New Haven magazine September 2010

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

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ONE2ONE:

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New Haven I August/September 2010

Belly dancing for fun and fitness

08 ONE2ONE Hamden botanist Dick Jayne may have Connecticut’s greenest thumb

13 Suddenly Sonia A onetime Channel 8 intern hits the big time

18 Pulling a Career 180 Adults who make dramatic career changes in mid-life

23 Rat Race, Jr. Edition Parents scramble to get their kids into the ‘best’ kindergartens

STEVE BLAZO

32 Body & Soul

Short news briefs you need to know

PHOTOGRAPH:

06 Intel

34 Ponying Up A polo story (hold the Ralph Lauren)

36 Art Calendar 37 Of Notes New Haven Symphony’s first commercial CD release in 30 years

38 Music Calendar 40 On Stage Calendar 42 Words Of Mouth New Eats: The Suburban Restaurant, Just A Taste: The Kitcehn Table and Just A Si:New EnglandBrewings

26 At Home Long-term family love affair restores a gracious downtown home

New Haven

46 Discovered Exploring Connecticut’s coastline by sea kayak

| Vol. 3, No. 9 | August/September 2010

Publisher Mitchell Young, Editor Michael C. Bingham, Design Manager Larissa Philllips, Design Consultant Terry Wells, Contributing Writers Brooks Appelbaum, Duo Dickinson, Liese Klein, Margaret A. Little, Cindy Marien, Caitlin Marquis, Melissa Nicefaro, Joanna Pettas, Jack Dickey, Mercy Quaye, Makayla Silva, Cindy Simoneau, Chelsea Jacob Tyler, Editorial Intern Steve Dowling, Photographers Steve Blazo, Anthony DeCarlo Senior Publisher’s Representatives Mary W. Beard, Roberta Harris, Ronni Rabin

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

New Haven is published 12 times annually by Second Wind Media Ltd., which also publishes Business New Haven, with offices at 85 Willow St., New Haven, CT 06511. 203-7813480 (voice), 203-781-3482 (fax). Subscriptions $24.95/ year, $39.95/two years. Send name, address & zip code with payment. Second Wind Media Ltd. d/b/a New Haven shall not be held liable for failure to publish an advertisement or for typographical errors or errors in publication. For more information e-mail NewHaven@Conntact.com.

OUR COVER WTNH-TV anchor Sonia Baghdady. Makeup by d.d. Nickel Makeup Studio, New Haven. Hair by Cheryl McMahon, Karma Salon, New Haven. Dress by Archetype Clothing, New Haven. Photography by Anthony DeCarlo.

Cover Design and Typography by Terry Wells.

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at Quinnipiac University and author of Power, Protest and the Public Schools: Jewish and AfricanAmerican Struggles in New York City (Rutgers Press, 2010).

Kite Lands in Connecticut STRATFORD — A white-tailed kite was spotted in Stratford in early August, the first sighting in a century in New England.

The home range of the kite is California, as well as along the Louisiana coast and east Texas.

The Greenwich Time reports that bird watchers have been coming from as far away as Pennsylvania to see the kite, which has a white breast, black shoulders and white grayish tail. For more on Connecticut birds, birdingonthe. net/mailinglists CTBD.html.

Racial Profiling NEW HAVEN — While the access to a quality education may be seen as a given in most Jewish households, that wasn’t always the case, according to New Haven resident Melissa Weiner assistant professor of sociology

According to Weiner, “In the 1920s, about 30 percent of Jewish students were placed in low-level academic classes, without regard to their actual ability,” a process Wiener says is repeated today for AfricanAmerican and Latino students.

She argues Jews overcame this disadvantage because “They had access to this whiteness” and “became quite educated after World War II. That’s when they were able to move out to the suburbs and they were considered ‘white.’”

More Choo-Choos on Track HARTFORD — Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Connecticut’s conductor-inchief for another six months, is ordering 80 more Metro North cars from Japan’s Kawasaki Industries. The order, worth $226 million, will augment the 300 M-8 cars already in the pipeline, with the first eight

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Saint apparently didn’t know that Connecticut’s largest media company, Tribune Co., publisher of the Hartford Courant and New Haven Advocate, is raking in tens of thousands on “escort” ads, with no comment from the Attorney General. We’ll add that to the record for him.

Tech Blogger Bashes Blumenthal SAN FRANCISCO — Nick Saint, a Silicon Valley blogger at sfgate.com, blogged that U.S. Senate candidate and current state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal “is back in the news bashing tech companies, this time Apple and Amazon.”

Earlier this campaign season, Blumenthal took aim at Google.

Reported Saint: “Dick has managed to make himself the face of the crusade against Google over wi-fi data recorded by its Street View cars. This is a non-issue, but it sounds scary.”

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Hamden botanist Dick Jayne may have Connecticut’s greenest PHOTOGRAPHS: Steve Blazo AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

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THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS

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D

ick Jayne’s Broken Arrow Nursery is known throughout the Northeast for a wide variety of perennial, shrub and tree varieties. The 76-year-old Jayne began his “career” in the nursery business when as a 4H member in 1947 he was recognized for his Christmas trees.

The experience, and the trees, took root, and today Broken Arrow sells more than 2,000 Christmas trees every year from its Evergreen Avenue location in Hamden.

After graduating from Wesleyan and earning a Ph.D in botany from Yale, Jayne worked for 25 years at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven. He worked to develop blight resistance in American chestnut trees and on the development of mountain laurel.

Jayne would eventually write the book on Connecticut’s official state’s flower, Kalmia: Mountain Laurel and Related Species. (He likewise edited Nut Tree Culture in North America.) In 1984 he retired from the “Ag Station” and founded Broken Arrow with his wife, Sally. NHM Publisher Mitchell Young interviewed Jayne for ONE2ONE. In the introduction to your book about mountain laurel, it says you’re a ‘fanatic.’

How does one become a mountain-laurel fanatic?

I had done my Ph.D research on chestnut [the American chestnut tree]. When I was hired by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station they said I would have to pick another project, too. There wasn’t a lot of work done on mountain laurel. It was the state flower, [but there were] virtually no research reports on breeding or control crops. It’s also the state flower of Pennsylvania. The nursery industry then as now was probably the fastest-growing segment of agriculture.

But what made you a ‘fanatic’?

I really got into it. Things went well — I published a number of papers.

You’re a perennial here in Hamden. Were you born here?

No — born in Louisiana. We lived in New Jersey for a while and we moved up here when I was in the sixth grade.

I know you sell a lot of Christmas trees.

How did the business get started?

My dad was an entomologist for the

federal government; he was always interested in farming. He moved up here and bought eight acres on Brooksdale Avenue. There was an old apple orchard [on the property], which he rejuvenated.

It was his gentleman-farmer operation, you might say. I joined the local 4H and had chickens, a vegetable garden — all sorts of things. And won [awards] with some Christmas trees. That original farm, we don’t own that or grow any trees, there but we’re still in Hamden in two locations [the other is at 680 Evergreen Avenue].

What was your job at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station?

I was a plant breeder, primarily trying in various ways to restore the American chestnut, initially with hybrids and [researching ways to treat] the chestnut blight fungus and also breeding mountain laurel, trying to develop better horticultural varieties, better selection.

What is the state of the American chestnut? I have Chinese chestnuts and they seem to do very well.

Yes, that’s the most [blight-] resistant species. It’s been 25 years since I worked on chestnut. They are still working away at it; the American chestnut still has people dedicated to it at the Experiment Station and others out of state.

You were doing breeding, as opposed to what we hear about now with gene transfer and the like.

