Eden Henderson
Home: Rego Park
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 124
Stats: 36-24-35

Eden Henderson of Rego Park is in her freshman year at Long Island University, but when it comes to modeling, she’s no beginner. 

Henderson, who said she was approached by talent scouts on the streets as early as age 15, is currently balancing her time between school and photo shoots. 

“Eventually I want to be a doctor,” said Henderson, 18, “but I want to do modeling on top of that too.” 

   At LIU, Henderson is planning to major in biology, but is leaning toward studying humans over animals. 

    “At first I wanted to be a vet,” said the 2001 Forest Hills High School graduate.  “I think that blood is a little easier to handle with people rather than animals.”

Henderson has modeled for a Canadian clothing company, as well as strutted down the runway in evening and swimwear. 

For a recent fashion show, Henderson said, “I didn’t want to wear a thong, but I wound up doing it anyway, because there wasn’t enough time to change out of it...I felt comfortable.”

In her spare time, Henderson says she likes playing handball and can be spotted shooting pool at “Star” on Austin Street in Forest Hills.

A Devilish Teacher in Bayside

    When Bayside's  Rodney Rigoli was asked by his English professor at SUNY Albany to write an essay on a person who impacted his life, he chose civic leader Frank Skala, the man who taught him seventh grade Social Studies at I.S. 25.

    The essay entitled “Seventh Grade Hell” was written in 1997 and can be found online at www.albany.edu/faculty/rpy95/eng303/rigoli1.html.

    It tells about Skala’s “loud” clothing, his untraditional teaching methods and his straight-forward attitude. One line of the essay which sums up the tone of the piece reads, “I’m not sure which was brighter, his clothes or the bald spot on top of his head.”

    Rigoli discussed a test that Skala gave on the 1988 Presidential debates which asked what color the rug was and where the flag was in relation to the candidates. He talked about Skala’s penalty for chewing gum – a four-page paper that could be about anything, and could be one sentence written over and over.

    He mentioned Skala’s tendency to open the window on cold, winter days to wake everybody up, and the rigorous trips that Skala ran like “crash courses.”

    Skala said he saw the essay online a few years ago, and made 50 copies of it to give it to all of his co-workers. Skala said, “I think it’s the funniest thing I ever read . . . I remember Rodney, he was a shy kid. I had him when he was 12-years-old. He was my blackboard monitor . . . He remembered me after all these years, and that’s something. I always tell the kids, in 30 years you’ll forget everyone, you won’t know the principal’s name, but you’ll remember me.” 

            Just to make sure Rigoli would never forget him, Skala took one of the copies of essay, corrected its spelling and grammar, and mailed it to Rigoli and his parents.

Piazza'z Party

Fresh off his trip to Italy where he met the Pope, New York Mets All Star catcher Mike Piazza was recently spotted at a holiday party he hosted in SoHo.

The musical guests at the party were none other than thrash metal legends Nuclear Assault.

The catcher who knocks out home runs at Shea Stadium also belted out some tunes as a guest vocalist of the band.

Nuclear Assault was formed with help from bass player Danny Lilker who got the band together after getting kicked out of the Queens-formed metal band Anthrax.

Rock on guys!

KISS For The Holidays

One lucky Jackson Heights resident got to meet the bandmates of KISS, at a recent signing for the release of their new autobiography of the band.  He was so “touched” that he decided to make a holiday card out of the picture taken at Virgin Megastore in Manhattan, where the band’s co-founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley appeared to promote the book, titled “KISS: The Early Years.”   

Flushing natives Simmons, born Gene Klein, and Paul Stanley, born Stanley Harvey Eisen, met in Queens in the early ‘70s  to form the band Wicked Lester that would later become known as KISS, short for Kissena Boulevard.

 Tongue-hanging, makeup-wearing rock stars who became known for their elaborate stage shows led to their success in selling approximately 80 million records.

Queens On The Web

    Got a beef about things in Queens?  Upset about traffic in Brooklyn?  Angry over noise violations in Manhattan?  Join the 1,722 people who have chosen to “voice” their opinions online, submitting frustrations to www.nycbloggers.com. The site divides the blogs among the five boroughs, and organizes writers’ comments by the closest subway line.  A Rockaway contributor complains about “horses in the City, my job, or other stuff I don’t like.”  Rather than getting angry at storeowners or family members this holiday season, scream your lungs out with a keyboard.

Not Chop Meat!

    The Historic House Trust, a non-profit organization that promotes and preserves the historic houses located in City Parks, was moo-ing its way to the bank earlier this month.  The organization raised $50,000 from the sale of the last 40 of the 500 cows still unsold from CowParade 2000. 

    The “Cattle Call” auction took place at Union Square Park and – in tune with the auction’s Texas theme – visitors enjoyed country music and farm craft activities like apple pressing and butter churning.  Among the steers for sale were “Times Square Cow,” “Picowsso,” and “Cattle Car,” which is painted to resemble the E-train. 

    The highest grossing cow was “Moo Are Here,” a $3,500 steer painted with a map of Manhattan said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, who helped welcome visitors to the auction, “From the turnout today, I think we can all say that this project has been a complete and udder success.”