Living in fear of the R-word? It’s time to be creative

By SOMDATTA SENGUPTA

Published April 10, 2008

Is the credit crunch bothering you? Has your house depreciated lower than you expected? Or is the fear of the pink slip making you sleepless?

If it is, then you have only one way to go. Be creative. Whether you are a homeowner or a small business owner, fears of a recession could only suggest that what was working before might not be working now. So it may be time to change the way things get done and improvise.

As rock guitarist Carlos Santana said during his live performance at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland on Sunday, April 6, “Things can’t be worse than they are now.” To that I add: It can only get better after it gets worse.

U.S. Department of Labor statistics show that 80,000 jobs were lost in March. It is also the biggest monthly drop in five years, as many media sources reported over the weekend. On top of that, it is the third consecutive month since the beginning of this year, that job losses happened at a steady rate.

According to an April 4 statement made by U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, “Negative job growth in March shows that the challenges in the housing market and financial sector continue to impact the economy.”

While this is true, here’s what’s more interesting and relevant to the Bayshore about what Ms. Chao said: The largest job losses are in construction and manufacturing. Thankfully, those areas are not the backbone of the Bayshore economy. We have a service-based economy here. That’s good news to start with.

The secretary of labor also stated that the Bush administration “has taken strong, proactive measures to turn around the slowly weakening job market with a stimulus package that will kick in soon, new programs that have helped more than one million homeowners avoid foreclosures and actions that have brought stability to the financial markets.”

Add to that the peace of mind that comes with having some really smart people on Wall Street who can turn things around just like they did soon after 9/11.

Further, we have a brilliant scholar, and in my opinion, a man who thinks on his feet, on top of what needs to be done with the economy: the Garden State’s very own Princeton University Professor Dr. Ben Bernanke.

This Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate has helped stabilize the markets through the timely intervention of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Under his leadership, the Federal Reserve decided to underwrite approximately $30 billion of Bear Stearns’ assets as JP Morgan took over the ailing bank.

He took a lot of heat from the U.S. Congress and the media last week after he stood his ground and did what was right and needed. What’s most important is that Dr. Bernanke acted on time and reversed the downward trend on Wall Street. His action restored investors’ confidence and started a chain reaction for financial recovery. It paved the way for UBS and Lehman Brothers’ to stabilize and now, the Wall Street rumor is that with these measures in place, the recession might just be a six-month affair. Even Dr. Bernanke predicts as much.

However this turns out, at the local level, as a Bayshore resident, I think the current trends require creativity, not panic.

If you are a homeowner, it is time to seek information about how banks and the government are planning to help you out. Then take advantage of those measures. Tighten your belt if you must and curb your lifestyle, but not your optimism.

For small businesses or a franchise owner: Don’t let cutting down your staff and services be the first thing done. Doing such will seriously impact a company’s productivity, stress the few employees left on payroll (by adding to their to-do list), and impact the quality of the product or service a company may offer. Once a product or service suffers, it might be more damaging than the slowdown in the economy, and more costly to fix.

As all clouds have a silver lining, the recession and high gas prices might bring more traffic down the Bayshore than expected. Long-distance and overseas travel might go down as people try to spend their vacation locally. Hard times discourage extravagance, and force people to seek out dining and entertainment options closer to home. How bad is that when a local shop is just the right place for people to go to in a neighborhood?

If you are an employee and fear that your job is on the line, then it is time to re-double your contributions at work, and not withdraw from duties. Show an interest in the organization’s concerns about a slowing economy and do something positive that would help the company tide over the situation. Find the pennies to save. By doing that a worker would perhaps have taken a positive step in turning around some company’s money woes.

If someone might have already lost his or her job, then instead of being depressed, it’s time to increase your skills, learn something new, or seek another career path that will help a person to earn more when the economy does turn around.

The idea is simple: Don’t give up.

Keyport businesses see opportunities despite a recession

By SOMDATTA SENGUPTA

Published April 10, 2008

Just off Exit 117 on the Garden State Parkway, a Keyport logo inscribed on a water tower along Route 36 alerts drivers of the town’s existence. That is, if the traffic is not too bad to afford motorists a glimpse of the tower.

Beyond that, the signage driving into town is minimal, one of many challenges that impact Keyport businesses, according to some local storeowners.