The breeding program had actually started in the 1930s by Arthur Graves and was carried on; I stepped into an ongoing program. Simply put, we were trying collectively to take disease resistance that occurs in the Japanese and Chinese chestnut, which are a more orchard-style, spreading type tree, and get that into an American chestnut, which was our most important forest tree, timber tree. It had many uses.

What do you think of gene splicing as the direction things seem to be going?

It has a place, you can do things within a reasonable timeframe. With chestnut, you have a lifecycle of six years before you see something, you have to go through many generations and grow lots of plants. With gene splicing in many cases you’re doing

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things that might be done over the long term. Although when you take a gene from a bacteria and put it in a higher plant that is quite different. Some caution has to be taken but I can’t imagine that we’re going to stop doing it. Hopefully we’ll just proceed in an intelligent way.

In a minimum six-year life-cycle I guess you don’t have to worry about unleashing a monster.

Frankly, I really enjoyed it and I think we did some worthwhile things [with chestnut]. I was involved for 25 years; by contrast working with mountain laurel was like a piece of cake. People would say, ‘How can you do this — work on a plant that takes four to five years from seed to flower?’ But compared to working with chestnut it was easy.

Here at the nursery you have a lot of different kind of plants. Most of us wouldn’t even know what they are.

This is probably true, but this is our niche.

We bring in and introduce unusual plants that are hardy for the area. For a retail nursery we’re probably very unusual in that we propagate many of the plants right here. One of our fellows just came back from a trip to the Southeast and brought back 50 little plants that are new and different. Now we’ll see if they’re hardy [for the Northeast climate].

Before he began Broken Arrow in 1984, Jayne spent his career working with mountain laurel and American chestnut trees.

Who are your customers, and where do they come from?

We do some mail order, but it is primarily the Northeast. We joke that the people around the corner don’t know we’re here but people will come from Pennsylvania or New Jersey on their way up to Maine.

Our primary customers are people who have some plant knowledge.

How did you make the transition from plant breeder to nurseryman/ businessperson?

I probably approached it not from a business sense, because I just love to grow plants. We were long involved in Christmas trees, and started growing some mountain laurel at home when I realized I’d [eventually] be leaving the experiment station. When we first started here in 1984, [mountain laurel] was our primary [product]. but we’ve gone well beyond that now.

How many Christmas trees do you sell, and do you see the same customers each year?

We have [families] coming for a second generation for sure. There are always folks who seem to come every year, and fortunately new customers too. We sell a 10

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

couple thousand trees and we make a lot of wreaths from our own material.

Your product line has moved well beyond Christmas trees and mountain laurel propagation.

Yes. Andy [Brand] came in 1990 and he was our first full-time employee. He has a master’s from the University of Connecticut and ran a tissue culture lab before he came here. He’s extremely knowledgeable and interested in all sorts of plants. He and I would scan catalogues and order new and different things and propagate them. And we hired a fellow [Adam Wheeler] from the University of Vermont four years ago and he makes us look like beginners. He’s aggressive in bringing in new plants and propagating.

How do you get plants from no one knows they exist, to showing up in people’s yards?

Different ways. If we get real excited about it and have nice plants, our

customers [get excited]. One of the things that amazes me, having worked in the state and now being in a business, is how many sales are impulse — and it’s certainly true with the nursery business.

[Sales also are generated by] articles in gardening magazines, or hearing one of us talk at a (gardening) society Does Connecticut have a large community of gardeners?

Yes, we’re fortunate that there are a lot of dedicated gardeners interested in new plants. We have a number of workshops throughout the year. The first one this year was on witch hazel. That’s a plant that’s great but because it flowers in February or early March it’s not when we’re typically selling things. Two and a half years ago we applied for a matching grant from the state Department of Agriculture, so the building [in which Broken Arrow holds workshops] is largely a response to that.

How is agriculture doing generally in Connecticut?

I think it’s ever-improving. We have [an increase] in [number of] the farmers markets for edibles; there is the [Connecticut] Wine Trail, also one for nurseries. We like to think of ourselves as a destination nursery. People come and spend a few hours walking around.

Well, they would almost have to. How many different varieties of plants do you have out there?

so common, it was overlooked. I think I can take a little credit for pulling all the information together over the variation, and making cross [-breeds of different plant types] and introducing new plants that seemed exciting and writing articles [about mountain laurel].

Your wife is involved in the business.

Anyone else in the family?

My oldest boy [Burton], who worked as a chemist for 18 years at [Pfizer]. He came about three years ago. He’s the business manager, although he’s out pruning Christmas trees as we speak.

I don’t know. Over 500. Take mountain laurel — we may have 20 different varieties.

Is he happy with the career change?

What makes them different?

Flower color, leaf shape, plant habit.

So people aren’t going out into the woods and digging up mountain laurel any more?

Hopefully not — and if they’re doing it [I hope] they’re getting permission. But to dig out of the woods — that’s tough, big old plants. It’s an interesting plant in that it is very common from Maine down to Alabama, but it’s not the easiest plant to grow in the yard. The reason it became the state flower back in 1917 or earlier is because it’s very attractive. It’s considered one of the most handsome evergreen shrubs in the U.S. In one sense it was

Definitely, His wife is still a chemist.

We’ve always worked well together. When he and his brother were young we did all the pruning of the trees together. I have a neighbor who says, ‘I think you did the best job ever when your kids were involved when they were young.’ I’m not sure you should quote that — it might offend some of our current employees.

One of the things about a family business that’s nice is family members get to spend more time with one another.

Yeah, but there’s always a concern when you bring a family member in and you have non-family employees. But this [improves] the chances the nursery will

exist much longer.

A couple months back I interviewed John Lyman of Lyman Orchards, which is older than the United States. It helped me see that people might have more loyalty to a growing businesses — I mean to the business of growing things.

The land that Sally and I own down on Evergreen — a five-acre parcel and 13 acres her parents use to own — is now owed by a family corporation. I was able to convince the family corporation, and Sally and I did the same thing, to give up the development rights. Now that’s 18 acres that will remain farmland forever. If you own a bigger piece of land the state or others will purchase it, but we effectively only received [compensation] for the legal fees, but essentially gave the development rights away.

This style nursery wouldn’t need too much land, would it?

No, with container plants and field grown material maybe six acres and the value on five or six acres is much more than Christmas trees on 25 acres.

How long does it usually take a cutting to grow into a salable plant?

We deal in perennials: shrubs and trees.

Some of the perennials, you have them three or four months during the growing

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season from a rooted cutting to saleable size. That’s the shortest – one growing season. Many of the others require two or more years. Something like an umbrella pine, which is very slow growing – a fiveor six-foot plant can [sell for] $300, but that’s going to be around for five to ten years.

Since you did edit a book on nut trees, do you sell them?

That was one of the things I thought about and worked very hard on with some part-time nurserymen in Connecticut. We were trying to figure out how to make some money growing nut trees, maybe as a nursery for homeowners who wanted a chestnut or a walnut in their back yard.

But it’s a tough nut to crack.

Well, I have a walnut tree in my yard…

Well, if it’s a black walnut you can’t grow any mountain laurel underneath it.

It destroyed my garden last year, actually.

If the roots of a black walnut get near a tomato plant, contact to contact, the tomato plant just drops. It exudes toxicity through the roots.

Will we ever see a return of trees like the

American chestnut that were nearly wiped out by blight?

The researchers sure hope so, but it is incredibly slow. Maybe as science advances they’ll be able to insert a gene into chestnut or butternut that keeps the tree much as it was but gives it the one thing it needs [to resist blight].

