May 5, 2006 • The North Shore Sun • 9

How do you succeed in business, or any other field, without really trying?

Besides the most obvious — pick a daddy who will give you his company — there are, I think, some guideposts to follow to achieve a successful and rewarding career.

Find someone to pay you for what you really like to do.

You like to work on cars? Go find a car dealer-ship that will pay you to do that.

You like to be around athletes? Become an ath-letic trainer.

You like to write? Work for a newspaper that will pay you to do just that.

You think the HBO show “Six Feet Under” is to die for? Become a funeral home director.

It seems so obvious: Your life’s work should be your passion. Then why are so many of us stuck in jobs we don’t like?

The whole discussion of “what do you want to do with your life” came up last week. The Rocky Point Career Advisory Partnership, better known as CAP, asked me to speak before more than 90 students last week at The Inn at the East Wind. I was representing the field of journalism. Other speakers included men and women with much more illustrious credentials than mine.

High school students got to hear from defense attorney Raymond Perini; Hofstra University professor

Doug Morrow; Italo Zanzi, a lawyer and vice president of Major League Baseball; Candace Golightly, a Stony Brook forensic science professor; Jeff Davis, owner of the Rocky Point Fu-neral Home; Xristos Gaglias, an ath-letic training professor at Stony Brook; Roseann Bufalino, owner of Ad Ven-tures Promotion; and Janene Gentile, executive director of the North Shore Youth Council.

The whole idea of fostering partner-ships between local kids and local pro-fessionals is a really good one. Maybe we’ll make a connection that sparks some local kid to grow up to be the

next captain of industry. Maybe we’ll start them on the right career path. I wish I had this when I was in high school in 1979.

Which fork to take in the road is a decision that often leads to happiness in one’s career — or 40 hours a week trapped in a job that is incredibly mind-numbing. I think many of us go astray because we pursue careers for the wrong reasons — picking money over creativity, listening to what our parents think we should do rather than what our hearts say, compromising our pas-sions for a paycheck.

I know. I was one of those people

who was trapped for years in a job that did not fulfill me. I wanted to be a re-porter just like Woodward and Bern-stein. I loved to write. I loved to read. I loved current events. I loved every-thing about newspapers.

I went to graduate school for jour-nalism, but in the mid 1980s when I got out of school, I couldn’t land my first reporting job. I had some clips from working summers as a reporting in-tern, but they weren’t good enough to get me to any decent-sized daily news-paper.

Drew Crouthamel

Take this job and love it

By Dave Hannigan

Any morning I find myself driv-ing past the 7-Eleven in Farmingville on the way towards the Long Island Expressway, I stare at the legions of immigrants loitering along the road, hoping to be picked up and offered a day’s work. Chatter-ing in cliques, coffees always in hand, wait-ing for the opportunity to earn cash doing menial jobs nobody else is ob-viously prepared to do. A public hir-ing process so demeaning that only somebody truly desperate would put themselves through it every single day, I look at these men, their baseball caps inevitably drawn down almost over their eyes, and I see a little slice of Ire-land’s past.

In London 16 summers ago, I fetched up outside The Crown, a land-mark pub in Cricklewood that from daybreak each morning served as an unofficial labor exchange. From the end of World War II, it had been one of those venues where the Irish tradi-tionally went in search of laboring jobs in the construction industry. It was probably sometime after 6 a.m. when I

took my place alongside dozens of my compatriots, hoping a subcontractor would give us the nod before long and end our waiting misery. And miserable it was too. Even as a carefree 19-year-old student, a day-tripper merely try-ing to make cash during the summer holidays from university, I realized this was a terribly degrading ritual.

That much was etched in the leath-ery faces of the older Irish men in our midst, with their salt-and-pepper beards and their eyes only opened far enough to see in front of them. They weren’t bright-eyed or bushy-tailed. They were beat-down, tired and hu-miliated from having to subject them-selves to this. For them, it wasn’t a bit of a diversion from textbooks and tu-torials, it was a way of life. They knew too well what it was like to stand out-side The Crown on a winter’s morn-ing when jobs were scarce, money was tight and the pickings were slim. I only knew that in another few weeks I’d be safely back on campus, dining out on tall tales about how hard I’d worked.

Every time I see the day laborers gathered by the side of Route 83, I think about how it used to be for the Irish in London. Each day I pick up the paper and read anew about the ongoing controversy surrounding the immigrant presence in America, I re-

member the empty stares of my co-horts, shuffling their feet on a London street, trying not to appear like beg-gars, trying not to hear catcalls from passing cars.