For Chris Fernicola of The Front Porch Emporium on West Front Street, the town, nicknamed the “Pearl of the Bayshore,” is a diamond in the rough that needs a lot of polishing.

Changing weather patterns, lack of signage, advertising, and an underutilized waterfront have added to the recent stalemate that many Keyport merchants are experiencing, Fernicola said.

His store is known for selling holiday and seasonal flags, display items, furniture and gifts. With decorative displays that announce its presence on West Front Street, the store has been a landmark in Downtown Keyport for 12 years, he said.

Business has been slow in spring and Easter, according to Fernicola. “When holidays fall early, it puts a little damper on sales as the weather isn’t favorable to what’s going on,” he said.

He is even less optimistic about sales growth this summer. While events like the recent Keyport St. Patrick Day’s Parade are nice to have, he said it’s like “throwing the town a party” when what’s needed is a steady stream of revenue-generating measures.

“I feel that if there was more promotion, then we will have more people coming into town and more business activity even if we are in a recession,” he said.

If businesses are not situated on the highway, then the business owners’ main hope is centered around Keyport customers. “We get hardly anything from outside,” he said.

For a Keyport store that is situated on the highway, business has not been that great either. Denise Jelinski, manager of the Trading Hut Army & Navy, said changing weather patterns, growing competition and road construction have impacted sales.

“Usually in March we have some kind of snow, but this year we did not have anything. So we had to put our winter items on sale earlier,” she said.

The Trading Hut Army & Navy, located at the intersection of Route 36 and Atlantic Street, is easy to spot and within minutes of Exit 117. It offers seasonal clothing like snow boots, sweatshirts, thermal underwear, hats, and gloves in winter; beach and pool accessories in summer; and military clothing and accessories throughout the year.

“March and April are slow for us, regardless of the recession, because we are in-between seasons,” Jelinski said. However, the store’s seasonal sales figures have dropped, and she attributes that to climate change.

“I usually don’t get shorts in until the end of March or the beginning of April, but this year people were looking for shorts at the end of February,” she said. “We are getting into summer earlier this year. It looks like each season is coming a month ahead of its time.”

Apart from the weather, Jelinski said she is worried about competition. “When we started, we were the only store that carried camouflage. Now everybody seems to have it,” Jelinski said. The niche market advantage that the store enjoyed 15 years ago has been taken over by bigger and cheaper box stores. “Now, even the dollar stores carry camouflage,” she said.

As such, Jelinski said the personal connection she has with her customers, helps the store maintain a business advantage over its competitors. “We are a family business. A lot of people who come to the store have known me since I was little,” she said. “It’s a relationship. We are small and more hands on.”

Whether or not that relationship will translate into business growth is a challenge that all small storeowners face, regardless of a recession, she said. Right now, she plans to stay small and focused. Directing the placement of a new delivery of Timberland boots within the store, Jelinski said she does not plan to add to her already existing inventory. “We are not buying as much, just keeping what we have,” she said.

Back on West Front Street, business issues mix with local government policies at The Clever Hen, a store owned and operated by Keyport Councilwoman Christian Bolte and her mother, Teresa.

This is Bolte’s second year on the Borough Council and her fifth year as a storeowner. She contends that the recession has had little impact on Downtown businesses, as many of the stores are service and novelty based.

“Those things aren’t really affected by the recession I hope,” she said. At her store, she carries specialty items like lotions, quilts, handmade signs, gifts, laces, flags and teapot accessories. The Crabtree and Evelyn skincare line and Colonial candles sell very well, she said, followed by spa products and quilts.

“I consider it mostly for the woman that comes in looking for a house-warming gift. I carry luxury items and not things of necessity,” she said. “If you don’t need it I probably have it.”

Bolte observed that, as a small business owner, she has only made minor adjustments to her store because of the recession. “People might hold off purchasing bigger piece items so we have toned down on our furniture and highlighted our accent-type pieces that don’t break your wallet,” she said.

Then she accentuated the store’s strong points: its ambience and the interaction. “We host different events and demonstrations in the back and give people an experience when they come in, more than say a Wal-Mart,” Bolte said.

Bolte’s down-to-earth approach, mixed with her sense of humor, make Keyport’s Downtown business revival seem both realistic and possible.

From a small, hometown Downtown perspective, Bolte said the town’s location and its historic value are assets to capitalize on.