What’s been the hardest thing about nursery business and growing plants?

Well, you’re at the whim of the weather.

With Christmas tree sales, if you get two rainy weekends back to back…It’s a strange business: You grow these trees for eight years and over 50 percent of your sales are in four days — two busy weekends.

When did you decide to make plants your life’s work? Wesleyan wasn’t an ag school.

It was a slow waking-up to what some people might have seen in me already.

As a young kid down in Chatham, N.J., we lived down a dead-end street, and neighbors would throw plants down the end [of the street]. I would try to bring back these half-dead plants and resuscitate them. At Wesleyan I was in with a bunch of pre-med students, but I was one of the

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few that had no interest in medicine.

Outside of farming in Connecticut, there probably weren’t many jobs like the one you got at the Agriculture Station.

I was pretty fortunate — it’s a great place to work. They’ve managed to serve a broad aspect of Connecticut, not just farmers or the garden ladies. [During a state budget crunch in the 1990s] it was impressive, the diverse groups that came to support it.

Do you get a sense of what makes for a plant that people think is really special?

It’s the diversity that they’re coming for here, not the real common things. There are plants you get and sell out of, and then we’re certain we’ll sell out of something [like] yellow magnolia. We all think they’re the greatest thing in the world but customers have a been a little slow picking up on them. These days there is a real interest in things that are native. Beyond that the more seasons of interest is very important. Does it have a nice bark for the winter? Does it have fall colors? A good flower? Does it have fruit? If it has all those things it’s a winner. v

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onia Baghdady doesn’t like to be the center of attention — she swears. Yet every weeknight, she finds herself with a million eyes (give or take) on her as she anchors some of Connecticut’s most-watched newscasts.

She’s hard not to notice.

WTNH-TV’s rising star has worked her way up through the ranks from an internship as a dewy-eyed Fairfield University co-ed to the station’s most coveted seat: news co-anchor. Side-

by-side with the (likewise easy-on-the-eyes) Darren Kramer, Baghdady delivers the news with poise and aplomb at 5, 5:30 and 11 p.m. for Connecticut’s ABC affiliate.

“From the age of six or seven, I not only wanted to do this for a living, I just had it in my mind that I was going to do this,” she says. “I can’t even tell you what went on in my brain as a child to be so confident that I was going to be a TV news broadcaster.”

Continued on next page

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Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., she remembers asking her father to go out in front of their brownstone with a video camera while she interviewed passersby about current events or even what clothes they were wearing.

“People would actually stop for me!” she recalls.

Despite her last name, which leads people to assume she’s of Iraqi decent, she’s Lebanese. She grew up in a very strict household with traditional ArabAmerican parents and credits her exposure to the traditional roles of Arab women throughout her childhood and teenage years as part of what made her want to pursue her career.

“I wanted to be independent and feel accomplished in the workplace,” Baghdady explains. “I was a shy child, but there was something inside of me — despite my lack of thick skin — I had a goal of seeing how far I could go.”

Being in the spotlight every day, she has to stay grounded and tries to avoid being consumed by competitiveness despite the hyper-competitiveness of the media industry.

“It’s just not who I am,” she says. “I’d Then one day she decided to accept her rather tuck away in the corner by myself body and stop camouflaging it. than take part in a conversation that might “I’m a female with curves,” she says. “This be hurtful to someone.” She’s found that is how I was born.” (Well, maybe not can work for or against a person, since exactly.) those who isolate are easily portrayed as Baghdady found that the credibility she aloof or diffident. has earned as a journalist comes from “I’m merely trying to avoid what can be confidence. described as the ‘ugly’ side of this, or any o-anchor Darren Kramer agrees: business,” she says. “Once people get “To her credit, I think she makes it to know me — really get to know me — work very well. I don’t think it’s they ask, ‘How on earth were you ever unique to our business that women have attracted to this business? It doesn’t fit your personality at all.’ I think there’s a lot to work harder for respect.” of truth to that.”

“We work very well together,” Kramer

C

adds. “She’s funny and we have the same twisted sense of humor and we really do have a good time on and off the air.” Since Kramer and Baghdady were moved up in class from Good Morning Connecticut (6-7 a.m. weekdays) and the noon news broadcast to the more traditional 5, 5:30 and 11, there is less latitude to joke around.

While few question her journalistic integrity, Baghdady is sensitive about being marginalized for her attractiveness.

Let’s face it: The girl is hot.

“I believe it’s harder to be taken seriously in the news business, particularly when you’re a female who puts energy into her image,” she acknowledges. “I think the industry has changed. I remember very early on in my career intentionally buying oversized clothing and jackets to hide my shape. I wore minimal makeup and my hair was significantly shorter, thinking it made me appear more credible.”

“Mornings are bit more intimate and relaxed than the evenings, so opportunities to be relaxed have changed a bit, but we still try to work a little bit of it in when we can,” Kramer says.

Baghdady concurs. “If they aired what

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Even as a child, Baghdady would venture outside her family’s Brooklyn brownstone to interview strangers on camera.

happened during commercial breaks, our ratings would be even higher. We got to the point on the morning show where we’re like a dysfunctional family. A commercial break would hit and we’d put on music and dance and at the ten-second count to come back on the air, we’d need to recompose and behave. It’s a good time and if you enjoy the people you work with — it’s half the battle.”

B

aghdady has worked with Kramer now for more than four years and he’s become what she

calls her “significantly older annoying brother.”

Kramer would have the public believe that his co-anchor is older than her 35 years.

At one time he had half of Connecticut convinced that Baghdady was crowned Miss Noank in 1982.

“I’ve never been to Noank in my life and I was seven years old in 1982,” Baghdady counters. “He said it on the morning show so often that I’d get e-mails from viewers in Noank who were so excited and wanted to know when I

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15

lived there.”

When asked to share one thing about Baghdady that nobody else knows, Kramer whispers: “Just between you and I, Sonia is 57 years old. Don’t tell anybody.”

A sense of humor keeps the job light when news isn’t always so light. It also helps Baghdady deal with comments and criticism regarding her appearance.

Baghdady admits she doesn’t get to the gym as often as she’d like, but she enjoys Pilates and walking while listening to her iPod. She loves food, but has learned to pay attention to her body’s reaction to it.

“I can eat whatever I want, just in moderation. I know it’s cliché, but I know when to stop,” she says.

“Embracing her curves” has not gone unnoticed by many, including by WPLRFM morning talk show hosts Chaz & AJ, who have named Baghdady the reigning queen of their “Tight Shirt Alert.”

Each morning, Chaz & AJ monitor local television while they’re on the air, and though she’s no longer on the morning newscasts, Baghdady has been bestowed

with a score of 4.9 (on a scale of one to five) for her “tight shirt.”

Her confidence surfaces when dealing with such silliness. She doesn’t find it terribly offensive, but instead laughs along with them.

“Even with all of their stunts, I enjoy hanging out with those guys,” she says of her occasional on-air banter with the radio guys. “They’ve been nothing short of great to me since I got here and I appreciate them.

“I know a lot of people see it as raunchy and they’re appalled for me, but honestly, it’s all in good fun,” Baghdady says. “I’m happy they feel they can joke with me like that. They know I can take it and that I’ll probably give a little bit back. ”

S

much of a problem about my clothes or how I dress than how those clothes fit me.

I think people have a hard time attributing credibility with curves.”

She does hope that her body takes on different kinds of curves some day.

Baghdady and husband Frank DePino, owner of interactive Web design company Media Boom, live in Guilford. She adores her husband and speaks highly of his work: “If he doesn’t know it, he learns it. He’s working on a site for [magician] David Copperfield now that’s so cool and interactive.”

