The following blog post was written by Chris DeCicco, Counselor to the Borough President.

You may have had the opportunity to see our newest social media series we are calling “You Oughta Know.” As part of this series, Borough President Oddo is highlighting American service members who sacrificed his or her life in service to our country.  The goal is to focus on things that are important in an era when we spend so much of our time engrossed in things that don’t matter, like celebrity gossip.  It’s an honor to play a small role in this series.
 
While working on it, though, it made me once again recall my own inadequacies. For the past two years or so, I have continually had a nagging regret, once that I can consider one of the larger regrets of my life. That is, the fact that I never served in our country’s military. 
 
The fact is that men and women of my generation fought, bled and died in places like Fallujah, Baghdad, and Kandahar.  Kids my own age were facing down their fears of IED’s, while I was living comfortably and forcing myself to not think about it. 
 
I am going to be forty years old this year. I am too old to enlist - and I regret that I never did. As a younger man, I did make inquiries. In the days after 9/11, while in law school, I did have preliminary conversations with an Army JAG Corps recruiter on campus. That went nowhere, mainly because I didn’t pursue it. Soon after, I had conversations with a local recruiter, in fact, several. But I had a young child and the thought of being away from my family for extended periods of time stopped me from pursuing it. That and the fact that my physical condition was nowhere near sufficient for me to seriously pursue it. 
 
So I just started living my life. I had a job I was advancing in, and on the news I began to see the body count coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Frankly, it was easier to sit on the sidelines.
 
I think of people like Lt. Michael Murphy often. A Long Island native and Navy Seal, he was killed in Afghanistan during Operation Red Wings on June 28, 2005. Lieutenant Murphy was a year older than me and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. 
 
Here is the official citation signed by President Bush: 
 
FOR CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY AND INTREPIDITY AT THE RISK OF HIS LIFE ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY AS THE LEADER OF A SPECIAL RECONNAISSANCE ELEMENT WITH NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE TASK UNIT AFGHANISTAN ON 27 AND 28 JUNE 2005. WHILE LEADING A MISSION TO LOCATE A HIGH-LEVEL ANTI-COALITION MILITIA LEADER, LIEUTENANT MURPHY DEMONSTRATED EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM IN THE FACE OF GRAVE DANGER IN THE VICINITY OF ASADABAD, KONAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN. ON 28 JUNE 2005, OPERATING IN AN EXTREMELY RUGGED ENEMY-CONTROLLED AREA, LIEUTENANT MURPHY’S TEAM WAS DISCOVERED BY ANTI-COALITION MILITIA SYMPATHIZERS, WHO REVEALED THEIR POSITION TO TALIBAN FIGHTERS. AS A RESULT, BETWEEN 30 AND 40 ENEMY FIGHTERS BESIEGED HIS FOUR-MEMBER TEAM. DEMONSTRATING EXCEPTIONAL RESOLVE, LIEUTENANT MURPHY VALIANTLY LED HIS MEN IN ENGAGING THE LARGE ENEMY FORCE. THE ENSUING FIERCE FIREFIGHT RESULTED IN NUMEROUS ENEMY CASUALTIES, AS WELL AS THE WOUNDING OF ALL FOUR MEMBERS OF THE TEAM. IGNORING HIS OWN WOUNDS AND DEMONSTRATING EXCEPTIONAL COMPOSURE, LIEUTENANT MURPHY CONTINUED TO LEAD AND ENCOURAGE HIS MEN. WHEN THE PRIMARY COMMUNICATOR FELL MORTALLY WOUNDED, LIEUTENANT MURPHY REPEATEDLY ATTEMPTED TO CALL FOR ASSISTANCE FOR HIS BELEAGUERED TEAMMATES. REALIZING THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF COMMUNICATING IN THE EXTREME TERRAIN, AND IN THE FACE OF ALMOST CERTAIN DEATH, HE FOUGHT HIS WAY INTO OPEN TERRAIN TO GAIN A BETTER POSITION TO TRANSMIT A CALL. THIS DELIBERATE, HEROIC ACT DEPRIVED HIM OF COVER, EXPOSING HIM TO DIRECT ENEMY FIRE. FINALLY ACHIEVING CONTACT WITH HIS HEADQUARTERS, LIEUTENANT MURPHY MAINTAINED HIS EXPOSED POSITION WHILE HE PROVIDED HIS LOCATION AND REQUESTED IMMEDIATE SUPPORT FOR HIS TEAM. IN HIS FINAL ACT OF BRAVERY, HE CONTINUED TO ENGAGE THE ENEMY UNTIL HE WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED, GALLANTLY GIVING HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY AND FOR THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM. BY HIS SELFLESS LEADERSHIP, COURAGEOUS ACTIONS, AND EXTRAORDINARY DEVOTION TO DUTY, LIEUTENANT MURPHY REFLECTED GREAT CREDIT UPON HIMSELF AND UPHELD THE HIGHEST TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVAL SERVICE.