“People come here for a specific reason. I don’t think we compete with the malls and the outlets,” she said. “It’s more about marketing us from the food, dining, recreation and specialty shop platform.”

This year is a good place to start, according to Bolte. “It’s our centennial year in town, 100 years since our incorporation,” she said. “We bring in between 5,000 to 20,000 people, depending on the event. So we should plan our sales and promotions around those events.”

Notably, she is also the council’s liaison to the Keyport Business Alliance, a group charged with the mission to promote the town’s assets and its businesses. She admits that both the local government and the KBA can do a lot to help local merchants.

Recognizing the contribution of storeowners and keeping local businesses in the loop about economic developments in town is a place to start, she said.

“We are going into the second phase of our waterfront park development that will have a lot of marketing capabilities,” Bolte said.

Next would be to resolve disagreements that divide the town. “The big conflict has been parking or no parking for our waterfront park. Having a small business, I am very good at analyzing parking problems, and at this moment we don’t have one,” Bolte said.

Third would be to focus on other opportunities in promoting the town as a destination. “Visibility of signage at the entrance-ways of the town is important to make people take notice of Keyport and get them to turn into the Downtown area,” she said.

She stressed the importance of keeping the Downtown spotless as it creates goodwill and return customers. “We also have a Neighborhood Preservation Program grant for our highway district and for Maple Place, our second downtown area,” she said. The grant helps municipalities to preserve and enhance local areas through strategic revitalization plans, according to the state Department of Community Affairs.

Finally, building positive relationships between residents, the governing body and merchants would create community involvement in promoting Keyport as a destination, Bolte concluded.


Courier Publisher Jim Purcell contributed to this story.

All it takes is a woman’s touch!

By SOMDATTA SENGUPTA

Published March 13, 2008

I met Fern Esposito for a column I used to write for The Courier about four years ago. The column was called Around Town and it profiled people who had made a difference, who stood out in the crowd, faces that one would rarely forget.

When I got a call from Fern last week, saying she has written a book about her restaurant in Red Bank, I was both happy and sad. Happy to hear from her and learn that she was an author, and sad because she had sold her restaurant, Sogno. Sometimes when you meet after a long time, it is difficult to acknowledge all that has changed since you last met. I guess I expected Sogno to remain the same, just as one lingers with the memory of a fond place and hopes to revisit it.

The Red Bank restaurant, as the name suggests, was a dream come true for Fern. More than that, it represented Fern’s exceptionally bright and cheerful personality. It was cozy, comfortable and uplifted you as soon you walked in. It was truly an extension of her warmth and charm.

In her book, The Door Whore, which is a work of fiction as Fern said when we met, she draws on her personal experience at Sogno and weaves a monologue of a woman’s journey into a man’s world: the business of running a successful restaurant.

At the beginning of her book she outlines her struggle, when she explains that the title of her book is a common restaurant lingo for an attractive female person who greets you at the door. I paused. I recalled a number of my favorite haunts, and to my surprise, barring my infrequent ventures into Indian restaurants in New Jersey or New York, I have been always greeted by a very attractive and lovely lady at the door who asked me: “A table for two?”

To my further surprise, as pleasant as those first encounters were, I was shocked to discover that I never noticed them — the door whores. They were pretty but faceless. I remembered and accepted the fact that I would be welcomed by a woman without even ever noticing it as a trend.

And I am not an activist, my friends would even hesitate to call me a feminist, but I felt quite upset that I was party to a thought process that categorized femininity as part of restaurant décor, as part of the formula for success instead of being the brains behind it.

And that’s what compelled me to read on. It was a true account of a woman’s day-to-day encounter with challenges in man’s world. From winning the argument at home to winning the hearts of her customer’s, Fern’s lead protagonist, Ivy Zingara, deals with every roadblock with grace and persistence. For example, in the second chapter, Ivy is faced with workmen who don’t want to take instructions from her, having her to rely on her husband to deal with them.

Fern writes:
“Some of them just ignored me while others did spiteful things in an attempt to aggravate and upset me. One worker seemed to knock off his jollies by defecating in all three of the brand new toilets and never flushing, while others enjoyed putting out their cigarettes on the newly laid ceramic tile floor despite the numerous “NO SMOKING” signs.”

