KIPS BAY, DUTCH SETTLERS & THE BELLEVUE HOSPITAL

Today, The Grandma has visited Bellevue Hospital in Kips Bay, a center popularly associated with its treatment of mentally ill patients, to know more about how to invest in mental health.

Meanwhile, The Newtons have continued preparing their Cambridge Exam. They have studied Reported Speech.

More info: Reported Speech

Kips Bay, or Kip's Bay, is a neighbourhood on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by East 34th Street to the north, the East River to the east, East 27th and/or 23rd Streets to the south, and Third Avenue to the west.

According to The Encyclopedia of New York City and the New York City Department of City Planning, Kips Bay proper is generally bounded by East 34th Street to the north, the East River to the east, East 27th Street to the south, and Third Avenue to the west.

City documents have also used New York City census tract 70 (from 29th to 34th Streets, First to Third Avenues) as an approximation for Kips Bay, and referred to tract 66, immediately below it, as Bellevue South.

The American Guide Series defines the combined Kip's Bay-Turtle Bay area as running from 27th Street north 59th Street, and from Third Avenue to the East River, excluding the neighbourhoods of Beekman Place and Sutton Place.

For its entry on Kips Bay, the American Institute of Architects' AIA Guide to New York City uses the area from 23rd Street north to roughly 38th Street, and from the East River west to just past Second Avenue.

Other popular definitions of the neighbourhood, such as that by The New York Times, include 23rd Street to the south, 34th Street to the north, Lexington Avenue to the west, and the East River to the east. To the north is Murray Hill; to the west is Madison Square, NoMad, and/or Rose Hill; and to the south is the Bellevue area or the Gramercy Park neighborhood and Peter Cooper Village.

More information: Urban Areas

Kips Bay was an inlet of the East River running from what is now 32nd Street to 37th Street. The bay extended into Manhattan Island to just west of what is now First Avenue and had two streams that drained into it.

The bay was named after New Netherland Dutch settler Jacobus Hendrickson Kip (1631-1690), son of Hendrick Hendricksen Kip, whose farm ran north of present-day 30th Street along the East River.

The bay became reclaimed land, yet Kips Bay remains the name of the area. Kip built a large brick and stone house, near the modern intersection of Second Avenue and East 35th Street. The house stood from 1655 to 1851, expanded more than once, and when it was demolished was the last farmhouse from New Amsterdam remaining in Manhattan.

Iron figures fixed into the gable-end brickwork commemorated the year of its first construction. Its orchard was famous, and, when first President George Washington was presented with a sip of its Rosa gallica during his first administration (1789-1793), when New York was serving as the first national capital city, it was claimed to have been the first garden to have grown it in the Thirteen Colonies.

The neighbourhood has been rebuilt in patches, featuring both new high-rise structures often set back from the street, and a multitude of exposed party walls that were never meant to be seen in public. A nearly forgotten feature is the private alley called Broadway Alley, between 26th and 27th Streets, halfway between Lexington and Third Avenues, reputedly the last unpaved street in Manhattan; it is not known what this alley is named after, since it is not near the main Broadway.

More information: The New York Times

Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health+ Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States.

One of the largest hospitals in the United States by number of beds, it is located at 462 First Avenue in the Kips Bay neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York City. 

Bellevue is also home to FDNY EMS Station 08, formerly NYC EMS Station 13.

Historically, Bellevue was popularly associated with its treatment of mentally ill patients such that Bellevue became a local pejorative slang term for a psychiatric hospital.

This is long past the case as the hospital since developed into a comprehensive major medical center over the years, including outpatient, specialty, and skilled nursing care, as well as emergency and inpatient services. The hospital contains a 25-story patient care facility and has an attending physician staff of 1,200 and an in-house staff of about 5,500.

Bellevue is a safety net hospital, providing healthcare for individuals regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. It handles over half a million patient visits each year.

In 2014 Bellevue was ranked 40th overall best hospital in the New York metro area and 29th in New York City by U.S. News & World Report.

More information: The Bowery Boys History

Bellevue traces its origins to the city's first permanent almshouse, a two-story brick building completed in 1736 on the city common, now City Hall Park.

