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Glad He Became an Auxiliary Police Officer

Dear Diary:

I was having doubts about my sanity as I walked my beat on that freezing February night. I was a reasonably successful architect who, heeding an “Ask not… ” moment, had joined the New York City Auxiliary Police Force.

After four months of training, fingerprinting, F.B.I. background checks and a battery of tests, my group had been photographed, issued our police ID cards and vanned down to One Police Plaza for our uniforms and gear. Now, assigned to the “Two Four” (24th Precinct), my partner and I were walking the familiar Upper West Side turf that had been my home for most of my adult life.

A young woman, leading an elderly woman, approached us.

“Officers, this woman is lost and confused. Please help her.”

I looked at the sweet-looking older woman, in her late 70s or early 80s, wearing a bathrobe over a nightgown, and walking in bedroom slippers.

Her short gray hair was neatly brushed and her clothes, though wildly inappropriate for the weather, were clean and neat.

I took off my heavy police jacket and draped it around her. “Ma’am, where did you come from?”

She smiled at me and answered: “I was born in Germany. My name is Helen.”

With one arm around her, I grabbed my division radio. “Two four portable to Central. K.” (Cop talk for “I am on foot patrol from the 24th.” “K” means end of transmission.)

“Two Four portable.”

“I have an elderly disoriented female, dressed in nightclothes at southwest corner of Broadway and 82nd. Send a sector car.” (Police car.)

A new voice on the radio.

“This is the Two Zero (20th Precinct). Give description of elderly female.”

“Late 70s, 5-foot-3, short gray hair, name of Helen.”

An excited voice on the radio. “That’s her! Husband just called and is frantic. We’ll be right there.”

As I saw the flashing lights approaching I leaned down to her and said, “Don’t be frightened, Helen, we’ll soon have you home.”

With her trusting face she looked up and said, “How could I be frightened, with two handsome policemen taking care of me?” With a mixture of pride and satisfaction I helped her into the car on whose door was written:

“TO PROTECT AND SERVE.”

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Even After Setbacks, a Musician Insists That the Show Will Go On

Hamiet Bluiett, a baritone saxophonist, in Midtown. He will play at a show called “Cirque du Jazz" this weekend.Earl Wilson/The New York TimesHamiet Bluiett, a baritone saxophonist, in Midtown. He will play at a show called “Cirque du Jazz” this weekend.

Hamiet Bluiett should not have even shown up, let alone picked up his musical instrument. He’s had two strokes in the past two months and his doctors have urged him to take it easy.

But when you’re a legendary jazz artist, who in a career spanning over half a century has performed alongside the likes of Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Tito Puente and Stevie Wonder, it’s hard to say no.

Which is why he found himself the other day at the Manhattan headquarters of the Jazz Foundation of America rehearsing for a coming gig.

“My doctors are saying I shouldn’t be walking around or bending down, let alone playing my horn,” said Mr. Bluiett, 73, who is widely considered the world’s greatest baritone saxophonist. “I told them that they are going by what their machines are saying, and I’m going by what my body is saying, so the show will go on.”

That show, called “Cirque du Jazz,” will take place on Saturday night at Hudson Studios at 601 West 26th Street. It will also feature a host of other jazz notables, including the pianist and composer Randy Weston, the saxophonist Billy Harper and the multi-instrumentalist Kahil El’Zabar.

“Hamiet Bluiett is a spirit force of enormous inspiration,” Mr. El’Zabar said. “His five octave range on the baritone sax has made him a legend where young baritone players all over the world have sought his tutelage. The baritone sax is considered a somewhat difficult instrument for jazz, but Hamiet, the way he circular breathes endlessly, makes it look effortless.”

Mr. Bluiett, who was born in Brooklyn, Ill., grew up playing the piano, trumpet and clarinet, but did not begin playing the saxophone until he was 19.

“I wanted to play baritone; that was my favorite,” Mr. Bluiett said. “But I had to wait until I was big and strong enough to play it.” (The baritone saxophone, heavy and cumbersome, is one of the larger members of the saxophone family. It is bigger than the tenor saxophone and smaller than the bass.)

Mr. Bluiett joined the Navy band in 1961, serving and entertaining for the next five years. In his mid-20s, he became greatly influenced by the sounds of Harry Carney, the baritone player in the Duke Ellington band.

“I’ve had a great many musical influences in my life, but Harry Carney was probably the biggest,” he said.

In the late 1960s, Mr. Bluiett co-founded the Black Artists’ Group of St. Louis, an organization dedicated to showcasing and enhancing the talents of black musicians, filmmakers, poets and other artists. He led the group’s big band for two years before coming to New York in 1969.

“If you were a jazz musician, New York was the place to be,” he said.

In the ensuing years, Mr. Bluiett became the Babe Ruth of baritone. He joined popular jazz bands like the Charles Mingus Quintet and Sam Rivers’s large ensemble, and later co-founded the World Saxophone Quartet. He continued to jam with numerous bands, taught music to schoolchildren throughout the United States and has been hired as a design consultant by saxophone manufacturers around the world.