Equally interesting is the exchange that follows with the inspector who snubs her and storms out. The book is truly the tale of “agony and ecstasy” of the “ultimate door whore” as the author categorizes her lead character. It pens with honest accuracy the plots and sub-plots that female authority evokes. It deals with the practicality of wise business practices when dealing with a staff situation that attempts to victimize the owner. Above all, it delightfully paints the quirks and characters of the American suburb.

“You have to put your heart and soul into it, you have to do it well if you want to do it at all,” Fern said. And she did. Her book is as easy to read and relate to as is she herself.

The book is available on amazon.com and a sneak peek can be glanced at http://www.thedoorwhore.net

At Georgian Court, education blends effortlessly with Mercy values

By SOMDATTA SENGUPTA

Published March 13, 2008

For the head of the history department at Georgian Court University (GCU), Lakewood, Professor Claribel Young is a personification of what the institution stands for: education grounded in values and delivered with an affectionate smile.

“The value of any education is that it increases your ability to earn money but in Georgian Court in addition to that we also give you a value system,” Young said. “It comes from the Sisters of Mercy who founded this college. The five main values are compassion, integrity, justice, respect and service.” She said these values were not necessarily taught in class but were inculcated in the students through various activities and the ways they conducted themselves.

Young graduated from GCU in 1975, was back as an adjunct in 1976 and then has been full time since 1978. Her actual official title is Chair of the Dept. of History, Geography and Philosophy and it is reflective of her contribution to making Georgian Court what it is today.

Back to school

Born in New York, Young came to New Jersey when she was eight or nine years old. "My elementary school was a two-room school in Brick township, the building still exists. I got an excellent education and moved on to a regional high school," she said.

That was during World War II. After high school she married, had a family, worked at a variety of jobs as a young mother, worked for two newspapers and then went back to school.

As chair of the department, Young recalls that her decision to go back to school was quite accidental. It was the intention of accompanying her husband as he went back to school that helped her make her decision. “He was a little hesitant so I said I will go with him. As it turned out I finished, he didn’t," she said.

After GCU, Young got both her masters and doctoral degree from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in 1978 and 1989 respectively. There was a slight tussle between her desire whether to specialize in English or history as she entered graduate studies, but history won. "At Rutgers, I did my masters in British History and my Ph.D. in American History and have been teaching history at GCU for 30 years now," Young said.

What students learn

History isn't about memorizing facts, according to Young. It's about learning to navigate your way around information by perfecting research and analytical skills, she said.

"How students benefit from a graduate course in history is that they acquire a certain set of skills that enable them to move onto any career of their choice," Young said. "Most of my students have moved onto become lawyers, journalists, teachers and some have joined politics. It gives you a well-rounded background and many opportunities."

When in class, students learn how to make connections between what has happened in the past to what is happening now. "What do we learn from the past and how does it helps us understand our present," she said.

For example, her doctoral research was about the establishment of government in 17th century New Jersey. "That brought in my background in British history and American colonial history to understand how things in New Jersey worked," she said.

She actively continues to engage in making connections between her background in New Jersey history and projects that protect and preserve history locally. "I am a member of the Ocean County Historical Society, the Point Pleasant Historical Society, and the Toms River Seaport Society. I have also been an advisor to the Ocean County Cultural and Heritage Commission," she said. That is just the tip of the iceberg when recounting Young's achievements in a career that spans three decades.

Now as the chair of the department, she actively encourages her students to follow their dreams and become active in their circle of work and family life.

"One of those Mercy values is to bring about social change and I do it through my students as they finish their school and become valuable citizens of their communities," Young said.

Afghani school project gets support in the Bayshore

By SOMDATTA SENGUPTA

Published Jan 24, 2008

Highlands resident Kathy Muradi has been receiving steady support for rebuilding two schools in Kabul, Afghanistan, from the clients at her hair salon in Hazlet.

During recent months, Muradi established a charity known as “Afghan Women and Children in Need,” geared toward raising money locally for her school project.

Now, Highlands Mayor Anna Little has joined forces with Muradi. “I was very moved by Kathy’s story, and it really brought home for me the importance of helping this effort,” Little said. “This is a perfect example of how events that seem to be so remote have an impact in our local community.”

Muradi was just 17 years old when she fled Afghanistan to be free from Soviet oppression, in 1980. At the time, Muradi had been set to attend college for engineering in her homeland. However, in the midst of the Soviet crackdown, she arrived to the United States via India to begin a family and new life here.