SIGNED GEORGE W. BUSH

What was I doing on June 28, 2005? I’m not sure. Probably preparing for summer and living my life in reasonable comfort.
 
When I read more about Lt. Murphy I’m struck by how similar our lives were. He grew up in Long Island and played sports as a kid. I grew up on Staten Island, playing sports throughout my youth.
 
He was a political science major and so was I.
 
One of his favorite pastimes was reading, particularly classics, and so was mine. 
 
He was accepted to several law schools, and so was I. 
 
The difference is he decided to forge a different path, and with that decision he set into motion experiences and actions that made him an American hero.
 
As I sit here writing this out, I think about what it was like being so far away from home, being mortally wounded, and putting himself in an area without cover to communicate for help, knowing he would be killed.
 
My chance to serve our country in the military has passed me by. At this point, my own version of “heroism” is much more mundane. I try my best to take care of my family and ensure my kids grow up respecting people like Lt. Murphy. I try to do my job to the best of my abilities and try to improve my community.
 
Lt. Murphy, besides being immortalized as a Medal of Honor winner and having his actions documented in the 2013 movie Lone Survivor, has been immortalized in other ways. Each year during Memorial Day weekend, thousands of gyms around the nation celebrate Lt. Murphy’s life by performing his favorite workout. I have done the workout, which he called “Body Armor,” but is now universally known as “Murph” in his honor, three times. Each time, I have gotten emotional when I think of Lt. Murphy doing this same thing, full of life and vigor and a desire to serve our country. It is a small way to remember Lt. Murphy and his compatriots who died for something greater than themselves. I will be doing it again this year during Memorial Day weekend. 
 
I’ll end where I started. I regret that I did not serve in our military. No, I don’t have a death wish, and I am happy I did not die in the barren mountains of Afghanistan at age 29. But still, I wish I considered more strongly as a younger man the great privilege it would have been to serve our country in some meaningful way.
 
I encourage you to read our You Oughta Know series and learn more about other soldiers who heard the call…and heeded it.  ​

The following blog post was written by Dr. Ginny Mantello, Director of Health and Wellness.
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April is Alcohol Awareness Month, and it’s a good time to refresh your knowledge about the dangers of consuming too much alcohol. Most people know about the short-term effects of binge drinking, but even worse than a hangover are the long-term effects that excessive alcohol consumption can have on your body. Here are a few things you need to know about excessive alcohol use and how it can affect your health:
 

• People who drink alcohol should limit their intake to no more than two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women (the recommended limit is lower for women because of their smaller body size and slower breakdown of alcohol). 
  
  
• One standard drink is either 12 fluid ounces of regular beer, 5 fluid ounces of wine or 1.5 fluid ounces of distilled spirits (gin, rum, tequila, vodka, etc.).
  
  
• Only 39% of Americans are aware that alcohol consumption is a risk factor for cancer.
  
  
• According to data from the American Cancer Society, alcohol consumption is a risk factor for three of the top ten cancer killers. For males, it increases risk of liver, colorectal and esophageal cancer. For females, it increases the risk of breast cancer.
  
  
• New data has linked alcohol consumption in women before their first pregnancy to an increased risk of breast cancer.
  
  
• Many of the biggest behavioral drivers of cancer risk, including excessive alcohol consumption, begin in childhood and adolescence. This makes early prevention critically important.
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• Studies have found that excessive alcohol and tobacco use can be gateways for subsequent substance abuse, especially if you begin use as a young adult.

 
You can learn more about the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption at www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health. 
 

The following blog post was written by Allison Cohen, Deputy Director of Communications.
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We’ve had a couple events with high school seniors in the past few weeks, and at every single one, the students have expressed their anxiety about the entire college process. This has led me to relive my own traumatic memories of getting into college. 

Ten years ago, I was a bright-eyed high school senior with my mind set on one thing—Columbia University. I had fallen in love with the school early on in my high school career and done several summer programs on the campus. Columbia was my dream, and everything I did was in pursuit of getting there.

I applied early decision, but was deferred, which means that my application got thrown in with everyone who had applied regular decision, making it even more difficult to get in. Every day, my parents and I would stalk the mailman, hoping that he would deliver a thick envelope telling me that my spot had been secured. Envelope after envelope came from the other schools I applied to—some containing glowing acceptance letters offering me scholarships and others brutally rejecting me. I brushed them off and waited patiently for the most important envelope.

Columbia was the last school I heard back from. Ironically, after all the time I had spent chasing the mailman, my final notification came in an email. It was short and to the point—they didn’t want me.

Up until this point in my life, I felt like I had done everything right and been properly rewarded for it. I was the textbook definition of an overachiever: a straight-A student who always did her homework and raised her hand in class. I had never failed a test. In my spare time, I edited the school newspaper, did volunteer work, managed a volleyball team and took drama classes. I never partied, and my parents didn't impose a curfew because they knew I didn't need one. Teachers loved me, and with the exception of several classmates who found me unbearably nerdy, I was pretty popular.
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So why had this happened to me? I started to beat myself up over what I could have done differently. Should I have taken a few more AP classes? Learned a fourth language? Built houses for Habitat for Humanity?

