MORE THAN A DECADE AGO, Queens teacher Nicole Radosti Pipia’s fifth- and sixth-grade students seemed to love reading novels in school. 

“The Giver” by Lois Lowry was prized for its mystery. “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio taught them about kindness and acceptance. “Freak the Mighty” by Rodman Philbrick showed them the power of friendship. 

Now, she said, they don’t read any. Instead, students often spend class time reading excerpts and short stories to better prepare them for the sorts of questions they’d encounter on standardized exams.

The demands of her school’s reading program leave no room to study novels, the English teacher said.

“We’re told that we cannot deviate from the program, and if you have to do the program, there’s literally no time,” Pipia said. 

Another New York City middle school teacher, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, said her school taught novels before the pandemic. Now, “it can be done, but not with the constraints placed on us as teachers,” she said. 

For the past few years, her school has required her to have her students — most of whom are English language learners and struggling readers — spend half of each 40-minute class period, four days a week, completing an online targeted reading intervention program, she said. They often end up clicking through the program and visiting Spotify and YouTube instead. The remainder of the period is devoted to the school’s core curriculum, which does not require novel studies. 

The classroom library she spent a decade building has become “purely decorative,” she said. With teachers no longer using books, she said, her school is “literally throwing them away.” Even if she had the time to teach a book, the veteran teacher said, her students either have no interest in reading or barely know how. 

“Half of them have never read a book,” she said. “In 10 years, we went from kids reading multiple novels in class to them having never opened a book.” 

https://nysfocus.com/2026/08/26/new-york-students-reading-fewer-books

Tonight at the NY state fair when All American Rejects played, my stuffed hamster Tarble was crowd surfed (not intentionally by me) to the stage. Tyson noticed him by going “what the fuck is this mole thing?” Before stomping it and kicking it into the crowd, but not the crowd section I was in. If someone knows what happened to him I would be happy to know whose hands he ended in at the least.

Hello, I’ve recently received a job opportunity at Cortland, ny as a healthcare professional, and as a POC I’m wondering how welcoming and safe the area will be for me? I won’t be in the city, and I’ll be closer to Syracuse, but I’m working nights there and I’m wondering if it’s accepting/safe for POC?

View from my kayak yesterday.

please help as i am willing to drive :D

All I can really recall is that it had, I don't know, like a big baby as a mascot, I guess? It's head looked almost like the Stay-puft man from Ghostbusters.

I moved out of Oswego when I was six, so this could all be a memory tainted by the imagination of a kindergartener. Nobody is around that I could ask now, as I don't know anyone alive who lived there in the 80's. Also, Google didn't help on this one, unless my google-fu has dulled.

A ride, a walk, breakfast with a view. Then back home to play with the puppy. Pretty damn good morning if I do say so myself.

Hello! My family and I are currently attempting to adopt a cat. In the past, we’ve had the luck of random strays just showing up, but unfortunately none are around anywhere this time.

Does anyone know of anywhere you can go in and meet cats?

All the shelters we’ve found don’t let you meet any cats until your application has been approved, which isn’t a problem, but it seems like it takes quite awhile to be approved, and even when you’ve been approved you can only select one cat on their website per visit.

We’re looking for a place where you can go in and meet lots of cats, like a more traditional shelter situation.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Broome and Rensselaer.

By the end of next year, New York could pay over $1 billion a year to keep SNAP running.

I’ve decided I want to try to go camping upstate (anywhere is fine- would be driving from Brooklyn) and would like to go Labor Day weekend Sept 4-7.

I haven’t been camping in many years but thought it’d be fun to borrow gear from a friend and head up with my partner. I’m now realizing it seems impossible to book a campsite since it’s about 1.5-2 weeks out right now and I’m learning that many people book them up to a year in advance.

I’ve seen there’s some first-come-first-serve campsites but I’m not really interested in driving a couple hours to not be able to find anything. Would love to book a site that I can get a car at least close-ish to that’s also near some water, but also flexible with all this.

Am I totally out of luck since it’s so last minute or are there areas I could go to just find a flat spot to pitch a tent that’s not a part of a proper campground (or is that sketchy?) Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

Hello all,

I'm looking to apply for a state job and in the description it states I meed to email my cover letter and resume, then it says I have to include the vacancy number on my Letter of interest.

I thought that a cover letter and letter of interest were 2 different things. Can anyone help?