What was left behind was her family of origin, which included her father, Din Mohammed Muster, a Columbia University master’s degree recipient in education. Muster had dedicated his life to education in his homeland. In fact, up until his death, during 2006, Muster had continued to work for providing better textbooks for Afghanistan’s schools.

“My father used to say, ‘Education is everything.’ If you don’t have education you have nothing,” she recalled.

Muradi returned to her country for the first time since 1980 in 2006, to pay her respects to her late father. According to Muradi, it was then that she got the idea to try and help rebuild some of what had been lost over the years, between Soviet oppression and the Taliban’s regime.

Little has committed to help raise funds and provide general support for Muradi’s charity. “I think that, especially where it involves Highlands, this is one big family. If myself and others can help make a difference for those who need it in Afghanistan, then that seems like what we should do.”

According to Muradi, “I have received more contributions last week. It is encouraging to see that people trust me. I just need to reach out to more people and tell them about my work.”

Muradi said she was thankful that Little is helping her. “I think it is wonderful that my mayor here in the U.S. has decided to help. It makes such a big difference and says so much about Mrs. Little. I cannot thank her enough,” Muradi said.

Muradi established her 501[c] 3 charity and has vowed to work toward bettering the life of school children in Kabul. She explained that, currently, classes for children are conducted in the open, without so much as a perimeter fence to protect them or sanitized drinking water at school.

All checks made out to the organization will be used to accomplish two main objectives this March when she visits the schools at the beginning of the academic year.

For more information, go to the group’s Web site at www.awcin.org, or call Muradi at (732) 335 8333.

Hazlet youth embarks on a journey of discovery

By SOMDATTA SENGUPTA

Published Jan 17, 2008

Vincent Solomeno, 22, of Hazlet, is on a mission in Europe. He wants to study how the Dutch people deal with issues of diversity and immigration in their country.

“During the 1960s, [the Netherlands] had a lot of guest workers come in from Indonesia, Morocco and Turkey as there was a shortage of labor in Europe after the two world wars,” Solomeno said. “A majority of these guest workers were Muslim, and the Dutch thought, in due course of time, these migrant populations would return to their native countries. Of course that did not happen, and what they are dealing with now is immigration and how to manage it.”

That is his area of study as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Amsterdam, Solomeno said. He is currently pursuing his masters in European Studies at the International School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the university. His program of study started last August and will end in June this year.

Solomeno completed his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Scranton, PA. Prior to that, he graduated from the Marine Academy of Science and Technology, Sandy Hook. Solomeno said he wants to teach when he is done with his education.

As a student, Solomeno said his background in political science has taught him that an individual can achieve greater goals through public service. “It has the potential to bring about important changes in people’s lives,” he said. That is why he finds the current immigration debate in the Netherlands so intriguing, he said.

“The Dutch people believe that religion should not be brought out into the public square. They have been through that debate long ago in their political history. But now, faced with a growing minority of Muslims who want to practice their religion, they are looking at that issue again,” he said. “It’s like what we, in the United States, are going through with immigration issues stemming from south of our border. Only we are a much younger country compared to the Netherlands.”

Since beginning his research on this subject, Solomeno said he has spoken to several young people who have been impacted by this debate.

“Young Muslims have taken polarized approaches to this issue. Some don’t want to be identified as different from the general crowd because they are Dutch citizens, born and brought up in the Netherlands,” he said. “The others have turned to their religion and have integrated that with their identity.”

Observing a society struggling with the issues of civic identity and faith, Solomeno said there is much to learn from the ways people try to deal with the unknown, the “what ifs” of an integrated, smaller global community.

“In the Netherlands, the people don’t practice religion as much as we do in the United States,” Solomeno said. By faith, he is a Lutheran, he said. “Most of the churches there are more like museums. Religion is marginalized from the public sphere. They are very, very secular.”

In that context, having a debate over religious versus civic and national identities makes a very interesting subject for study, Solomeno said. “What you see is that after 20 or 30 years of secularism, the veterans of the country, who are the revolutionaries who preached and established secularism, are faced with an issue that in their minds is over and done,” he said. “Yet, that same issue cannot be ignored for the next generation because the ethnic composition has changed and multiplied.”