Shortly after I moved to Long Island in 2000, there was that horrific case involving two men luring Mexican la-borers to an abandoned building and beating them senseless. My introduc-tion to the reality of immigrant life in America in the 21st century, so much of what I’ve seen since has amazed me.

The first time I came upon the pro-test group “Sachem Quality of Life,” they were shouting at a Democratic politician and calling him “a terrorist sympathizer.” His crime was campaign-ing for the construction of a “hiring hall” where the laborers could congre-gate each morning. A well-intentioned idea that would at least raise them up a level from streetwalkers, I can only as-sume those protestors calling him out on this were all Native Americans.

From what I know of the history of this great country, everybody else came from someplace else sometime. Per-haps your great-grandfather slipped in before the curtain of bureaucracy came down. Maybe your parents came over when the technicalities of immigration were a little less complex than they are

today. Obviously, some generations came here by more legitimate routes than others, but hearing and reading so much about people trying to drive the Mexicans and other nationalities out of America made me wonder whether the Irish still congregate outside The Crown in early morning.

They don’t. From what I can gather, it’s still one of the places to go in search of a day’s labor in London, but you won’t find many Irish there now. After 50 years, the Celtic Tiger economy in my homeland finally stemmed the flow of Irish. It’s mostly men from Eastern Europe and Africa who hang around these days, hoping for the chance to pick up a shovel, and earn some ster-ling the hard way. Like the Mexicans in Farmingville, the Russians and Nigeri-ans are taking their turn at the bottom of the ladder in a new country. Some are legal, some are not, all are just looking for the chance to get a foot on a rung and start climbing.

It’s not difficult to surmise either that in the American food chain, the Hispanics inhabit the place occupied by the Irish a century ago. Watching all the different St. Patrick’s Day parades around the Island back in March, it was difficult to believe this was ever a

GuestColumn

An Irish perspective on immigration

Sun photo courtesy of Susan Wilson

Rocky Point High School students Sabrina Cacciatore, Jessica Metrock, Ashley Goldbach, Sam Williams, Col-leen Cain and Julia Hyrvniak at last week’s CAP breakfast at the Inn at East Wind.

See DREW, next page

See IRISH, next page

10 • The North Shore Sun • May 5, 2006

discussion. This is crucial for productive dialogue. Productive dialogue results in good decisions and good decisions are the goal of every school district.

My past experience as a SWR Board member, along with my position as the district clerk, has provided a solid understanding of the many and varied roles and responsibilities required of a productive board member. I am asking you for the opportunity to once again serve this community by returning to the Board of Education.

I you have any questions, my e-mail is jamef@optonline.net and my phone number is 929-6307.

Mike Fucito

Well done, CAPS!Rocky Point

To the Editor:It may surprise you to discover that

Long Island’s largest export these days is not planes, trains or manufactured goods; it is our most valuable resource for the future, our children! Our chil-dren, who are our future business, com-munity and political leaders, are forced to leave their Long Island homes when they finish high school or higher educa-tional training in search of gainful em-ployment and economical housing.

Businesses and parents, as well as community and educational leaders, involved in the Long Island Works-Rocky Point Career Advisory Partner-ship, have teamed up to help students

prepare for career opportunities here at home on Long Island. The Career Advisory Committee, closing its second year, held its annual Road to Success career advisory brunch at The Inn at East Wind on April 26.

This year’s speakers were fantastic! Leading all in attendance and opening the career brunch with the pledge of al-legiance was our Sixth District Legisla-tor Daniel Lasquadro. Dan was raised in Wading River and attended Shore-ham-Wading River High School. His support for our children’s and Long Island’s future is unwavering! Step-ping up to the plate to bat for students’ futures was Italo Zanzi, vice president of international broadcasting sales and Latin American/U.S.-Hispanic market-ing for Major League Baseball. Born in Port Jefferson, he hit a home run for the home-team work force building effort!

The home-team lineup of speak-ers continued with Raymond Perini, a past assistant district attorney and currently a criminal defense attorney. Representing small business and the field of promotional advertisement was RPCAP co-chairperson Roseann Bufalino from Ad Ventures of Rocky Point. Health technology and manage-ment was Candace Golightly, clinical assistant professor in clinical laboratory sciences at Stony Brook for 11 years. If the video looked good, Doug Morrow had something to do with it! He is a teaching administrator in the depart-ment of audio/video/film at Hofstra University and a writer/producer for D.A.M. Video Inc.

