Please join us on Sunday, March 21, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. for a conversation with Mara Gay, a New York Times Editorial Board member who writes about politics and New York. She’s also an MSNBC political analyst, appearing regularly to discuss national politics. Before coming to the Times, Mara covered Mayors Bill de Blasio and Michael Bloomberg as a City Hall reporter at The Wall Street Journal, and before that, at the Daily News. In her first job, she was a digital staff editor for The Atlantic Magazine in Washington, D.C. Mara was also a columnist and editorial board writer for The Michigan Daily, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her journalism career began at White Plains High School, where she served as editor-in-chief for The Orange.
Mara Gay will be interviewed by Bill Falk, editor-in-chief of The Week, a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. Previously, he worked as a reporter, columnist, and editor at the Gannett Westchester Newspapers and at Newsday, where he was part of two reporting teams that won Pulitzer Prizes. Bill has been a resident of White Plains since 1992. He'll be talking with Mara Gay about what it's like working as journalist today including topics such as reporting during a pandemic, fake news, and sharing opinions in a polarized political climate.
REGISTER HERE to receive a Zoom link unique to your email address. This program is sponsored by the White Plains Library Foundation.
I am a Harlem resident and had the opportunity to work there for the New York Power Authority for the Past 10 years and the only oasis I had during that culture shock was the White Plains Library . I was able to check out movies and hone my writing skills in this place that as a Harlemite became My Sanctuary. I was also impressed that the library also provided a sanctuary to the areas Homeless and treated them as human beings.Everywhere else I was treated as a Segregated Outsider ! After I retired I saw MARA on msnbc with her sexy red lipstick and mistakenly perceived her as a joke. this event gave me the opportunity to discover she grew up and Graduated from White plains HS and got her start on the Orange School newspaper. After learning she covered My Mayors Bloomberg & De Blasio ( both of whom I don’t Like) And I wanted to know whom she found to be the most interesting to Interview or cover and why ? Native harlemite to Native westchesterite I am intrigued to hear her viewpoints because I never got share anything with the residents of White Plains regarding my views or my culture during my tenure at the Authority. Regretably I was regarded as an Alien by both cultures , Black and White. I did However meet some of the most wonderful people in the world who worked as cashiers and salespeople in the stores and at the weekly Farmers Markets. I don’t miss White Plains at all but I do regret the missed opportunity to share cultures in what I regarded as a heavily segregated City where most of the people actively avoided making Eye contact with each other ! I always felt Profound Tension in attempting to socialize there, something I will always regret and regard it as my Own Personal Failure. I sincerely hope it was all my fault and I missed more than what I percieved
in the Land of the White Mist. I hope we are both better than that and maybe, one day I will return and Discover I was wrong !
God Willing
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
I’m glad you found our “Meet Mara Gay” program so interesting and that you found our library to be such a welcoming oasis while you worked in White Plains. We look forward to the day when we can reopen our doors to the public and you can visit us once again. In the meantime, I hope you continue to enjoy our online programs, but above all, stay safe and well.