Clay LePard (CL): Thank you for being with us Coach Marrone for this edition of 5 Questions with CONNECT. First off, how does the success of the football team affect the psyche of the Syracuse Community?

Doug Marrone

Doug Marrone: Well I think it’s important to me; it goes back to my days in New Orleans. When we first came there after Katrina, there was a lot of tough things going on economically within New Orleans and then coming across and having that season where we went to the NFC championship game. Just being able to pick up the spirits of the people, of where they were able to get away on a Sunday and forget about the problems of what Katrina caused really could pick up a community and really a whole area. So I think as far as the Syracuse football program, oh which we will do, have success on this football field. I think it will pick people’s spirits up and get them excited where they can go and be proud of their team.

CL: You went to school here, you played football here in the 1980s. How have you seen our school, but also our community, change over time?
Marrone: I know that from a university standpoint, we have done so much to increase our academic integrity as far as our schools are much more higher rated now, and Chancellor Nancy Cantor has done a great job on our campus. We’ve expanded our campus with new buildings and our professors are great; they were great when I was here, so I’m excited about that relationship we still have. And then the community – it’s been tough. We’re going through some tough economic times but we survive here in Syracuse; we got to work, we get our hands dirty and we get things done. So I’ve been very excited, you know, being on campus and being off campus in this community.
CL: When you applied for the job as head coach at Syracuse University, you kept a folder of current high school football players to keep an eye on in the Syracuse area. How important is it for you to recruit locally?
Marrone: Well I think it’s important for us to recruit locally obviously as a radius of 250 miles, starting here working our way out throughout the state. It’s important because it’s such an easy sell. We have a great school academically; we have such a great campus, we have great students here – people who go on to become leaders in the industries all over the country, if not the world. It’s an exciting standpoint for us to get someone close who can visit the campus multiple times, and it gives us a better chance to get those kids here.
CL: If you weren’t coaching football, what would you be doing?

Marrone: I’d be involved in athletics at some point. I don’t know if it would be coaching, it might be administration at some point. If it wasn’t that, it would be law enforcement. Growing up, I always wanted to be a state trooper. So, it would be one of those roles for me. 

CL: Even though so many people know your name and even though you’re so recognizable there has to be something people don’t know about you. So what would people be the most surprised to know about Doug Marrone?

Marrone: I would say it’s probably where I eat. I have three young children; they’re eight, six and four [years old]. So we go quite a bit to Red Robin, Friendly’s, to McDonalds. I probably visit those establishments more than any other ones because of the children. We go to bowling alleys, movie theatres. I’m out in the community quite a bit, and I know when I walk into Friendly’s or Red Robin, people always say “Coach, what are you doing here?” “Well I’m doing the same as you with your children.” I look for children friendly establishments and that’s what I look for with my children.

CL: Thanks Coach. This has been 5 Questions with CONNECT.

SYRACUSE, NY

Alyssa Raymond:  You say the modeling business is not so glamorous.  Why not?

Ann Marie Stonecypher

Ann Marie Stonecypher:  Ummm….because its really just like any other business. Its a marketing business.  And what I am doing is I am just marketing people.  Somebody calls and they want a model and I send a model.  Its just like ordering pizza or ordering anything else except its people.  So its not really glamy glamy and its Upstate New York so its not runway shows and things like that.  It might just be an ad for a little business to business flyer that no one is going to see but some industrial clients.

Raymond:  When people think of modeling…you usually think of high fashion and extremely skinny and tall females…this is not what your agency is about…why not?  And why might this be a good thing for Central New York?

Stonecypher:  Well to the question why not.  Umm because it is Upstate and we tailor our business to our clients that are here.  And because there’s no Victoria’s Secret or Calvin Klein here we tailor our business to the clients that are here.  The furniture stores.  The industrial clients.  And clients like that so they’re not going to higher long legged 16-year-old girls to be in their ad.  They’re going to hire a 35-year-old that might look like a doctor or a nurse or something like that.  So those are the type of people that I have to have in my business so thats really nice because those people have the opportunity to model.  And its just sideline.  Its not anything they’re going to make their daily bread from.  But its just a nice little extra bit of money.  I call it their shoe shopping, Turning Stone money not their pay their electric bill money.

Raymond:  So why is that a good thing for Central New York?

Stonecypher:  Because it is just another little level of income.  Just a little extra something.  Ummm…you know its not millions of dollars but you know its helping families with a little something extra.  I had a woman for years and years and years that the money that she made with me every year was their vacation money.  Her family of four every year went to Florida and went to the theme parks on the money that she made with my company every year.  That always made me feel great.

Raymond:  The modeling industry has a reputation of causing eating disorders. What are you doing about that and how effective is it? Can you give us examples?