Baghdady says she would feel blessed when the time comes if their children have DePino’s creativity — matched with Sonia’s drive.

he admits she has received many “I didn’t want to have children and be e-mail comments from viewers selfish in my career and not be able to give regarding how she dresses, some the necessary attention to a family,” she of which have accused her of artificially says. “That’s unfair to the child.” enhancing her body and flaunting her, um, vvv assets.

“This is how I was born and there’s not much I can do about it,” Baghdady responds. “I think that people have not so

Baghdady literally worked her way up through the ranks after graduating from Fairfield in 1997. She was subsequently

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hired by WTNH as a part-time weekend tape coordinator, recording satellite feeds for news broadcasts. She then became a full-time associate producer and helped write news copy. After a year, she went to work for Cablevision’s News 12 on Long Island and then on to NBC affiliate WWLP-TV in Springfield, Mass. While at WWLP, she became co-anchor with Dan Elias for the 5 p.m. newscast.

E

lias recalls his first impression of Baghdady. “She was new to on-air work and I was most impressed with the way she took to the work,” he says. “In the first couple of days, reporters do on-set pieces, where we’re sitting next to the anchors, presenting a story we’ve covered during the day. I walked by the set and heard someone talking. It was Sonia.

She was so professional and poised and I remember thinking, ‘That’s talent.’ She’s got it.”

“Women do face that issue that, if they’re very attractive, it’s perceived that’s why they were hired,” says Elias. “Women especially have to prove that’s not the case. She did that very quickly. She’s very attractive, but it’s not long before you have great respect for her skills. She’s the whole package. She’s likeable.”

Baghdady once harbored big dreams of joining a network, but since nightly network newscasts are losing hundreds of thousands of viewers to cable and the Internet, she’s happy with her choice in Connecticut.

“I knew I wanted to come back to Connecticut and interviewed at a number of stations and I came back to WTNH as a reporter over seven years ago,” she says.

The goal has always been to work for one of the top-ranked TV markets. According to Nielson Media Research, New York is No. 1, followed by Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. Hartford-New Haven is the 30th largest TV market, just behind Nashville and San Diego. (Glendive, Mont. is last, at No. 210.)

“For a while I had seen this as a stepping stone and then I settled in here — Connecticut’s such a great place to live,” Baghdady says. “I have family here and life has become very convenient here.”

She acknowledges that as she gets older her priorities are changing.

Climbing the ladder to a larger market

“looks great on paper,” she allows, but “I’m not sure it’s something I really want to do. I guess it’s a matter of deciding how important my career is to me.”

Baghdady won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in a Soft News Series for her series ‘Is It Worth the Money?’ a consumer product review segment.

She enjoys features, but Baghdady says she is driven by hard news.

“I think that the harder a story is, the more it is taken seriously, and the more it is perceived to be true journalism,” she explains. “But honestly, sometimes the more difficult stories to do are the ones that require you to use your imagination.”

Baghdady says she does have a hard time separating herself from hard stories, especially when she was working as a reporter out in the field.

“It’s very difficult to separate yourself from what could be the most trying day of someone’s life,” she says.

While working behind the scenes at WTNH, she was out with a photographer covering a light feature. While listening to the police scanner, they heard of a possible drowning. They didn’t have GPS in the car at the time, so they pulled out all of the maps to find the location.

“There were three guys on a boat and one was missing,” Baghdady recalls. “Parents had been notified, but hadn’t been told exactly what had happened. We were there when the parents got to the scene and the mother’s reaction when she saw her son’s two friends and realized it was her son who was gone. I can still hear the shrill of her screaming.

“I remember thinking, ‘There’s no way we can put a camera in this woman’s face or record any of this.’ It was horrible.”

But she did it anyway. “You have to get in people’s faces when you don’t feel comfortable doing it,” she says. But the experience did make her second-guess whether she was cut out for her profession.

As stressful as the news business can be, Baghdady’s job has also given her the opportunity to meet many people she never otherwise would have. Cooking side-by-side with Martha Stewart one day, hanging out at the casino with celebrities at an event the next day, then she check out a new show in town.

She loves to cook and entertain and loves clean (just not the act of cleaning).

“I don’t like clutter and I don’t like stuff,” she says. Hence the simply decorated house she and her husband share.

She likes to think there’s a little Martha Stewart in her. “I’ll plan a brunch and literally start setting up a week ahead of time, using lemons and limes in flower arrangements,” Baghdady says. “Maybe I should have gone into event planning or a lifestyles show!”

When asked what she’d like the world to know about her, Baghdady pauses for a moment before replying. “Sometimes I wonder how I got into this business because I actually dislike being the center of attention,” she says. “ Something drove me into this business,I’m not sure what.”

“I just started working with Geoff Fox on the evening shift and although I’ve known him for years, I’d never spent too much time with him,” Baghdady recounts. “A week or so ago, he looked at me and said, ‘You’re nothing like I thought you would be.’ I didn’t know whether to take it as a compliment or an insult.” So she asked him. “He said it was a huge compliment, and that he liked me a lot.”

I

f there’s something Baghdady would like people to know, it’s that it’s “so easy to pass judgment on people and [the perception of] perfection is not always reality,” she says. “I think that once we start to peel back the layers of the onion, we find there’s a lot more there than you thought there would be.” That’s easy to say for someone as pulchritudinous as Baghdady.

“I don’t see gorgeous when I look in the mirror, but I guess we’re our own worst critics,” Baghdady says.

Being on television “is a business and it’s a game,” she acknowledges. “To stay in the game, I’ve got to look the part. But not because I’m a shallow person. It does bother me that people perceive me as shallow.

“It goes back to the ‘Tight Shirt Alerts’ and the curves. You might be surprised at what’s underneath.” v

new haven

17

Deciding in mid-life to make a radical break with your professional past

By Karen Singer

I

n these tough economic times career changes can be unintentional, as workers find themselves without jobs and scrambling to find similar employment — or any employment — elsewhere.

The trauma of termination can lead to depression and re-evaluation, but also perhaps trigger thoughts of trying something different, and potentially more satisfying.

For other professionals, a career change may not be tied to a job loss but stem from a growing realization they no longer want to continue doing what they’ve been doing.

Whatever way they get there, some people wind up on radically different new paths, which may require education and other retooling to make the quantum leap.

Here are a few of their stories.

’I Wanted a Total Change’

He says he made the change because he needed “to reenergize and recharge.”

18

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

Pizzorusso says that forging a nursing career in mid-life is ‘awesome.’

PHOTOGRAPH:

As director of business development for Chapel Haven, a non-profit, he now spends his days persuading employers to hire adults with disabilities.

Priscilla Searles

Ed Carney has traveled a long way from the insurance world where he toiled for four decades, traveling the world making million-dollar deals, eating in tony restaurants and earning megabucks.

Carney, 63, grew up on Long Island, and began his career as a health-insurance underwriter.

A Vietnam veteran with a bachelor’s degree in political science, he was newly married with a disabled son and large medical bills, and joined the company “just to have a day job.”

He soon exceeded those modest expectations.

“They invariably put me into management courses, I’d get promoted, and while my heart might not be in it, I got various promotions,” he recalls.

Headhunters beckoned, and Carney moved on to bigger and better-paying positions.

Along the way, he became a reinsurance underwriter for Duncanson & Holt, an industry giant handling policies for “Elton John’s hands,” among other celebrity body parts, and a vice president of marketing “for a Brit who did a lot of business at Lloyds.”