Also, the world has changed. In a post 9/11 era, many western countries view Islam as a threat, Solomeno said. It is also incomprehensible to the Western sensibility to consider women as second-class citizens as many practicing Muslims do, he said.

“Now many Europeans are figuring out how to deal with civil rights when it’s in conflict with religious rights. How to reconcile the change in their demographics with who they are. The question is how will the next generation chose?” Solomeno said.

So far, the Dutch experience has been an eye opener for the Hazlet youth. Solomeno said his research has taught him new ways to approach public dialogue and policy making. “The difference between the United States and Europe on this issue of ethnic identity is that, we, as a country, are formed as a melting pot,” he said. “We have accepted religion as part of the political argument but the Dutch are obsessed with keeping things secular.”

Personally, Solomeno said he believes majority of Muslims are peace-loving people. “They are very gentle and kind. We need to understand that the radicalization of Islam has only been done by a few who want to terrorize the world,” he said. “It’s the same with every religion, even Christianity. There are so many interpretations of the Bible and they are not homogenous.”

Highlands resident reports slow but sure progress on Kabul school project

By SOMDATTA SENGUPTA

Published Jan 10, 2008

Since December last year, Khatera “Kathy” Muradi, Highlands, has collected $500 toward her objective of rebuilding elementary schools in Kabul, Afghanistan. A small beginning, she said, considering the enormity of the task at hand in a country devastated by years of political turmoil and warfare.

Following the death of her father, Din Mohammed Muster, in 2006, Muradi said she has felt an inner urge to get involved in rebuilding the educational infrastructure in Kabul. It is a city that three generations of her family has called home, and where her father has spent 30 years working to improve the education system.

“My father used to say, education is everything. If you don’t have education you have nothing,” she recalled. “He wanted me to come first in class and would get very upset if my grades were bad.”

Exposed to the western system of education through his masters degree at Columbia University in New York, 1963, her father had often shared with her his admiration of the American education process. “He told me how great this country was to live, work and study and he started to teach me English,” Muradi said.

Though an admirer of the western world, Din Mohammed dedicated himself to reviving and reconstructing the Afghani education system, first as a teacher, then working with a text book publishing company. His aim was to provide Afghani school children with more advanced textbooks so as to make them competitive with the world, according to Muradi.

“He had plenty of opportunities to leave and have a better life in other countries, but he chose to stay. Even during the wars when everyone was going abroad he used to say, ‘if everyone left, who will look after the kids here?’ So he chose to stay. He worked very hard to incorporate new ideas and update all textbooks in Kabul,” Muradi said.

However, his efforts were affected by the continuous political turmoil in the country. First the Soviet occupation in 1979, followed by the homegrown resistance by the anti-Communist Mujahiddin forces that resulted in a civil war (1992), then the rise of the Taliban (1996), and then the U.S. led military intervention in Afghanistan in the post-September 11 (2001) period. These successive armed conflicts disrupted normal life and civic infrastructures all throughout Afghanistan, Muradi noted. It was also the reason why Muradi herself had to abandon her engineering degree and leave the country in 1979.

“My life and safety was at risk,” she said. “I came to this country and got married and raised my family. But I never forgot my people back home.”

Shortly after she arrived in the United States, she married Harry Muradi, once her neighbor in Kabul, who at the time had established himself as a textile businessman in New York. After 26 years of marriage and raising two boys, Muradi counts herself as lucky to have survived the ravages of war-torn Afghanistan.

“Though I was here, I was never far away from the impact of the wars because it affected my family members and relatives,” she said. “Many of them had to run away to Pakistan. For many years I used to send $100 each to five families I knew, so that they could survive. They had no one. I was not rich, but I would make small sacrifices, like not buy shoes or new clothes, and send that money to my relatives.”

Her little contribution helped many of her relatives to tide over terrible times, she said. Then after her father passed away, her motivation to help the school system became a natural extension for her desire to help her family. Now they are her main support-base in Kabul, helping her revive the schools.

“Since I decided to raise money to help out elementary schools, my mother, one of my father’s friends, my cousin’s husband and a like-minded person has come forward to help with my efforts at the ground level in Kabul,” Muradi said. That has given her a lot of courage and hope, she said.

“My mother said anything I can do will go a long way,” she said. “She told me she is happy that it will help keep my father’s name and work alive. And, even if I am not successful, she still will be proud of me because I tried.”

