Shhhh!by Mike Fitelson Shhhh!
You never know the nature of the advice you are going to get when you show up for a networking event sponsored by Beverly Susan Carter because she wears so many hats in the community. Carter manages the H&R Block office on Broadway near W. 165th Street, runs the local Workshop in Business Opportunities seminars for WIBO and throws jewelry making parties (think Tupperware parties but with beads and you get to keep what you make). She has even lobbied to start a column for dating advice in this newspaper. So it shouldn’t come as a shock that when she had a business networking event on Aug. 12, sandwiched between presentations by the Actors Fund and HSBC, there was a short but intense performance by Michael Jackson impersonator Joye Moses Harper. As far as financial advice, which is one reason the 50 or so attendees crowded into her office, Amanda Clayman, a social worker in the Financial Wellness Program of the Actors Fund, discussed how she counsels clients with their money management. One of the more difficult decisions they have to make is juggling credit card debt, savings, and building a contingency fund. There was an audible gasp from the audience when Clayman recommended that a good contingency fund had enough to pay bills for nine months. And of course Carter had pearls of wisdom to share during the evening. First, as a tax preparer, she underscored the importance of reporting all your income on your tax returns. But she also reflected on her experience outside the Apollo Theater when the streets were dense with Michael Jackson mourners to share this bit of advice: “When you are in a crowd, make friends with the cops.”
Shhhh! If you can’t wait until El Museo del Barrio reopens in October to get your fix of Latino flavored art, the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA) is issuing its first call for artwork for its new expanded gallery on Bennett Avenue at W. 189th Street. Latino visual artists living in Washington Heights or Inwood have until Fri., Aug. 28 to submit work for the group show “¡Aqui! (Here),” which will open at the NoMAA gallery in September, in time for Hispanic Heritage Month. The 15 artists will be selected by a panel of jurors for a show curated by Rocío Aranda-Alvarado, Special Projects Coordinator at El Museo del Barrio, which reopens Oct. 17 in celebration of its 40th year. For more information, email
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or call 212.568.4396.  Shhhh!
Politics is a family matter for City Council District 10 Candidate Ruben Dario Vargas. At his campaign kick off on Mon., Aug. 17, Vargas spent a long two hours answering questions from the media. With him the entire time was his family. Before the function started Monika Vargas, the candidate’s wife, reviewed her husband’s whole campaign point by point, while their children nodded at each point. While they’re hoping for a big win on Sept. 15, the kids all have big plans of their own. Ruben Vargas Jr., 17, plans on attending West Point Military Academy and the girls, Bianca and Sophia, 16, both want to study medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Shhhh! Inwood must have missed its couscous. Friday night’s reopening of Bistro Marrakech was a hit. At around 8 p.m. the Moroccan restaurant and bar was packed with diners. A man greeting his friend in the dining room was overheard saying: “We just missed this so much. There was a big hole when this closed.” Owners Karim Bouskou and Natalie Weiss had closed the five-year-old eatery in July saying they were burned out. The pair entertained offers to buy the restaurant, three in fact, but each fell through. After a month-long “staycation” the pair fired up the ovens again.  Shhhh!
Cast and crew members of the 2008 Best Musical “In the Heights” teamed up with members of local activists Revolucion Latina and spent their free time on Mon. Aug 17 cleaning up 159th Street and Riverside Drive. A number of the cast in the hit musical live in the neighborhood they sing about every night.
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