The Barn Blog

Retired police officer Mike Denning discussed law enforcement. He shared his recollections of the 1996 shooting of Eastchester Police Officer Michael Frey. Mike led a lively and respectful discussion about gun violence and ideas for reducing it.

Angelo Spilios is the senior director of Dining Services for Flik Independent School Dining at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Once again he generously prepared and presented a fabulous barbeque dinner. As a special bonus this year, Tom Cascione roasted a pig in a China Box. It was quite a feast.

Our annual Casino Night at the Barn was organized by Pete Palma and John Zingale. Games included blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker. The funds we raised were donated to the Arthritis Foundation.

Tom Doherty is a partner at Mercury, a public strategy firm that helps prominent figures, advocacy groups, governments, and political parties gain a competitive advantage. Longtime barn goer Tom Watson (Democrat) led an interview style discussion with Tom Doherty (Republican) on the current presidential race. Audience participation was lively and diverse. Most of the guys agreed to disagree on various issues. No one got hurt.

Neil Porto is the Transportation Group Director at T.Y. Lin International Group, a global engineering firm. Neil gave an informative and hilarious presentation on the field of engineering. He showed photos and discussed various projects he’s worked on including subway and train stations, tunnels, highways, bridges, and parks.

Richard Fuller is the founder and president of Pure Earth, a non-profit dedicated to solving pollution problems in low and middle income countries. His work in cleaning up toxic waste has changed the lives of millions of people. Rich shared his adventures at some of the world’s most toxic locations. He read a few passages from his new book available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Brown-Agenda-Life-Threatening-Pollution/dp/1595800832

Andy Maher led the first Show & Tell Night in June 2014. This was an encore of that amazing event. Objects that were presented and talked about included a piece of rubble from the World Trade Center, a photo from a Bruce Springsteen concert, and a Japanese combat knife.

Bob Pargament of the Westchester Hypnosis Center uses hypnosis to help people with stress, weight loss, and to quit smoking. He discussed the history of hypnosis, different approaches, and how it works. Bob hypnotized the audience to eat less during the holidays.