, senior trainees placed in unsubsidized employment dropped from 162 to 41.

This Week's Progress

During my time spent with the Coney Island Polar Bear Club members, I have seen this trend in the rising number of participants due to the so called medical benefits winter swimming offers.

Doctor Fred Notarnicola took the time to speak to me about the medical advantages and disadvantages of such winter swimming. I was expecting to find him tell me about how these people are onto something, as the benefits out weigh the risks. However, I found quite the opposite.

Dr. Notarnicola explained to me that although winter swimming is beneficial to one's immune system, the participants are open to various medical dangers.

Although many participants take the plunge to suppress various aches and pain, some suffering from arthritis, Dr. Notarinicola stated that the only benefits the cold water has on arthritis is the numbing effect the cold water gives. Once the person leaves the water, they are actually making the arthritis worse.



Although it does not pertain to "Changing New York",  I have been in contact with David Li De, who has been winter swimming for twelve-years, after being diagnosed with HIV. As far as he knows, he as been the only HIV patient in all of Beijing, if not China who has no complications or any further developments of his illness.

He began winter swimming in 1997 in the natural river and lakes in Beijing. At that time there was no medicine for HIV in China. He met Doctor "R"  who claimed winter swimming cured his hepatitis, believing that this sport is a good way to enhance the immune system.

 "I never lose faith with conquering HIV.  Every day we swam in the cold water and cold wind outside, it could not be persevere without attic faith. So now my body is in very good condition with no symptoms. So I suggest all the people join this sport especially HIVers," Li De stated. 


"Winter swimming is a kind of sport which is very much good for mental and body healthy, I suggest everybody join us," he added.


I have reached out to Therese Caserta, a Polar Bear Club member, who was advised to continue her weekly winter swimming by her doctor, even after a serious surgery. I have plans to interview her over this weekend.


I am also tracking down the previous President of the Polar Bear Club and get some feedback on him on how the club used to be as far as organization, politics, and members.

How Blogging Has Shaped My Reportig

The trend of blogging didn't not drag me into the world of online information at first. My journalistic approach was traditional, as I thought reading blogs would be wasting my time. I did not hop on the band wagon of this trend, until I firmly decided in taking my career as a journalist to the next level.

I did not know what specific role of a journalist I had and felt lost within my dream of doing this as a full-term career. I decided dreams are just wishful thinking; they only matter when one is trying to achieve them. I reached out to some online publications in reach of an internship or some opportunity to start writing. I began writing for TheCelebrityCafe.com, one of the oldest entertainment websites. From there, I was an occasional writer for EWAVV.com and this began to shape me as a journalist.

Blogging has changed the way I began to report, as constantly was reading news and finding stories online. I began to realize that I was reading most of my news online, as it was more convenient and I could read much more news in a timely matter, focusing what was interesting or important to me.

Blogs are a great way to find people to interview who have an area of expertize or find that face for the story you are working on. When I was an entertainment reporter, I wrote about celebrities that people were talking about. I had to stay on top of trends and blogs were a great and essential role in doing so.I have found blogs a great way to contact people, helping me get great interviews for my radio show, Sex and Politics. I find that people are so accessible online and the lines of communication are thinner, being just a click away.

In keeping on top of breaking news, I find that websites offer great blogs that report cohesively and coherently. I often find stretched for time and reading a blog post can help me stay updated on news, while keeping my time in mind. I feel like some blogs are just people's opinion, clouding some basic journalist standards, but once stumbling on a few good, credible blogs, it is a great way to be informed. I feel like I tend to read more shorter pieces now that I have been accustomed to reading blogs, cutting out my window of opportunity to read good in-depth pieces. My attention span has seemed to decreased, a trend in most technologically educated Americans.