In 1798, the city purchased Belle Vue farm, a property near the East River several miles north of the settled city, which had been used to quarantine the sick during a series of yellow fever outbreaks. The hospital was formally named Bellevue Hospital in 1824.

By 1787, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons had assigned faculty and medical students to Bellevue. Columbia faculty and students would remain at Bellevue for the next 181 years, until the restructuring of the academic affiliations of Bellevue Hospital in 1968.

New York University faculty began to conduct clinical instruction at the hospital in 1819. 

In 1849, an amphitheater for clinical teaching and surgery opened. 

In 1861, the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, the first medical college in New York with connections to a hospital, was founded.

By 1873, the nation's first nursing school based on Florence Nightingale's principles opened at Bellevue, followed by the nation's first children's clinic in 1874 and the nation's first emergency pavilion in 1876; a pavilion for the insane, an approach considered revolutionary at the time, was erected within hospital grounds in 1879. For that reason, the name Bellevue is sometimes used as a metonym for psychiatric hospitals. Mark Harris in New York called it the Chelsea Hotel of the mad.

Bellevue initiated a residency training program in 1883 that is still the model for surgical training worldwide. The Carnegie Laboratory, the nation's first pathology and bacteriology laboratory, was founded there a year later, followed by the nation's first men's nursing school in 1888. By 1892, Bellevue established a dedicated unit for alcoholics.

In 1902, the administrative Bellevue and Allied Hospitals organization were formed by the city, under president John W. Brannan. B&AH also included Gouverneur Hospital, Harlem Hospital, and Fordham Hospital. B&AH opened doors to female and black physicians. In the midst of a tuberculosis epidemic a year later, the Bellevue Chest Service was founded.

In April 2010, plans to redevelop the former psychiatric hospital building as a hotel and conference center connected to NYU Langone Medical Center fell through.

More information: Thrillist

We need to start identifying the triggers
that aggravate mental health issues in our society
-bullying, social media negativity and anxiety,
gender based violence, substance abuse,
stigma around issues such as maternal issues, etc.,
and we need to speak up about these more
and get to the source of the problems.

Sanam Saeed

GALÁPAGOS TORTOISE, 152 YEARS OLD LIVING SLOWLY

The Galápagos Tortoise

Today, May 23, is World Turtle Day, sponsored yearly since 2000 by American Tortoise Rescue. The purpose is to bring attention to, and increase knowledge of and respect for, turtles and tortoises, and encourage human action to help them survive and thrive.

World Turtle Day is celebrated around the globe in a variety of ways, from dressing up as turtles or wearing green summer dresses, to saving turtles caught on highways, to research activities. Turtle Day lesson plans and craft projects encourage teaching about turtles in classrooms.

The Jones continue their trip in the Galápagos Islands. The family has visited the tortoises today, one of the most typical animals of these islands to celebrate this important day. They have rested on the grass and have revised the Reported Speech.

More info: Reported Speech & Download Reported Speech

 

Later, they have read a new chapter of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

The Galápagos tortoise complex or Galápagos giant tortoise complex, Chelonoidis nigra and related species, are the largest living species of tortoise. Modern Galápagos tortoises can weigh up to 417 kg. Today, giant tortoises exist only on two remote archipelagos: the Galápagos Islands 1000 km due west of mainland Ecuador, and Aldabra in the Indian Ocean, 700 km east of Tanzania.

Galápagos Tortoises and some Jones

The Galápagos tortoises are native to seven of the Galápagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago about 1,000 km west of the Ecuadorian mainland. With lifespans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates. 

A captive individual lived at least 170 years. Spanish explorers, who discovered the islands in the 16th century, named them after the Spanish galápago, meaning tortoise. Shell size and shape vary between populations. On islands with humid highlands, the tortoises are larger, with domed shells and short necks; on islands with dry lowlands, the tortoises are smaller, with saddleback shells and long necks. 

More information: Galápagos

Charles Darwin's observations of these differences on the second voyage of the Beagle in 1835, contributed to the development of his theory of evolution.

Tortoise numbers declined from over 250,000 in the 16th century to a low of around 3,000 in the 1970s. This decline was caused by overexploitation of the species for meat and oil, habitat clearance for agriculture, and introduction of non-native animals to the islands, such as rats, goats, and pigs.  