Stonecypher:  We have never ever told any body to lose weight for a job.  The way that someone comes to me is the way I’ve taken them.  I’ve never said well I would take you except you need to lose weight.  Because we are not a fashion market or a catalogue type of market there is no pressure that everyone has to fit a certain size.  Ummm because mostly what we are doing is business to business type of things.  Editorial type of things there’s no one set look.  Ummm…I am very much a proponent of healthy eating and healthy looking people.  I do charity work for Ophelia’s Place, which is a center that helps people with eating disorders.  And we work on their fashion show every year.  They are very good friends to AMS Models and vice versa.  but ya we have never told anyone that they needed to lose weight.  Absolutely not.  We are proponents of healthy living not skinny.  Absolutely not.

Raymond:  Why do you think the modeling industry should exist?  What do you think it brings to society?

Stonecypher:  Ummm its really just another segment of advertising.  And it definitely just helps people brand their product.  If you’re going to sell…like we have a client that has a line of pajamas and if you want to brand that line you’re gonna pick your models that kinda have a look that represents your style.  And if you can pick those models yourself and have the look that you want you’re establishing your brand.  And you’re helping promote the look that you want.  And the same with any type of company, whether its a certain widget you’re selling and you want that widget exposed to the world by certain types of people holding it.  The people looking at the ad are going to identify with the people holding it.  Its all part of advertising.  And if you use models versus stock photos you don’t have to worry about your picture or your brand being diluted and being seen in other places.  And people say, oh wow that photo looks like a photo I saw in someone else’s ad.  You get to choose the model.  You get to choose exactly the look that you want and the people you want.  And we have every ethnicity that there is and we have every age group.  So you really get to pick and choose how you want your add too look.

Raymond:  You are in your sixth year as a breast cancer survivor. What has the experience taught you?

Stonecypher:  Well umm I think that everything we are death teaches us something and if it doesn’t then we need to look at it a little harder or listen a little harder.  Umm…and its taught me that life is so precious and everyday is a gift.  And ummm…sometimes you just need to turn it around and pay it forward and I’m just so happy to be here for my children and the people I love.  Umm…and my way of paying it forward is that I have a pink ribbon circle reminder.  And I send it out to over a 100 women every month to remind them to do their self exams because its still important.  And ummm…I talk to other survivors to try to give them encouragement and tell them that they will get to the other side and this is all the treatments and how awful it is and losing your hair and all that stuff.  Its temporary and you’ll get to the other side and you’ll be back.  And you know I’m just so grateful to still be on the planet and get a second shot at being alive.  I try not to sweat the small stuff because I know I was given a second chance so it really taught me so much really.

Raymond:  Thank you so much Ann Marie

Stonecypher:  You’re welcome.

SYRACUSE, NY—
Olga Rodriguez: You started this paper with the purpose of strengthening the Hispanic and Latino community. How has this community responded to CNY Latino?

Hugo Acosta

Hugo Acosta: It has responded in a way positively.  Our population is growing, particularly in Central New York. Our population isn’t as concentric as modern metropolitan areas however it is growing so that it is not just middle class or below residents in Syracuse for example, but we also have professionals now, we have people in the political arena, business owners, people in the health industry, and different sectors that are giving a more positive image to our community.

Rodriguez:  You mentioned people in the political arena, who would you consider to be the most influential Hispanic in this community?

Acosta: We used to have an individual from Syracuse, Fernando Ortiz; he used to be the commissioner of economic development in the city. He passed away over six months ago.  He was a very strong leader.  We also had Bea Gonzalez who had different positions in SU.  She used to be the president of the common council. She also ran for the mayor of the city, a very influential, very key person also in the political arena and not just Latino.

Rodriguez: What kind of stories is CNY Latino covering that mainstream media is not?

Acosta: Well, sometimes we try to always lead community-related stories.  The local mainstream media, the big guys here, only cover those stories unless there are controversial issues, so we try to cover a lot of the local events that happen in the community.  What the famous Spanish action league is doing here.  Very often we try to cover minor community-related events, or we try to cover celebrations, sad news, like the death of Fernando Ortiz.  We cover what’s going on with social or cultural related organizations that have something to do with the Latino community here in Syracuse.

Rodriguez: What do you think are some of the biggest issues that Hispanics are dealing with right now?

Acosta: Well right now I would say job placement.  I was surprised to find out that most of the Spanish population comes here for job placement. There are more opportunities to work here than other places; at least that’s what I have been told from those coming from NYC and the east coast, New Jersey and places like that. Especially middle-grade type of jobs.  Educated-jobs type of thing.

Rodriguez: You’ve said that part of the purpose of CNY Latino was to help others learn about the Hispanic community and culture. What can somebody who is not Latino learn by reading your paper?

Acosta: So our publication is not only a communication tool for our culture but for people of other cultures. For example, American population frequently subscribes to us and may read about issues that affect us from an ethnic background.  Kidney failures and stuff like that is stronger