During the 1980s, Carney set up two medical reinsurance companies, including one in Wallingford (Excess Underwriters

Inc.) that “had one heck of a run and made lots of money.”

In 1994, the man who had financed the firm wanted to merge it with his main business, and asked Carney to sell his interest in the company.

“So I did, and he gave me a raise and a larger car,” Carney says. “In financial and material terms I was doing really well, but I wasn’t engaged. After six months, I began to have a fear of losing my edge and went to him and said, ‘I don’t want to do this any more.’”

Regrouping, Carney set up a third medical reinsurance business for Stirling Cooke.

He ran it in New Jersey and Connecticut until 2001, when after the tourist attacks of September 11, “The market got very flat.”

Carney’s next started his own company, Endurance Underwriters.

“It didn’t endure, and from that point on I was kind of an independent entrepreneurial deal-cutter, and managed to do that from 2002 to 2007,” he says.

Assignments included a two-year stint as “the U.S. medical benefits coordinator” for Virgin Life Care, a rewards-based health improvement program start-up for Virgin

airline and record mogul Richard Branson.

Working from his office in Southington, Carney was paying the bills but feeling more and more restless.

“It just got old,” he says. “Frankly, my most useful skill and valuable skill is someone who can sell things and present things. That’s tough when you’re sitting in your computer.

“I decided I wanted to make a total change.

Carney had “an intuitive sense my skills could fit in somewhere,” and thought “on just a whim, maybe if I go into the work of non-profits I could bring my negotiating and PR skills into that market.”

Searching online, he found a job opening at Chapel Haven, which may have drawn his interest because one of his five children is a 25-year-old autistic son who is “prettyhigh functioning and works at a Stop & Shop.

“I think I wanted to do something that helped people like him,” he says.

Carney sent in his résumé in July 2007, and was hired within a few weeks.

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Carney: From generating mega-profits to a non-profit.

“Look — I want to make a difference,” he recalls telling his prospective employer.

“This might sound sappy but I’m interested in changing my career path, and want to get involved in a field where I’m more directly helping people.”

He describes the job as “by far the hardest work I’ve ever done.

“I get involved finding business opportunities where our people can work,” he says, adding, “Even in the best of economies, the odds of them getting hired are steep.

“It is both exasperating and incredibly rewarding, because when it happens it’s like hitting a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.”

20

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

Those Who Can Do, Teach Before Mad Men became a popular TV show, Robert (Kinnon) Schwartz and his college buddies were discussing how advertising would be a good way “to make some money.”

A Branford native and Notre Dame/ West Haven graduate, Schwartz was at the University of Miami (Fla.), where he majored in English and advertising and worked part-time at IAC Group, a small agency where he was hired after graduating in 2004. He spent two years there, gaining experience in media planning and buying for print and radio, then moved to Manhattan, where he became a media buyer for national network and cable television for InitiativeMedia Worldwide Inc.

For the next year and a half, he basked in glitter.

“A lot of the job was attending big network parties with all the celebrities from the TV shows, and being treated to free lunches and dinner,” he says.

Schwartz met the cast of Lost, Carmen Electra, Christian Slater and other stars while negotiating, buying and tracking ads for SC Johnson and Bausch & Lomb, and writing a quarterly report on the performance of the ads.

“Almost daily we would go out for at least a drink on an expense account, and we often went to fancy dinners at fourstar restaurants,” he says. “It was a lot of fun but my problem with it was I was a writer in college, and what I really wanted to do was not only have a job that was redeeming intellectually but one that helped people.

“The only person I could see helping was myself, and there was a little bit of an emptiness in the pit of my stomach every day when I went to work.”

As an intern, Schwartz is “a permanent sub[stitute teacher]” in classes ranging from math, social studies, science and English to special education.

Exploring other opportunities, Schwartz landed a job in 2008 as marketing manager at Seaside Naturals Inc., a Branford startup making “all natural” cleaning products and personal-care products for adults and infants.

“I’ve also covered alternative center, which gives expelled students one more chance,” he says. “The most important lesson I’ve learned is to stay engaged, stand up, never sit down and always let the students know you care. They can tell very easily if you care about them.”

“I encouraged them to start advertising and created a marketing campaign including trade shows and green events,” Schwartz says.

Even though he was using his skills “to do something good for the environment,” Schwartz still felt “the intellectual part” was missing.

The job came to an abrupt halt in February 2009, when the company was bought out by a venture capitalist.

Schwartz began contemplating a different career.

“Teaching was something I had been considering for some time, and once I got into the advertising and marketing world, I started thinking about it more and more,” he says, adding he has taught lifeguarding from time to time since he was in high school.

“I had known about the University of New Haven program where you get your master’s in education over the course of a year, tuition-free if you intern at a school.”

He was accepted into the UNH program in July 2009. He started taking courses that fall, along with an internship at New Britain High School.

On his first day, Schwartz shadowed another intern.

“The next day I was thrown to the proverbial wolves and given the toughest kids in the freshman wing,” he says. “I taught math, which is not my subject, and it was like something out of the movie Lean on Me, but it wasn’t terrible.

“There was one class with five or six students that have the most behavioral problems,” recounts Schwartz. “They were the ones I was told to dread, but they turned out to be the easiest. They like to jump out of their seats and didn’t want to do the work, but that day I tried to talk to them.

“I told the intern about my day, he said if I can handle them I can handle anyone in the school.”

Now 28, Schwartz currently is studying for the Praxis exams, which he will take during the fall semester, as part of the teacher certification process in Connecticut. He also must spend a semester student teaching, perhaps at a suburban school, after graduating in December.

Before he began teaching, Schwartz says, “I didn’t know what people meant when they said, “If you have a job you love you’ll never work a day in your life.

“I already feel like I have the perfect job, and I’m where I’m supposed to be.” \cutline\Onetime ‘Mad Man’ Schwartz discovered ‘where I’m supposed to be.’

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Love of Labor A deferred dream can be a powerful motivator.

So it has been for East Haven native Deborah Pizzorusso, whose childhood desire to “be in the medical field” was put on hold for a couple of decades while she raised a family.

After graduating from high school and spending one semester at UConn, she says, “I got married at age 19, had two children, stayed home with them and became involved in schools as a PTO mom.”

Pizzorusso took on a few jobs, working as a nanny, a paraprofessional for a special education/autism program and a respite-care provider for Benhaven Family services in East Haven.

The kids grew up, went to college and started their own lives, and by 2008 Pizzorusso was “floundering around,” contemplating her next move.

“I wanted to do something for myself, something I loved, and make a career of it,” she says.

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Onetime ‘Mad Man’ Schwartz discovered ‘where I’m supposed to be.’

Pizzorusso began revisiting her childhood dreams about the medical field.

“I knew I wasn’t ready to do college for a doctor or pediatrician, and decided nursing was it,” she says.

Her first choice, to become an RN, proved problematic.

“I got accepted at St. Vincent’s in Bridgeport but would have had to do three years catching up on prerequisites because I had been out of school so long,” she recounts. “I looked into Bridgeport Hospital but missed deadline for the year, and the RN courses at Gateway and other schools were full, with long waiting lists.

In September 2008 she signed up for a 15-month practical nursing program at the Lincoln Technical Institute’s Hamden campus.

The first few weeks were the worst.

“There were a few small breakdowns, when I thought, ‘I’ll never get this. I don’t understand the terminology,’” Pizzorusso recalls. “But once I started understanding the terminology, it just flowed.”

22

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

She wasn’t alone in her struggles.

“We started with 62 students, and lost about 50 percent of class,” she says, adding most of her classmates were half her age.

