
24 students honored in Scholastic Superstars program
The Times-Tribune recognized 24 graduating high school seniors for their outstanding work in the classroom and community during its Scholastic Superstars program on Monday evening at Lackawanna College in Scranton.
It has been a Times-Tribune tradition for three decades.
Students received a medal while their parents and guests applauded during the ceremony sponsored by PPL Electric Utilities.
Larry Holeva, executive editor of The Times-Tribune, presented the awards.
Each high school in the Times-Tribune coverage area is invited to nominate up to three seniors. After the names of students and schools and other identifying information is removed, the winners were voted on by judges from local colleges.
The winners are:
• Grace Beckish, North Pocono High School
• Owen Carso, Delaware Valley High School.
• Ella Cohen, Scranton Preparatory School
• Chelsea Empet, Mountain View Junior/Senior High School
• Gabriella Estadt, Valley View High School
• Emily Hanson, Blue Ridge High School
• Lia Hartman, Western Wayne High School
• Matthew Hill, Scranton High School
• Sara Hoban, Abington Heights High School
• Ryleigh Kilmer, Mountain View Junior/Senior High School
• Zachary Kovaleski, Holy Cross High School
• Stephanie Kucharski, Old Forge High School
• Winni Lin, Riverside High School
• Gavin Monahan, Holy Cross High School
• Declan Moran, Scranton High School
• Zarina Mustafina, West Scranton High School
• Kaia Negvesky, West Scranton High School
• Ivy Neureuter, Scranton High School
• Adam Paranich, Abington Heights High School
• Maura Pivirotto, Abington Heights High School
• Allison Rocco, North Pocono High School
• Christian Segiel, North Pocono High School
• Austin Shramko, Riverside High School
• Logan Zdaniewicz, Tunkhannock Area High School
This year's judges were Lois K. Draina, Ph.D., retired dean, Marywood University; Aaron Mattern, senior regional director of enrollment management, Penn State Hazleton, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre; and Joseph M. Roback, associate vice president, admissions and enrollment, University of Scranton.
Additional coverage can be found at thetimes-tribune.com and will appear in print Wednesday. Starting Wednesday, The Times-Tribune will publish a biography and photo of one Superstar a day, excepting Mondays.
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Chicago Tribune
16 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago fire: Flaming saganaki sparks interest worldwide decades after its Greektown origin
Last winter, at Chicago's Greek Islands (200 S. Halsted St.), our Greektown dinner started with a bang — more accurately, a whoosh. A server carried a small black pan of blazing cheese to the table as startled diners burst into applause for what is the Windy City's notoriously combustible appetizer: flaming saganaki. In Chicago, the dish is a ritual. It's dramatic, it's delicious, and — let's be honest — it's also a little absurd in the best possible way. The word saganaki comes from sagani, a small, two-handled Greek pan. In Greece, the dish is straightforward: firm, dry cheeses such as kasseri, feta or halloumi are pan-fried until golden. No fire. No flair. Just cheese doing what cheese does best, served with crusty bread. In Chicago, we lightly coat the square or triangular cut of cheese in flour and fry it in a little olive oil until crisp and golden. Then we flip it once, warm it through, splash it with brandy (usually ouzo or Metaxa), light it up, and before setting it on the table, flamboyantly extinguish the flames with a lemon squeeze and a hearty shout of 'Opa!' That word — part cheer, part celebration, part call to 'let's dance!' — adds the perfect exclamation point. So, where did this fiery tradition begin? Depends on whom you ask. Chris Liakouras of the now-shuttered Parthenon restaurant claimed in a 1979 Tribune interview that he invented flaming saganaki in 1968. He described sitting at a table with three friends when the idea for a new menu item was born. 'Why don't you try flaming the cheese?' one of the ladies suggested. And just like that, an appetizer exploded into legend. But Petros Kogeones of Diana's, another Greektown fixture, had a different story. In 1991, he told the Tribune that he and his brother were flambéing cheese as far back as the early 1960s. According to Kogeones, they'd set up tables outside their family grocery, splash brandy on sizzling cheese, light it all on fire, and shout 'Opa!' Eventually, perhaps to stake his claim, Kogeones even renamed the restaurant Diana's Opa. Regardless of who struck the first match to brandy-doused cheese, one thing is clear: Flaming saganaki was a hit. And honestly, when we're traveling and we order saganaki, we're always a little disappointed when it doesn't arrive in a ball of fire. There is, however, increasingly little chance of being served saganaki sans flames, at least in the U.S.: Restaurants from Brooklyn to Malibu are figuring out that brandy and a match might be the not-so-secret ingredients to serving a lot of the crowd-pleasing saganaki. 'The flames were a smart marketing idea,' says Louie Alexakis, owner of the Avli restaurants in Chicago. 'In the 1950s and '60s, a lot of Greek restaurant workers in Chicago had fine dining backgrounds. They saw the wow factor of tableside flambé — things like crepes Suzette or bananas Foster. Flaming cheese was the next step.' Alexakis still flames saganaki at Avli, but also offers a more modern take: saganaki served with spiced fig chutney — still delicious, and less likely to set off the sprinklers. Not everyone is on board with this fiery New World opener to a traditional Greek dinner in Chicagoland. Ted Maglaris, founder of Mana in LaGrange (88 LaGrange Road), said, 'We chose not to flame our pan-fried saganaki but rather to honor the traditional Greek preparation, inspired by recipes from mothers in Greece, which is the inspiration for our restaurant's name, Mana. Flaming saganaki is a relatively recent tradition that began in Chicago, not in Greece. Our goal is to provide an authentic Greek experience, staying true to how saganaki is traditionally enjoyed in Greece.' Flashback: Memories of when Greektown was 'a mile long and 24 hours'With the current eagerness to sample 'authentic' preparations of Greek, Italian, Mexican and other traditional national foods, it's understandable that some restaurants might prefer to serve saganaki the way their mothers and grandmothers did, no matches or accelerants required. Other restaurants may be toning down the theatrics for safety reasons — turns out, flaming cheese and crowded dining rooms make for a risky combination. Somewhat surprisingly, flaming saganaki is now also catching on in Greece, especially in tourist-heavy restaurants, such as the Athens Yacht Club. Though such fiery presentations of cheese are not common in Greece, some travelers have come to expect saganaki to be flaming. And who can blame them? There's something undeniably fun about turning a simple cheese dish into a full-blown pyrotechnic display. Flaming saganaki isn't just food — it's dinner, entertainment, and a tiny adrenaline rush all in one.


Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
She became a ‘hotshot' wilderness firefighter to write about being on the front lines
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While Ramsey was learning the delicate art of building firebreaks, a large fire broke out just outside the town. 'My introduction to California that summer was filled with smoke,' says the author. 'This is when I got the bug, when I started to become interested in fighting fires.' Ramsey became a qualified firefighter in 2019, joining an entirely male crew of fellow Hotshots. Ramsey's book 'Wildfire Days' is the story of that fraught and exciting time. We talked to Ramsey about the 'bro culture' of fire crews, the adrenaline surge of danger and the economic hardships endured by these frontline heroes. Below, read our interview with Ramsey, who you can see at Vroman's on June 23. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. (Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to whose fees support independent bookstores.) What was it like when you confronted a big fire for the first time? It was the Bush fire in Arizona. I was so incredulous, just marveling at what was happening. 'Look at that smoke,' and 'that helicopter is making a water drop.' It was kind of a rookie move, because all the other crew members had seen it thousands of times. To see a helicopter up close making a drop, it looks like this gorgeous waterfall. I had to get acclimated to the epic nature of fires. And that wasn't even a big fire, really. In the book, you talk about entering into a pretty macho culture. How difficult was it for you to gain acceptance into this cloistered male world of the fire crew? It was definitely shocking at first, to be in an entirely male space. The Forest Service had some sexual harassment scandals in 2017, so everyone was on their best behavior at first. It took me some time before I was accepted into the group. I had to perform over-the-top, irrefutably great, just to prove to them that I was OK. It's an unfair standard, but that's the way it was. I wanted to shift the way they saw women, or have better conversations about gender and fire. You write about the pride and stoicism of the fire crew members, the ethos of actions rather than words. No one brags or whines, you just get on with it. Why? When my editor was going through the book, he insisted that I mention the 75 pounds of gear I was always carrying on my back, and I resisted, because you don't complain about that kind of thing when you're out there. But I realized that readers would want to know these details, so I put them in. I was inclined to leave them out. You also write about the difficulties of re-entering civilian life. I don't know of any firefighters who don't struggle with the idea of living a normal, quiet life. It's just a massive letdown after the adrenaline rush of the fire season. What was shocking to me reading 'Wildfire Days' is that fire crews are essentially paid minimum wage to work one of the most dangerous jobs in the state. 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Schwab's 'The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue,' I'm excited to read her new book, 'Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.' 'The Great Mann,' by Kyra Davis Lurie — we are doing an event with her on June 11. What are the hardy perennials, the books that you sell almost all the time: 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel García Márquez, Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series and the Elena Ferrante books, especially 'My Brilliant Friend.' Diesel, A Bookstore is located at 225 26th St., Suite 33, Santa Monica CA 90402.


New York Times
5 days ago
- New York Times
Dressing Up for a Day of Black Joy
Early last Saturday morning, about 15 festively dressed Black New Yorkers gathered outside the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum on 204th Street in Upper Manhattan. Women were wearing colorful prints and head wraps, and men had on loosely fitting white shirts and white or khaki pants. Accompanied by the beat of a drum and the clang of a cowbell, they began chanting to the tune of 'Frère Jacques': 'Pinkster Stroll, Pinkster Stroll, here we go, here we go, ancestors smiling, ancestors smiling, we answered the call, we answered the call.' Then the group set off on a seven-mile walk south, which ended at the New York Historical museum along 77th Street on the Upper West Side. The march was reminiscent of a sight New Yorkers might have witnessed some 200 years ago as people celebrated Pinkster, considered to be the oldest African American holiday. Cheyney McKnight, who organized the recent Pinkster Stroll, likened historical celebrations of Pinkster to family reunions. They typically involved participants traveling together on foot or by boat to a location where, for several days, they would eat, dance, sing and crown a Pinkster King. 'It was very joyful,' she said. 'Very exciting.' Pinkster, a Christian holiday celebrating the Pentecost, was originally brought to New York by the Dutch people who colonized the area. Its name, derived from a Dutch word, is also associated with that of the pink pinxter flower, which blooms in New York and across North America every spring. Many of the Africans that were enslaved and brought to New York were also Christian (most came from Congo or Angola). Over time, they began celebrating Pinkster in their own way and, by the late 1700s, it had largely become an African American holiday. It was also the rare occasion when both enslaved and free Black people living in and outside New York City, Albany and other places could gather together. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.