Helping students reach their goals in life is Janene Gentile, executive direc-tor of the North Shore Youth Council. Janene brought her comprehensive background in the field of human health and safety services to light as a great option for a future career path.

Science is very much a part of ev-eryday life! Students had the oppor-tunity to meet with Jeff Davis, owner of Rocky Point Funeral Home. Jeff brought to life for the students how a career in this field has touched the lives of all since the beginning of time.

Completing the career brunch lineup were North Shore Sun editor Drew Crouthamel, representing the field of journalism, and Xristos Gaglias from Stony Brook University. Xristos’s ca-reer is athletic training/education and he’s a curriculum assistant professor at Stony Brook.

The LI Works Coalition-Rocky Point

Career Advisory Partnership and the Rocky Point School District are work-ing to bridge gaps that exist between business and education. Representing industry, I salute school district admin-istrators and educators for working directly with the business community in helping students get a head start in ex-ploring career options. I am extremely grateful and proud of all the business people, residents and government lead-ers who selflessly volunteer, giving free-ly of their time, personal experience and expertise to help close the gaps and find reasons for the exportation of our future work force.

I cannot say thank you enough to educational chairwoman Susan Wilson and my industrial co-chairperson Rose-ann Bufalino, whose continual commit-ment and responsible efforts are giving our children the tools they’ll need to make Long Island their home.

Please visit our web site at www.rpcap.org for more information about our program and how you can get in-volved in work force-building and in our children’s futures.

Michael Poveromo industrial chairperson, LI Works-

RPCAP

Adopt-a-family thanksSound Beach

Dear Editor:The Civic Association of Sound

Beach would like to send a belated and heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in our December Adopt-a-Family drive. This year we collected over $650 to help an area family in need.

We would like to especially thank Vice President John Moerlins who was the liaison between St. Louis de Mont-fort and the civic association, board member Phil Baehrle who went door to door to our businesses, and elves Kerri and Kevin Maloney who did all of the shopping and wrapping.

We would also like to thank the fol-lowing Sound Beach merchants who contributed to our Adopt-a-Family:

Deanali Inc., Great Wall of China, Handy Pantry (civic member), Har-tlin’s Inn, Kohl’s Department Store (Rocky Point), Matt’s One Stop (civic member), Marino Meats (Centereach, civic member) Rubino’s and Village Square Barber.

Please patronize these fine busi-nesses!

Barbara Sweeney, president, Sound Beach Civic Association

What do YOU think?mail@northshoresun.com

Word on the Street

Letters…Continued from page 8

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Don MansfieldRocky Point

I am a vendor. I can’t afford to go into the city now. I have to stay close to home. It’s very hard on everyone.

Marvin FederMount Sinai

Talk to me about high gasoline prices. Have they affected your lifestyle or travel plans?

Sun research and photos by Peter Blasl

I could have gotten a reporting job at a small daily newspaper in my home-town after college. But I just wanted to get out of upstate New York. I didn’t want to pay my dues. I thought I was better than a small daily newspaper. I was a fool.

So instead of writing news stories, I landed a job as a copy editor for sev-eral large daily newspapers. And for the next 10 years or so I worked nights, fix-ing other people’s stories. But I wasn’t happy. It wasn’t my life’s passion to cor-rect errors in other people’s stories.

I needed to tell my own stories.A year and a half ago, a confluence

of events allowed me to leave the daily newspaper world and enter this one, as editor of a weekly newspaper in my hometown. There are tradeoffs: I make less money than I used to, and I still edit other people’s copy. But in this world, I get to be a reporter and writer, a witness to the first rough draft of history being made on the North Shore.

I couldn’t be happier in my career.It only took me a decade to figure it

all out. Don’t compromise on your ca-reer choice. Be willing to pay your dues. Money can’t buy you happiness.

Emails to drew@northshoresun.com

Drew...Continued from previous page

country where “No Irish” signs hung on the doors. Indeed, throughout that month, Irish politicians were warmly welcomed in Washington to discuss the plight of the 50,000 illegal Irish still dotted around America. So many con-gressmen and senators have Irish roots that the cause of the Irish here is now noble and fashionable in a way that the Hispanic situation is not yet and may never be.

I don’t live in Farmingville and I understand many of the complaints locals have about the unruly situation around the 7-Eleven in the mornings. Something should have been done to create an alternative and more dig-nified venue for the hiring process a long time ago. A change of location, however, will also require a change of attitude towards the immigrants. One will be a lot easier to acquire than the other.

Irish...Continued from previous page