11 BRONX WEEKLY December 30, 2018 www.BXTimes.com
Michael Max Knobbe greets the Kyrgyz journalists on-air during Open World.
Schneps Community News Group/Alex Mitchell
Pair of journalists from Kyrgyz
Republic visit BronxNet studio
BY ALEX MITCHELL
BronxNet’s studio at Lehman
College received a
very special visit on Friday,
December 14.
The U.S. State Department
invited six participants
to take part in what
state offi cials described as
an ‘International Visitor
Leadership Program’s Regional
Project for the Kyrgyz
Republic.’
Called 21st Century
Changemakers: New and
Traditional Media in the
Digital Age, journalists
from Kyrgyzstan spent
weeks touring various
American media centers
across the country.
They were featured on
BronxNet’s Open World program,
in addition to touring
the state-of-the-art studio
facility.
During the show journalists
discussed some
major cultural differences
between Kyrgyzstan and
America.
Journalist Bekbaeva
Zhyldyz explained how Kyrgyzstan
values democratic
values a great deal more
than its neighboring nations.
She continued on, mentioning
how old Soviet customs
still remain present in
their media that refl ect the
tone while reporting.
“American journalists
are much more relaxed,”
Zhyldyz said. “Scandinavian
(journalists) are too,”
she added on.
Zhyldyz has spent over a
decade covering world news
and popular culture in her
home of Osh City.
The group of journalists
did miss out on a crucial element
of American culture,
though. Pizza. During their
cross-continental journey,
at no point did the journalists
ever stop for pizza.
Being that their cuisine
is much more meat based
than a standard American
one, pizza wasn’t fi rst on the
to-do list.
However, one of the journalist’s
favorite treats was
scrambled eggs and frenchfries.
Although, the group assured
this reporter that
each journalist would have
a slice of pizza before leaving
the Bronx.
BronxNet was the fi nal
stop on their American tour.
Prior to their inaugural trip
to the Bronx, the journalists
toured both CNN and the
Wall Street Journal newsrooms
in Manhattan.
The tour also included
BronxNet to show the foreign
guest a shining example
of American, community
driven media.
“BronxNet is always
proud to share our experiences
with journalists visiting
the U.S, as media outlets
seek to make global connections,
and we are particularly
honored to be selected
by the U.S. Department of
State’s International Visitor
Program,” said BronxNet’s
executive director Michael
Max Knobbe.
The dialogue and exchange
about media with
the distinguished journalists
from Kyrgyzstan was
mutually benefi cial.
Knobbe along with other
BronxNet directors learned
about the process of becoming
a journalist in Kyrgyzstan.
It’s a ten-year process
that begins as early as age
15 for anyone ambitious
enough in the Asian republic.
C
ommunity media in
Kyrgyzstan isn’t presented
at nearly the volume that’s
found in America.
That was something impressive
to the visiting journalists.
“We are pleased to serve
as a model of community
media for content creators
and media makers who are
seeking more ways to connect
with communities locally
and globally,” Knobbe
added.
As a matter of fact, he
gave the journalists something
to remember America
and the Bronx by while onair.
A
fter thanking them
for coming to BronxNet,
Knobbe handed out special
edition BronxNet T-shirts
to his new foreign friends
before their return to Kyrgyzstan.
Penny Marshall, top-grossing
movie producer, Bronxite, 75
from Page 1
Bronx upbringing, attending
M.S. 80 at 149 E.
Mosholu Parkway North,
and her relationship with
Reiner in her 2012 memoir,
‘My Mom Was Nuts.’
“When Rob Reiner and
I were children, we lived
across the street from
each other. We never met
because the Grand Concourse
was a busy street,
and we were too young to
cross it,” Marshall wrote,
later going on to commend
Reiner’s household
for giving out the best
Halloween candy each
year.
Fortunately, Marshall’s
career lasted much longer
than their ten-year marriage
which spanned 1971
to 1981.
After hearing of his
ex-wife’s passing, Reiner
took to Twitter posting,
“I loved Penny. I grew up
with her. She was born
with a great gift. She was
born with a funnybone
and the instinct of how
to use it. I was very lucky
to have lived with her
and her funnybone. I will
miss her.”
Reiner wasn’t her only
Bronx connection to Hollywood,
though.
Early in her acting career,
Marshall starred in
the television version of
fellow late Bronxite Neil
Simon’s ‘The Odd Couple,’
as Myrna Turner, Oscar
Madison’s secretary.
Marshall even made
an appearance in the
show’s 2016 re-boot as the
character Patty.
The original version
of the TV series was produced
by her brother
Garry and Reiner made a
guest appearance.
It was Garry that infl
uenced Penny to get involved
on the other side of
the camera.
He directed ‘Pretty
Woman,’ about the same
time that Penny had fully
switched gears towards
directing in the the early
1990s.
After becoming the
fi rst woman director to
gross over $100 million at
the box offi ce with ‘Big’
in 1988, Marshall would
again call on the fi lm’s
star, Tom Hanks to manage
the Rockford Peaches
in ‘A League of Their
Own’ in 1992.
That legendary baseball
comedy scored its
way into the history
books when the United
States National Film Registry,
run by the Library
of Congress, recognized it
for being “culturally, historically,
or aesthetically
signifi cant” in 2012.
The last fi lm that
Marshall directed was
the 2001 biography, ‘Riding
In Cars with Boys’
which starred Drew Barrymore.
She continued producing
until 2005, when her
fi lm, ‘Cinderella Man’
received three Academy
Award nominations.
Marshall never won
an Oscar throughout her
illustrious career.
In 2010, Marshall was
diagnosed with lung
cancer that eventually
spread to her brain. But
fortunately it went into
remission allowing her to
complete her memoir.
If there’s anything that
Penny Marshall taught
the world, it’s how important
laughter is.
Penny and Garry Marshall in 1982. Associated Press
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