“There probably five of us over 40, which was fine,” says the 42-year-old Pizzorusso. “I felt I was in school with my children and kind of mentored a few people.”

Her own children and firefighter husband cheered her on.

The program “was so intense I pretty much gave up my life,” she says. “If there was a family gathering or party, I said, ‘I’m sorry — I have to study.’”

In addition to classroom training, the course gave Pizzorusso hands-on experience in facilities like the Willows in Woodbridge, Wallingford’s Gaylord Hospital and the Hospital of St. Raphael in New Haven, where she was saw a Cesarean section and tubal ligation, and began thinking, “Ultimately I would like to have my RN and work in labor and delivery.”

The hard work paid off with a diploma in practical nursing and a state license.

“I was first in the class all the way through, and got the [nursing school] director’s award for maintaining high grades and excellence,” Pizzorusso says.

She currently has two part-time jobs, at Guilford House and Water’s Edge Center for Health and Rehabilitation in Middletown.

She’s also “about halfway through” the RN course she’s taking online from Excelsior College, and “probably will go on” to other courses she may need “to get the labor and delivery position I want.

“I’ll fine-tune it as I go, but I definitely am where I want to be,” she says. “I accomplished what I wanted to, and it’s awesome.” v

Pre-School Daze

By MERCY QUAYE

M

ath, music, art, gym — the curriculum is basically the same from preschool to preschool. Yet parents in New Haven have joined the frenzy that’s taking the nation by storm to get their children into a “better” pre-

familial environment,” says Anntonie Thorpe, an employee of the New Haven Board of Education and recent Hamden Hall mother. “Think about it as an opportunity to send your child to a school where there are a total of 575 students (pre-K-12), 7:1 student-to-teacher ratio and 100-percent college rate acceptance. In the public schools we’ve experienced the average classroom size is 25.”

The bottom line is fewer students equal more attention per student. That is the most powerful selling proposition of private schools, including St. Thomas’s Day School on Whitney Avenue in New Haven.

school. But what, exactly, is “better”?

Good question.

From Milford to Meriden, New Haven County is the home to about 99 private elementary schools, according to Privateschoolreview.com and schoolsk-12. com. In the city of New Haven, there are about 15 private elementary and primary schools, 30 public elementary and middle schools and about 20 different magnet schools.

“For every twenty students in a class there are two teachers,” says Fred Aquavita, head of St. Thomas’s. “And even with the hit that we’ve taken [from the economy], According to the website, New Haven we’ve still be able to maintain two public schools average a student-to-teacher teachers in every classroom, although now ratio of 12:1. New Haven private schools there are only about 17 students in the average 5:1. class.”

“My husband and I selected Hamden Hall With the economy taking a turn for the [Country Day School] because we liked worse, parents have looked to public and what the school had to offer academically magnet schools to save money, and — the small classroom sizes and the

their decision is evident in the private schools’ student attendance. “Five years ago I would have said that there are three applicants for every opening but that has completely [changed],” says Aquavita. The small Episcopal school has moved from enforcing strict deadlines and application dates to open and rolling admission. “It’s a concern of all private schools. They call it ‘The Perfect Storm,’ says Aquavita. “The public schools are doing well but the private schools are suffering.” This could be because parents aren’t happy with the competition, tuition and overall performance of the schools.

“Both my children attended St. Rita Catholic School,” says Suzanne Havens, RN, MDS, coordinator at Montowese Health and Rehabilitation Center. “My daughter Amanda attended from grade two until grade eight and my son Ian attended from pre-school until grade six.”

Havens’ experience with the Hamden school was mixed.

“Amanda graduated from St. Rita’s but we chose to remove Ian after grade 6 and enroll him in Hamden Middle School,” she explains.

“There were many issues with the Catholic school. I believe there are more services in public school, especially for gifted and talented

new haven

23

students.”

Not all parents feel the same.

“When I was looking for schools, there was a lot of confusion over what school to send my daughter to,” says Freda Grant, St. Francis parent. “Our ‘neighborhood’ school [East Rock Global Magnet School] is a magnet school so there was no room for her there. As magnet schools pull much of their student body from outside the district, they typically fill up fast and have long waiting lists.

“Through the conversations with the Board of Education, I was told that someone would notify me of her school placement by late summer,” Grant recalls.

“Her father and I were unhappy with that decision and we wanted her transition from pre-K to kindergarten to be smooth, so we opted to send her to private school.

It was a very good decision.”

Freda Grant couldn’t get daughter Sanai McDonald into her ‘neighborhood’ public school (East Rock Global Magnet), so she enrolled her in St. Francis Catholic School instead. ‘It was a very good decision,’ Grant says.

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Public Schools had more students attend preschool, head-start and pre-K magnet programs in the 2008-09 academic years than ever before. This accounts for a total of 3,035 preschool and kindergarten students.

That influx, driven in large part by the slump in the economy, came at the expense of private schools.

“Last year we took a hit,” acknowledges Aquavita, “Usually the school has about 150 students or more, but in 2009 we only had about 130.”

Aquavita is conducting summer interviews in hopes of reversing that trend. “We’re working on getting the numbers back up to where they were,” he says. “Right now we’re in the 140s for attending students, but it’s a work in progress.”

Carla M. Horwitz, head director of Calvin Hill Daycare Center, can empathize. “I find myself thinking, ‘Gee, there just aren’t that many kids out there,’ and some years that’s true. New Haven has a lot of good child care and just not enough toddlers,” she says.

But through the course of a dampening economy, Calvin Hill Daycare has been able to stay afloat.

“I hate to say that we haven’t suffered as much as others, because I don’t want to jinx myself,” says Horwitz. “But I could have accepted more students than I did this year.”

Calvin Hill has a play-based curriculum with significant intellectual content. It is driven by both the students and teachers so that there isn’t simply a rigid series of lesson plans. “Emergent” is what Horwitz call it.

“It’s developed based on the things we know children need to do and love to do,” says Horwitz. “It’s a balance of the skills that they want to learn and the skills they need to have and it changes on a daily basis”.

With a 6:1 student-to-teacher ratio, Horwitz feels Calvin Hill is doing a bit better than other peer schools. “The fact is, we have more staff,” she says.

However, there are multiple factors that influence some parents’ decisions to remove their children from private schools and place them into suitable magnet or public schools. Although student-to-teacher ratio isn’t one that Calvin Hill is challenged with, it faces Continued on 31

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The Family

A long-term love affair restores a gracious downtown home

By DUO DICKINSON

26

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

Home

F

amilies and houses can have a unique love relationship. When a family has the passion to make their house fit their vision, the relationship is deepened. “Helicopter” homeowners mirror their parental counterparts in their zealous hands-on love for where they live.

In the pre-crash bubble, many homes became the equivalent of a one-night stand for their owners. Houses were coarsely swapped out one for another in rapid succession with an eye toward moving up an equity ladder in what appeared to be a riskless get-rich-quick scheme.

But as St. Paul would say, “Love abides.”

And those who viewed homes as fungible investments vs. lifelong commitments soon fell out of profit lust and quickly discovered the hate side of the love/ hate relationship with where they lived.

Houses that are bought to sell betray their owners when they don’t sell. But homes that are acquired or built with a “’til death do us part” mindset can yield rewards that resonate for decades, notwithstanding any and all economic tides.

So it is with the home of Joanne and Paul Bailey in downtown New Haven.

They purchased the 1854 structure almost 40 years ago from someone who had demonstrated a similar devotion to it for some 60 years. Once a noble abode, it had become rundown and over the years adapted to accept boarders to pay the bills. When the home changed hands, the previous seller’s good friend Thornton Wilder told Paul Bailey, “This house has history to it, and you can’t change a thing.”