Success in an elusive benchmark in her case, according to Muradi. “There is so much need. You are talking about rebuilding a nation’s educational infrastructure. You don’t even know where to begin. Two teachers I spoke with said the situation is so desperate that the government has asked them to help with the construction of the schools in their free time. Can you imagine that?” she said. “They are already underpaid, now on top of teaching they have to be laborers. That is not their job.”

It gets worse. When she was visiting schools in Kabul, there was one textbook per student. It wasn’t a new book, she said, the graduating class would return their textbooks to the school for the next batch of students to use. “But at least, each student had a textbook and they could take it home to study. Last year, I saw that three students shared one textbook and they could not take it home to study. How are they going to learn?” she asked. “But I am not even thinking of books, desks and chairs or even blackboards. The teachers there said the first important thing was to have a boundary wall for safety and running water instead of well water. I am focusing on that.”

Having defined her initial scope of work, Muradi said the little that she has raised is sign of hope. “It’s too little to report but so far I have had a lot of support from people who know me,” she said. That includes her clients from her hair salon in Hazlet, some of them have been her loyal customers for over 12 years, she said. The rest are a sympathetic network of people Muradi has come in touch with since The Courier started reporting on her cause in October.

“People who know me have faith in me. They tell me ‘Kathy we trust you more than the government.’ They know I will spend every penny on rebuilding the schools,” Muradi said.

After a thoughtful pause she added, “If we all wait for the government to do what needs to be done, we will never achieve substantial results.” Especially in Kabul, she pointed out, where there is almost no infrastructure and no budget for everything that needs to be done.

“The school children who I met come to school in torn shoes because their parents cannot provide more. I can’t help how they dress,” Muradi said. However, providing safety through building a boundary wall and having running water in schools in Kabul should not be too difficult, according to her. What she needs is just a little more support.

Looking Back at 2008

DiMaso, Bateman promise to move Holmdel ahead

By SOMDATTA SENGUPTA

Published Jan 3, 2008

With two Democrats and three Republicans on the governing body, Holmdel Township reorganized for 2008 at noon on Jan. 1.

After a brief prayer offered by Dan Swift, pastor of St. Benedict’s Church, Holmdel, Republican Committeeman Rocco Pascucci proposed Serena DiMaso, a Republican, as mayor for 2008. Democrat Committeeman Larry Fink said former Deputy Mayor Janet Berk, also a Democrat, deserved the title of mayor.

Notably, Berk received 2,087 votes at the polls last November compared to 1,960 votes that were cast for DiMaso. However, with a 3-2 lead, DiMaso was officially elected mayor of the township. Shortly after, Deputy Mayor Alan Bateman, a Republican, was sworn in for a second term.

In her speech, DiMaso said that she was grateful to be able to serve Holmdel as mayor for three years in a row. She promised to continue to provide the leadership that the township deserved. After thanking her family for their support, DiMaso said she looked forward to bipartisan support from the committee in moving Holmdel forward.

DiMaso took credit for holding the line on taxes last year, road and recreation improvements in the township and continued commitment toward preserving open space. She thanked residents for coming forward to volunteer their time on several committees and said more participation and more voices make way for better management of township assets.

Bateman said that last year Republican leadership on the Township Committee had focused on reducing expenses and planning for the future. He noted property taxes were a major concern for Holmdel homeowners in the coming year and said the school board needs to take appropriate action.

“The schools need to be held accountable to the same standards that we in the township are held to. The Township Committee has invited the Board of Education to participate on the Financial Advisory Task Force so that we can work together to save money. To date they have not accepted our invitation,” Bateman said.

He added that another contributing factor is that the tax burden in Holmdel has shifted from commercial ratables to the homeowner. “If you look around, you see that Lucent is gone, there is vacant office and retail space,” he said.

Bateman called for making necessary changes in how the township is governed to make it easier to live and work in the township. He said that Holmdel has made a reputation for itself as a place not to do business. “We make it difficult for business with inconsistent and subjective requirements,” he said. Further, he said that homeowners “get treated poorly and with disrespect by the workers whose salaries they pay for through their tax dollars.”

Fink said that the Democrats would respect the wishes of township residents for bipartisan leadership on the committee and continue to work for preserving the quality of life in Holmdel.