Galápagos Tortoise and Claudia Jones

The extinction of most giant tortoise lineages is thought to have also been caused by predation by humans or human ancestors, as the tortoises themselves have no natural predators. 

Tortoise populations on at least three islands have become extinct in historical times due to human activities. Specimens of these extinct taxa exist in several museums and also are being subjected to DNA analysis. Ten species of the original 15 survive in the wild; an 11th species, Chelonoidis abingdonii, had only a single known living individual, kept in captivity and nicknamed Lonesome George until his death in June 2012. 

More information: National Geographic

Conservation efforts, beginning in the 20th century, have resulted in thousands of captive-bred juveniles being released onto their ancestral home islands, and the total number of the species is estimated to have exceeded 19,000 at the start of the 21st century. Despite this rebound, the species as a whole is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The Galápagos Islands were discovered in 1535, but first appeared on the maps, of Gerardus Mercator and Abraham Ortelius, around 1570. The islands were named Insulae de los Galopegos, Islands of the Tortoises in reference to the giant tortoises found there.

Galápagos Tortoises and some Jones

Initially, the giant tortoises of the Indian Ocean and those from the Galápagos were considered to be the same species. Naturalists thought that sailors had transported the tortoises there. In 1676, the pre-Linnaean authority Claude Perrault referred to both species as Tortue des Indes. 

In 1783, Johann Gottlob Schneider classified all giant tortoises as Testudo indica, Indian tortoise. In 1812, August Friedrich Schweigger named them Testudo gigantea, gigantic tortoise. In 1834, André Marie Constant Duméril and Gabriel Bibron classified the Galápagos tortoises as a separate species, which they named Testudo nigrita, black tortoise.

All species of Galápagos tortoises evolved from common ancestors that arrived from mainland South America by overwater dispersal. Genetic studies have shown that the Chaco tortoise of Argentina and Paraguay is their closest living relative. The minimal founding population was a pregnant female or a breeding pair. 

More information: Darwin Foundation

Survival on the 1000-km oceanic journey is accounted for because the tortoises are buoyant, can breathe by extending their necks above the water, and are able to survive months without food or fresh water. As they are poor swimmers, the journey was probably a passive one facilitated by the Humboldt Current, which diverts westwards towards the Galápagos Islands from the mainland. The ancestors of the genus Chelonoidis are believed to have similarly dispersed from Africa to South America during the Oligocene.

Claudia Jones and some Galápagos Tortoise

The closest living relative, though not a direct ancestor, of the Galápagos giant tortoise is the Chaco tortoise, Chelonoidis chilensis, a much smaller species from South America. 

The divergence between Chelodonis chilensis and Chelodonis nigra probably occurred 6–12 million years ago, an evolutionary event preceding the volcanic formation of the oldest modern Galápagos Islands 5 million years ago. 

More information: New Scientist

Mitochondrial DNA analysis indicates that the oldest existing islands, Española and San Cristóbal, were colonised first, and that these populations seeded the younger islands via dispersal in a stepping stone fashion via local currents. Restricted gene flow between isolated islands then resulted in the independent evolution of the populations into the divergent forms observed in the modern species. The evolutionary relationships between the species thus echo the volcanic history of the islands.

More information: Live Science

We called him Tortoise because he taught us. 

Lewis Carroll

THE BEANS ARE IN LISBON: SAUDADE AND VICTORY

Paqui Bean, the soloist, and The Beans chorus

The Beans are in Lisbon, where they have arrived to participate in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.. 

They have been working very hard in the creation of the song and they are ready to introduce it to the audience. To avoid nerves and prepare a good diction, they have revised Reported Speech and Third Conditional. 

They have also played bingo in Navajo style, with beans and Manolo Bean as the main voice.

 

More information: Reported Speech

The family has also finished the reading of Christmas Carol, the masterpiece of Charles Dickens that talks about redemption and second chances. One of the best characteristics of Dickens's literature is the chance that he offers to his characters to improve and repair the past mistakes to try to become better people.