Eventually, I came to accept my fate and learn from it. It taught me that you can do everything right and still fail. The best way to deal with this kind of situation is to take your failure and use it to your advantage. Schoolwork had always come easily to me, and it hadn’t been that difficult for me to be the top of my class. Now I realized that there was fierce competition out there, and I was going to have to up my game in order to compete. And as a bonus, I found that once you’ve felt the pain of losing something you really wanted, your next success becomes even sweeter.

Failure taught me to be flexible and have a backup plan. Life does not always go according to your plan, and this is a good lesson to learn early. Sometimes you get thrown a curveball, but the best thing you can do is what I did: pick yourself up, dust yourself off and figure out the alternate route to where you want to end up. 

So to any senior out there who didn't get into your first choice school, don't worry. You may end up at your second or third or even fourth choice, but ultimately, it doesn’t matter. It’s not where you go, but what you do when you get there that will define you. You will have so many opportunities to prove yourself once you get to college that soon you will stop being upset about the past and start figuring out your future. As a kid, you often get so bogged down with getting into college that you forget that it’s just a stepping stone to the rest of your life. Trust me—college is not the end goal, it’s just the beginning.

I ended up at my third choice school (Vassar), which led me down the path to where I am now—in a really good place personally and professionally. There were more bumps and failures along the way, but they only make my current situation seem that much better. And I know that despite not getting into Columbia, 17-year-old me would be damn proud of where 27-year-old me ended up.

The following blog post was written by Jennifer Sammartino, Director of Communications & External Affairs.
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Last spring, at a family function, a cousin of mine started recruiting me to do a run with her. Sensing my disinterest, she sweetened the deal: “We can run in Disney World, there are 5Ks that go right through the park.”
 
Working at the Borough President’s Office, health and wellness is one of the pillars that we work on. So this wasn’t the first time, I’d felt a twinge to get fit. I’d stopped and started many times. Come July, registration began (and closed) for the Disney Princess 5K. I registered. The run would be in February. That gave me plenty of time to train.
 
Let me explain one thing – I don’t run. I’m one of those people that believe that running is for when you are in serious – read: mortal – danger. I told my cousin I’d run with her because it sounded like an excuse to go to Walt Disney World for a long weekend. 
 
I guess I never thought the day would actually come when I’d have to run. So I did my own version of preparation. I bought the clothes, I bought the sneakers. I even brought the sneakers on another trip prior to the run where I planned to train. It rained almost every day and the sneakers never saw the light of day.
 
Then I downloaded a few apps- Couch to 5K, 7 Minute Workout, stuff like that. The icons looked nice on my phone.
 
As Christmas approached, I started a mental countdown to the run. With New Year’s, I made a fleeting resolution to train. Then, just a week before the run, it occurred to me that I was going to humiliate myself in front of thousands of people, two cousins and my sister included. 
 
I packed my stuff. I kissed the husband and the kid goodbye and headed for the airport. I thought there was a very real possibility that I’d suffer a heart attack trying to run and actually die.
 
That afternoon, we went to pick up our bib numbers and race packets. I was excited. I posed for pictures with my bib and bought a tiara to wear for the race (it is the Princess Race, after all). I thought maybe there would be a storm and the run would be cancelled – that wouldn’t be my fault, so I’d still get credit for it, right?
 
No such luck. The night before, we went to bed at 10 PM and set the alarm for 3:15 AM. We had to be on a bus by 4:30 AM to be on site for 5 AM for a run that began at 6 AM.
 
This, I will tell you, was the hardest part of the run – getting up at 3:15 AM. Getting dressed while it’s dark outside and trying to psych yourself up when your body wants to be asleep was by far the biggest challenge of the day.
 
Once the run started, we got pumped. We ran hard for the first mile. It was great – my calves were seizing up, but it was great. The four of us who were running together kept pace with each other and we felt like rock stars. The run was crowded, so we had to slow down and walk quite a bit, but it was an amazing feeling to be part of something with hundreds of other people. We stopped at each mile marker and snapped a photo- this took time, but no one running this race seemed to be in it for the time – just for the fun of it.
 
As we crossed the finish line, we ran hard once more and upon being handed a medal for our accomplishments, I felt fantastic. Here I was, out of shape and out of breath – but I had done it. And I had done it in pretty decent time too.  And I had not died. I was alive! 
 
I’ve run a few times since this race last month and I intend to stick with it. Not because I feel  like I have to, but because I can and I want to, a pretty far cry for a person who thought running was only for emergencies and avoiding imminent danger.
 
Taking a nod from the health and wellness messages of the office, I don’t think it matters when or how you make a decision to change your fitness level. It’s OK to start small – get a Fitbit, be mindful of your activity or lack thereof, and make changes. In my case, I just went for it - kind of dumb, yes, but it worked for me. Whatever it takes to get you out of your comfort zone and on the road to a more healthy you, I say go for it.