Fortunately for Bailey, his family and the house, Wilder’s admonition was disregarded.

The ‘Big Event’: A bearing wall has one large opening created to unify both living spaces in the existing home — its arc-ed profile is inspired by the ubiquitous arc-ed door tops throughout the home.

PHOTOGRAPHS:

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This final product created over decades belies the fact that when the Baileys found the home in the early 1970s, it had a concrete block pillbox garage tacked on to one side that ran roughshod over a classic leaded glass window. The home had a kitchen and bathrooms where isolated fixtures sat in the middle of the floor and any number of layers of wallpaper, paint and ceiling tiles had been overlaid to the point where the original sensibility of the house was heavily compromised.

But that burden was not too great for a new haven

27

The kitchen and family room bath in the light from a fully opened back wall are interconnected by an appropriately arc’ed opening. The fireplace was original, but renovated in the first rehab of the home by Paul Bailey.

New built-ins are designed by architect/homeowner Bailey to mesh seamlessly with the existing trim and windows.

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

A fully renovated master bath has a new shower as its crowning glory.

family that fell in love with their physical harbor, literally from the moment they laid eyes on it.

The Baileys purchased the house when they were about to have their first child and spent the first year of ownership in absentia at a nearby rental as a full gut and rehab was undertaken to make the house well heated, install a 20th-century kitchen, reincorporate the space that had been rented out and open up the first-floor living spaces to “relax” the floor plan.

About 15 years later a second major renovation was undertaken when the house suddenly felt a little smaller.

Inevitably children become teenagers (as did the Baileys’ son and daughter) and the house was adapted so everyone could live happily under one roof. Bathrooms were renewed, and a separate third floor bedroom suite was created from fairly raw attic space. Windows were also added to make a better connection to their newly civilized back yard.

Along the way a wonderful outdoor room was created — essentially an applied pavilion. An outsized windowsill planter, small terraces and gardens were installed — and large expanses of glass in the form of windows and doors allow full embrace

of the home’s patch of earth from all three floors that face the back yard. This largescale change was embraced only where the house is unseen by the public — the facades the house presents to the street were restored to their original composed presence — and all concrete-block accretions scraped clean off.

About three years ago a renovation brought all the bathrooms up to snuff and introduced a few minor window and detail changes. Most importantly this renovation created a 21st-century kitchen to replace the well-worn 1970s iteration the Baileys had installed before moving in originally.

But this brief description leaves out the fact that one of the home’s owners, Paul Bailey, is a gifted architect whose occupancy of the home parallels his practice in New Haven, a practice that sees any number of residential commissions but is perhaps best known for his diligent and inspired work for non-for profits including the design of Columbus House’s new facilities several years ago as well as the renovation of Neighborhood Music School.

A house owned and redesigned by an architect is almost a timeline of that

person’s “take” on what residential architecture can and should be. The nuanced expressions, subtle manipulations and loving details all designed by architect Bailey are quietly evident everywhere.

Virtually every part of the home has seen the touch of his hand, and yet there is none of the affect and posturing many architects bring to bear when they are allowed by a loving family to exert their fantasies without unrelated client overview.

When a home is renovated to flip for profit, or reinvented to provide a canvass for a designer’s vision, it’s almost unavoidably an exercise in instant gratification — an impulse purchase motivated by short-term reward. The Baileys never had that perspective. They were creating a home.

The subtle arching curves that were present in the original interior doors were echoed by Bailey in a number of places throughout the home, including an outsized arch that was created between stair hall and living areas that allows the entire front two-thirds of the house to be seen as one large social space, subdivided only by an existing chimney mass. That same light curving aesthetic echoes in

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new walls in the master bath and in patio paving patterns in the back yard.

Integrating the outsized television set into a custom built-in technology is ‘civilized.’ The eclectic furnishings play off the traditional trim and detailing that are in play.

Bailey similarly manipulated the existing trim to assume new life as the framework for built-ins throughout the living room.

Remnant pieces from the original home and other found objects such as fireplace fronts, salvaged bricks and a mirror were repurposed throughout as well. The jovial acceptance of spontaneous invention has the subtle flavor of the dean of Yale’s architecture school when Bailey was a graduate student there — the late, great Charles Moore.

H

igh Modern light fixtures from the Artemide line are set throughout the house in quiet counterpoint. Additionally in the living areas Bailey employed strategic suspended wall planes to allow effective lighting of artwork to be at once hidden yet very evident in its effect. A final act of visual cleansing saw the house given a wonderful continuity of dull white wall and shiny white trim finish, with an occasional accent tone.

Despite all these architectural niceties, the immediate sense when one walks through the front door is that this is a place where a family lives. The Bailey children have grown and started their own broods (who come to visit!), so now three families have accommodations.

A calm front façade, fully renovated, faces out onto its verdant downtown New Haven neighborhood.

A simple home that had been expanded over six previous ownerships by perhaps eight or ten tack-ons has at last had its potential fully met in the loving decades of work by the Bailey family. Despite the obvious creativity of its in-house redesigner-in-chief, the net effect is guileless, unpretentious and fully at ease with itself.

Funny how when there is enough time in intimate contact, how a home inevitably reflects its occupants. v

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A wonderful outdoor room of trellis and arbor create an architectural placeof indoor/ outdoor connection.

School Daze Continued from 25

turbulence nevertheless.

“I had a letter this morning saying, ‘We need to withdraw because we can’t swing even the reduced tuition,’” says Horwitz.

“We didn’t raise tuition at all. It’s a very fluid market right now, but things can be completely different tomorrow and we never really know why.”

The annual cost for Calvin Hill is on a sliding scale between $200 and $1,300 based on family income. Even with payment plans and reduced tuition, many parents find it more cost-efficient to send their students to magnet or the public school.

“When I worked with children, I would hear of parents sending their children to schools that required recommendation letters for children entering kindergarten,” says Grant. “These schools were in the price range of some colleges. In those instances you wonder if that choice is really about the child’s well being. That is what is important whether a parent decides public or private school.”

Even for those who have no trouble affording tuition, magnet schools have greater appeal to some.

“I was going to send my son Elijah to Hamden Hall, but I decided against it because they didn’t offer the financial aid he needed to attend,” explains science teacher Fallon Daniels. “Now he attends Davis Street Arts and Academics Interdistrict Magnet School.”

Horwitz understands, but feels her hands are tied. “I’m a parent and I had kids in day care and I know it’s worse now,” she says. “Some say that [kindergarten admissions] is similar to getting into college and it does make people crazy. It shouldn’t be this complicated. But there are a lot of financial considerations that go into the admissions process. The bottom line is child care is a business.”

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31

Belly Up Women discover belly dancing as a fun, fit alternative to the drudgery of the gym

By Makayla Silva

H

ow unbearably boring is running on a treadmill? No matter how many Lady Gaga or Fergie songs you may have on your iPod, that seemingly endless set of 200 crunches never actually gets easier.

While it may be fairly obvious that exercise is indeed beneficial in more ways than one — with 29,750 U.S. health clubs retaining 45.3 million members this year according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association — most of us simply do not use our gym memberships as often as we’d like to say we do.

Why? Perhaps due to the mind-numbing monotony of running on a moving belt of rubber for what seems like an eternity.

Or perhaps it is the knuckle-draggers in the weight area who spend more time preening in the mirror than lifting actual weights.