More information: Third Conditional

Finally, The Beans have performanced their song named The Beans and they have won the contest without problems. Deep and elaborated lyrics, rhytmic music and a visual interpretation have been enough to astonish all the juries and the whole public who voted from their homes across Europe.

The Beans have arrived
to sing your song
for all who have loved
sing with us very strong.

(Chorus)

We are The Beans.
We like all drinks.
We are The Beans.
We love all sweets.
We're travelling.

We are The Beans.
We are strong.
We continue travelling
despite have left some on the road.

(Chorus)

The luckiest of the world,
Grandma joined us altogether.
We have found gold, 
we wish last forever.

(Chorus)

The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.
 

Charles Dickens

The Eurovision Song Contest, sometimes popularly called Eurovision. It is the longest-running annual international TV song competition. It has been held, primarily, among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956. The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy since 1951.

The Beans in Lisbon, Portugal

Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the competition's winning entry. 

The contest has been broadcast every year for sixty-two years, since its inauguration in 1956, and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures in recent years quoted as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally.

More information: Eurovision Song Contest Lisbon 2018

Sandie Shaw, February 1947, is an English singer. One of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s, in 1967 the song Puppet on a String performed by her became the first British entry to win the Eurovision Song Contest. After a long and successful career, Shaw announced her retirement from the music industry in 2013.

We are The Beans, we love all sweets

Sandra Ann Goodrich was born and brought up in Dagenham, Essex, England. On leaving school, she worked at the nearby Ford Dagenham factory, and did some part-time modelling before coming second as a singer in a local talent contest. 

As a prize, she appeared at a charity concert in London, where her potential was spotted by singer Adam Faith. 

He introduced her to his manager, Eve Taylor, who won her a contract with Pye Records in 1964 and gave her the stage name of Sandie Shaw.

By 1967 Shaw's record sales were declining and her manager decided on more of a cabaret appeal. She was invited by the BBC to represent the UK in that year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. She had reservations as she felt it would destroy her credibility, but performed five songs on The Rolf Harris Show, with the public voting that the one that should represent the country was the Bill Martin/Phil Coulter composition Puppet on a String. 

I feel like Eurovision is a parallel dimension. It reminds me of 'Dance Fever' and 'Solid Gold' when I was a kid. Then when you hear these songs sung in English by someone who may or may not understand the words, the unique awesomeness hits you.
 

Seamus Dever

THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS IN THE WWII: HE SAID THAT...

Tania Bean

Today, The Beans have visited the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. The family has been invited to participate of one of the most important Navajo cerimonies: The Blessing Way.  

Cristina Bean has been chosen to participate in this cerimony where you put your soul in contact with the universe and become stronger to confront difficult situations. 

After the cerimony, the family has been revising some English grammar with the Reported Speech and they have started the last chapter of Christmas Carol.
 

Tania Bean and Estefanía Bean have participated in a difficult password that they have won demonstrating that there isn't anything more important that the teamwork.

More information: Reported Speech

A member of the Navajo Community has explained them the importance of his community during the WWII where they worked as code talkers using his own language and The Grandma has been talking about the importance of money in all our daily activities where a coin becomes more important than a person, a vision totally opposed to the point of view of the Native American cultures. 

 More information: Reported Speech

Estefanía Bean

The Grandma has also talked about the importance of being a member of a community and working together to keep good services of all for all as a way to live better; and about the evaluation of happiness like a social indicator. 

The Earth is inhabited for differents cultures and we can take example of the best things that everyone of them can offer to us to improve our lives, our communities and our environment. 

It's a very difficult goal but we must do it, if we think in the next generations and we want to leave them a good legacy.

There are about 175,000 speakers of the Navajo language Díne Bizaad. While English is the language that all Navajo speak, they also keep alive their own language, culture and customs so that future generations will be aware of their heritage. 

Download Navajo Alphabet & Numbers

For Americans who grew up on old TV westerns, they may have heard the language without realizing it. As most westerns were centered on the southwestern United States, the most depicted tribes in these westerns were Apache or Navajo. The Navajo greetings Yah’eh-teh’, meaning how do you do?, and Ah-hah-lah’nih, which is an affectionate greeting, were often used.