“The saxophone is a support instrument, but I have been fortunate enough to be recognized as someone who has stood out front in that supporting role,” Mr. Bluiett said. “In terms of the instrument I chose, I may have settled at the bottom of the totem pole, but I like to think of myself as being at the very top of that bottom. Now I’ve had my share of bad performances, but I don’t let disaster go to my heart the same way I don’t let praises go to my head.”

Mr. Bluiett, who is divorced and a great-grandfather and lives in Harlem, has fallen on hard times in recent years. While he continues to recover from his second stroke, he has not yet recovered financially from a fire in 2002 that destroyed his home, and most of his possessions.

During each setback, the Jazz Foundation of America â€" which holds benefit concerts like the Cirque du Jazz to raise money for struggling musicians â€" provided financial help for Mr. Bluiett. The foundation bought him new clothing and furniture after the fire and helped pay his medical bills during hospital stays after both strokes.

“The Jazz Foundation has assisted me all the way through,” Mr. Bluiett said. “They are always there when I need them, and they have helped many other jazz musicians in a time of need. I don’t know where we would be without them.”

Mr. Bluiett then went back to rehearsing. As he played, he was unaware that a well-known veteran jazz drummer named Billy Kaye, 82, had walked into the room.

“The kid still got it,” Mr. Kaye said. “He kind of makes you want to get up and dance.”



Gorilla Birth Alert!

A month-old western lowland gorilla with her mother at the Bronx Zoo.Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation SocietyA month-old western lowland gorilla with her mother at the Bronx Zoo.

The Bronx Zoo’s gorilla forest was the site of not one but two blessed events recently: Julia, a 33-year-old western lowland gorilla, had a baby on March 10. Her colleague Tuti, 19, gave birth just last Thursday.

Little is known about the babies so far â€" not even their gender. But both appear to be in good health. They are the first babies born in the Congo Gorilla Forest at the zoo since 2006.

Tuti and her five-day-old baby.Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation SocietyTuti and her five-day-old baby.

Whether you’ll be able to see the babies by going to the zoo will depend on several factors, including weather and temperature, the zoo said.

For now, you can get your fill here. Welcome to the world, little gorillas.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: April 24, 2014

An earlier version of this post misspelled the name of one of the gorillas. She is Tuti, not Tutti.



New York Today: The Nanny Van

Honk if you care.Marisa JahnHonk if you care.

Updated 5:57 a.m.

Good morning on this gusty Thursday.

A local artist named Marisa Jahn bought a 1976 Chevy van on Craigslist last year for a couple of thousand dollars.

Today, it will begin touring the East Coast.

It’s the Nanny Van.

Project Nanny Van aims to teach domestic workers about their rights.

There are an estimated 200,000 domestic workers - nannies and housecleaners - working in the New York City metropolitan area.

Under a New York State law passed in 2010, these workers have rights and protections that few of them know about, Ms. Jahn said.

“Most of them work in isolation,” she said.

The van will be stationed outside parks, libraries and other spots frequented by domestic workers in the city starting next week: Flushing, Queens is their first stop.

It will distribute literature “with superhero Pop Art graphics with local flavor â€" one character wears a head wrap from Trinidad and Tobago,” Ms. Jahn said.

And a phone number.

Calling 347-WORK-500, domestic workers can listen to more than a dozen episodes about issues in domestic work, recorded by domestic workers, in English and Spanish.

Already, between 300 and 1,200 people call the line each month.

In one of Ms. Jahn’s favorite episodes, “there are two lungs, talking to the domestic worker,” she said.

One lungs says, in a deep voice, “You’ve got to stop using that harsh oven cleaner.”

The workers’ reaction?

“They think it’s hilarious,” she said.

Here’s what else you need to know for Thursday.

WEATHER

Warm, windy and bone dry: there’s a brush-fire alert from 9 a.m. till 8 p.m.

High of 64 degrees, gusts up to 38 miles an hour.

Bring sunblock and windbreaker, leave matches home.

COMMUTE

Subways: Check latest status.

Rails: Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or N.J. Transit status.

Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect through Friday.

COMING UP TODAY

- It’s Tech Day, “the largest single-day start-up event in the world,” at Pier 92. Elected officials will hand out awards to city start-ups. 9 a.m.

- A display for Holocaust Remembrance Day opens at the New York Public Library. 10 a.m.

- Tavern on the Green reopens in Central Park. 11 a.m.

- It’s “Poem in Your Pocket Day.” Students recite poems, accompanied by a band called Humani and The Peace Poets, at Bryant Park. 11 a.m.

- Postal workers march outside the main post office on Eighth Avenue to protest a partnership allowing Staples to offer postal services. 11 a.m.

- Animal rights activists protest at the site of a recent horse carriage accident, across from the Plaza Hotel. 1 p.m.

- Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña speaks at Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s Overcrowding Task Force across from City Hall. 4 p.m.

- Parents and teachers demand an end to high-stakes testing outside the city’s Department of Education. 4 p.m.

- The mayor and the first lady attend the premiere of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2″ at the Ziegfield Theater this evening

- Henry Kissinger and Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein discuss the Middle East at the Central Synagogue on the Upper East Side. 6:30 p.m. [live webcast]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

Kenneth Rosen contributed reporting.

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