CROSS WESTCHESTER; A Man of Ideals, At Home in the County
HERE is how Westchester's own Ossie Davis eulogized Malcolm X, once a fellow Mount Vernon resident: ''What we place in the ground is no more now a man, but a seed, which, after the winter of our discontent, will come forth again to meet us. And we will know him then and for what he was and is: a prince, our own black shining prince, who didn't hesitate to die because he loved us so.''
Including these lines in his biopic about Malcolm X, Spike Lee shed almost as much light on the person who spoke them as on the film's charismatic subject. Mr. Davis, the actor, writer and civil rights advocate who died this month at 87, was an eloquent witness to history -- one who also made frequent use of county forums in sharing his unique vantage point.
''I remember him telling of coming north from Georgia and how he got off the train and entered Penn Station,'' Amiel Wohl, rabbi emeritus at Temple Israel of New Rochelle, said recently as he mulled over memories. ''He said, 'You know that is our Ellis Island, Penn Station,''' recalled Rabbi Wohl, who was preparing remarks to deliver at Mr. Davis's funeral this weekend. ''He had that nobility about him, that way of seeing things.''
Mr. Davis stood with Paul Robeson in denouncing McCarthyism. He was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963 when Martin Luther King Jr. first told the public, ''I have a dream.'' And, just last month, at a dinner for the Coalition for Mutual Respect, a New Rochelle group that seeks to bring together people of diverse backgrounds, Mr. Davis stood alongside Andrew J. Spano, the county executive.
''He was such a mainstay in the Westchester community,'' said Mr. Spano, who described his acquaintance with Mr. Davis as dating back nearly 25 years. ''He was always around. I know he made a lot of movies, but I never knew when. It seemed he was always here if you needed him.'' Mr. Davis and his wife, the actress Ruby Dee, were honorary chairman and chairwoman of Mr. Spano's first campaign for executive.
Rabbi Wohl, co-founder of the Coalition for Mutual Respect, said Mr. Davis had attended so many events at Temple Israel that he had practically become a member.
''Everybody wanted to claim him,'' the rabbi said. ''He belonged to everybody. He would attend every function of the coalition, if he was in town. He would even attend planning meetings. He liked the ideals, and he liked being with people, local people.''
It's Spanish to Them
What would Mr. Davis have made of a Cornell Cooperative Extension class meant to teach English-speaking landscapers in Westchester how to communicate with Spanish-speaking laborers? He might have decided that between American and Hispanic cultures, progress remains to be made.
Earlier this month in Valhalla, an extension class called ''Spanish for Landscapers'' was attended by about a dozen people who had paid $25 each to learn basic Spanish phrases.
''The main thing is, communicate effectively,'' said the teacher, Glen Holt, a supervisor of the rural employment program for the state's Department of Labor. ''Learning to speak Spanish is going to take some time, but you can still get your point across.''
To that end, he said, landscapers need only develop a limited vocabulary.
''I've found little handbooks for tourism in stores,'' Mr. Holt said. ''But I have never found a need to say, 'I want to take a taxi to the beach.'''
Instead, those he teaches need to know how to say things like ''Don't put too much water on the plants,'' interpreted as ''No le ponga mucha agua a las matas,'' or ''Be careful of the underground pipe'' (''Cuidado con la tuber?bajo terreno''), or ''Make the job look clean'' (''Has el trabajo mas limpio'').
Mr. Holt distributed handouts titled ''Spanish for the Agricultural Employer'' and published by the extension, along with a pocket-sized ''Landscape & Nursery English-Spanish Handbook,'' published by Treegator, Portable Drip Irrigation Systems, a company that seems as though it must be new to the dictionary business.
Communication, of course, is a two-way street, and so the two-hour class soon ventured into different territory.
The students had questions.
How do you convince a male laborer that a woman can be his boss?
Be strict, Mr. Holt said.
How can you convince a laborer that coming to work on a Monday with a hangover is inappropriate?
Be strict, Mr. Holt said.
Mary DiMarino of White Plains, who had signed up to enlarge her vocabulary, said the new words would come in handy. ''But if you can use sign language and a few words,'' she concluded, ''most people are understanding and help you along the way.''
Under the Influenza
If thinking about landscaping terminology doesn't hasten the arrival of the landscaping season, we can at least rejoice to learn that, according to Mary Landrigan, spokeswoman for the Westchester County Health Department, the flu season is either late or not that bad. The number of cases is comparatively low this year, she said, although she said evidence was anecdotal because doctors are not required to report cases.
Even though it is now the middle, or possibly near the end, of the flu season, the health department is still recommending that people get the vaccine. It's now available for all Westchester residents. To schedule an appointment, call (914) 813-5609.