Anton Bean & Navajo Code Talker Monument

Probably the most famous use of the Navajo language outside of the Navajo Nation was during World War II. 420 young Navajo men were recruited and became Marines codetalkers during the war in the Pacific. 

They were picked because they spoke both English and their native language fluently, so they could receive orders and relay them to other codetalkers to give to their superiors. The Navajo language had not been studied by the enemy, so orders could be issued without fear of interception.

Code talkers are people in the 20th century who used obscure languages as a means of secret communication during wartime. The term is now usually associated with the United States service members during the world wars who used their knowledge of Native American languages as a basis to transmit coded messages. In particular, there were approximately 400–500 Native Americans in the United States Marine Corps whose primary job was the transmission of secret tactical messages. 

More information: Navajo Nation Museum

The Beans flying over the Horseshoe Bend

Code talkers transmitted these messages over military telephone or radio communications nets using formal or informally developed codes built upon their native languages. Their service improved the speed of encryption of communications at both ends in front line operations during World War II.

The name code talkers is strongly associated with bilingual Navajo speakers specially recruited during World War II by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater. Code talking, however, was pioneered by the Cherokee and Choctaw peoples during World War I.

More information: CNN

Other Native American code talkers were deployed by the United States Army during World War II, including Lakota, Meskwaki, and Comanche soldiers. Soldiers of Basque ancestry were also used for code talking by the U.S. Marines during World War II in areas where other Basque speakers were not expected to be operating. 

Finally, The Beans have visited Navajo Nation in Arizona and Utah by the air. It has been an unforgettable experience before traveling to Lisbon where tomorrow night they are going to participate in the Eurovision Song Festival. 

More information: HistoryNet

  

Naa'óí naalzhoodí / Moving the beans around.

Navajo Proverb

CLADDAGH RING: FRIENDSHIP AND LOYALTY FOREVER

The Grandma arriving to The Temple Bar

The Bonds are still in Dublin. They're visiting cultural places like museums and leisure ones like parks and stadiums. The capital of Ireland is a very beautiful city plenty of history where people offer you their best and where you can feel like home.

The family has decided to stay in Ireland during some weeks and continue their English lessons.

More information: Reported Speech

Today, they have been revising Reported Speech and have read a new chapter of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Tonight, the family is going to assist to a concert of Popular and Folkloric Irish music because Eli Bond and The Grandma are great fans of it. Tomorrow, they're going to present their respects to Molly Malone.

Download The Oxford Dictionary of Slang

I'm proud to be Irish. Kelli O'Hara
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/k/kelliohar660262.html

I'm proud to be Irish - Kelli O'Hara

EXAMS? TRUST ON YOURSELVES.

Yesterday, The Poppins practised a part of a PET Official Exam. It was a hard day because the family was exhausted after an intensive weekend in Washington DC visiting a lot of places.

After, the family studied Reported Speech and talked a little about effort, hope and work and the importance of being flexible.

More information: Reported Speech

The course is arriving to the end and the family is going to take different paths very soon but they always must remember that they’re Poppins and this surname is plenty of energy, magic and power.

More information: Reading & Comprehension (35 On line Exercises)

Today and tomorrow, the family is assisting to Occupational Health Hazards and Safe classes and they’re learning about these dangerous risks in their works.

 During exams, students look up for inspiration, 

down in desperation, 

and left and right for information.

Anonymous

THE HOLMES, FERNANDO & DAVID

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Last Monday, The Holmes revised some aspects of English Grammar. They’re preparing their PET exam with determination. In that case, they studied Reported Speech. Before, they had received the visit of a man who wanted to control The Grandma’s business, Fernando.

On Tuesday, they continued with Reported Speech and they finished the last chapter of Charles Dickens’ A Carol Christmas, a beautiful masterpiece which talks about human feelings and attitudes.

More information: Reported Speech

Yesterday, it was the last day of English classes and they celebrated it with some examples of PET Speaking and some snacks.

Today, the family has received the visit of another person, David, who has been talking about Occupational Health Hazards and Safety.

The Grandma has returned to Andorra, her hometown. She must pay attention to her business during some weeks but she doesn’t leave her family alone, she will continue trying to help them in their crusade: PET exam.

 

There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando.

 ABBA