Either way, New Haven offers a fun alternative to a gym membership: belly dancing. While most people may have some exotic idea of an Aladdin-like fleshpot in harem pants and coin skirts (and they would be right), belly dancing is an entertaining form of exercise.

Yes, a gym membership at Planet Fitness is less expensive than a class card at a belly-dancing studio. But looking past the price difference, if you aren’t using your gym membership as much as you’d like, you may wish to weigh your options.

Typically, belly dancing costs between $10 to $18 for a per-session drop-in fee. The dance studios or fitness centers sponsoring the classes also generally offer a class card, which lowers the per-class cost. You can get a full-body workout once a week and learn the basic techniques to practice on

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

Belly dancing is such a good workout, explains Aleenah Flit, because it isolates individual muscles and muscle groups.

your own outside of class.

Adaptability and flexibility, core strengthening and a phenomenal cardio workout are just a few health benefits of this ancient art. Belly dancing — raqs sharqi in Arabic, oryantal dansi in Turkish or danse du ventre in French — is many centuries old. With countries all over the world claiming the dance form as their own, belly dancing has immigrated to the United States and is practiced as a form of exercise all over the country.

While belly dancing is a celebration of the female form, the archaic form of exercise will tone muscles you did not even know you had — for example, in your armpits.

And the results are immediate.

Lydia Picco, who teaches at Revive Wellness Center on Whalley Avenue and Your Community Yoga Center in Hamden, says belly dancing is an all-inone fitness regimen anyone can do.

“With belly dance, it’s like an alternative to Pilates,” she explains. “Sometimes Pilates or other forms of exercise is too much for certain people — they can’t handle it.”

Ahealth educator for the Cornell ScottHill Health Corp. in Fair Haven, Picco says belly dancing can supplement your daily exercise regimen.

“I don’t work out — I just belly dance and do yoga. That’s it,” she says. “I am the strongest that I have ever been in my life.”

Picco explains that different movements in belly dancing that require the use of multiple abdominal muscles can replace traditional crunches. “Certain types of undulations [or full-body rolling] require the entire use of your body and chest movements require you to lengthen and contract your abs,” Picco says.

Picco explains that belly dancing was originally used as a form of strength training for women during pregnancy.

“It was a woman’s dance,” she says. “And they named it ‘belly’ dance because it prepared the body for childbirth and strengthened the body for that.”

For anyone who simply refuses to purchase an Ab Circle Pro, regardless of how many infomercials you may watch at 2 a.m., or simply cannot fathom lying down for another set of 150 crunches, Aleenah Flit, a New Haven dancer teaching at Let’s Dance in the Rhythm Studio in Branford and at the University of New Haven during the school year (you don’t have to be a student), said no workout is more fun than belly dancing.

“It’s almost like a yoga meets Pilates meets an aerobic exercise all in one,” she says.

“It takes a lot of concentration but at the same time if you got some basics down and you can speed it up a bit you are going to sweat. You are going to work for sure.”

It’s not all coins and hip-scarves?

“It builds your core like a fitness regiment but you won’t find anything more fun than belly dancing,” says Aleenah (who professionally uses her first name only).

“It is very strenuous but it’s cool because you can customize it to your level — how far you want to take it or how hard you want to work. You can make it into whatever you want it to be.”

She says belly dancing is unlike any other form of dance.

“In comparison to ballet or ballroom, belly dancing is a little bit more challenging because it is more isolation-based, which means you’re moving different body parts independently of one another, unlike just learning footwork or steps,” she says. “Here you almost have to have a heightened awareness of your body in order to do all of the isolations that are very much a part of belly dance.”

For example, the neck might move to influence a chest movement followed by a lift of the diaphragm and finally a pelvic lift. Each movement is carefully orchestrated in tune with folkloric Middle Eastern or Turkish music.

“To tone or to shape the muscle you need to isolate it most of the time,” she says.

“That’s kind of the present-day wisdom of fitness training.”

“Belly dancing has such a different aesthetic and just the whole philosophy of it and technique that you almost have to relearn everything and throw everything out the window that you knew before,” she says. “It is almost like starting new.”

That means if you have absolutely no background in dance, belly dancing is perfect for you to begin with.

“It isn’t more or less difficult than doing anything else, if you really were to do it properly and do it well — all of that takes time,” she explains. “No matter what you do it takes some time, some effort and some determination.”

Aleenah, who also teaches sessions with North Haven Adult Education, says belly dancing can be liberating for women in the sense that they gain more and more body confidence with each class and with each performance (something likely

impossible between über-tan blondes surviving on lettuce alone and Mr. Universe-wannabes at your local gym).

“The aesthetic of belly dancing — what’s beautiful, what’s acceptable, what’s the right body type for a dancer — is much more democratic,” she says. “Body types, looks, shapes and sizes — it’s a non-issue, whereas in ballet you cannot dance if you weigh more than 120 pounds because someone has to lift you.”

After taking Aleenah’s class for two years, Heather Dostert has been performing professionally for five years as Hedasa.

She says belly dancing, while a fun way to exercise, is not as easy as it looks at first.

“The dance was as challenging as I expected it to be. I knew I was up for a big challenge when I decided to take the dance on,” she says. “I was in a lot of pain the first six months of study, but it was well worth it.”

Dostert says the movements of belly dancing are very particular, which help to build strength and flexibility and can also be repetitive, imitating cardio.

“It’s a much better alternative to the gym,” she says. “I’m 37 years old with an eightyear-old daughter, and have never been stronger and more toned in my life.”

Dostert compares belly dancing to other forms of rigorous exercise adding it is a fun and rewarding way to get into shape and stay in shape.

“Belly dance is close to martial arts where it’s almost like a discipline, which builds strength and flexibility,” she explains.

Joy Herbst, an American Tribal Style (ATS)-certified instructor, teaches a modern, non-traditional style of belly dancing at the arts center at Christ Church on Broadway.

Incorporating electronica music with a darker style of dance, Joy says ATS is “much more dramatic than the sequins of cabaret style that’s more common.”

Herbst says her classes focus on enhancing students’ dance vocabulary, often involving hip-dropping in the form of drills and combinations. The focus on technique rather than routine allows a beginner to drop into a class at any time and keep pace.

Herbst explains that her small-sized classes include everyone from teenagers to women in their 50s who may or may not have any background in dance and Continued on 40

new haven

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By CINDY SIMONEAU

Ponying Up On a little-known turf patch in Hamden, humans and horses compete in an ancient and noble sport

N

estled at the foot of the massive Sleeping Giant State Park are the rolling fields of Giant Valley Farm. To the unaware visitor, the 60-plusacre farm, its roots dating back to 1850, is simply home to horses and hayfields.

Tucked inside the confines of the bucolic setting is an opportunity for the public to enjoy an afternoon of cheering on athletes in the sport often associated with the wealthy: polo.

Tucked inside the farm on Tuttle Avenue in Hamden is the 100-year-old Giant Valley Polo grounds, host to a polo club that began play in 1992. Unlike other 34

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

Furious action from a June 27 match game at Giant Valley Polo Club in Hamden.

sports where spectators watch from stands, Giant Valley encourages veteran fans and newcomers alike to park their vehicles alongside the field and tailgate throughout the chukkas and match games.

The polo field is a massive 300-by-160 yards of bluegrass, about the size of nine professional football fields. With the rear of Sleeping Giant as a backdrop the scenic setting is the perfect spot to enjoy an afternoon watching and cheering the players and polo ponies as they bump and hook their way toward the goal line.

The farm and polo grounds is owned and managed by Butch and C. Leigh Butterworth and has been in the Butterworth family for generations.

“The polo field began when my grandfather was alive,” explains Butch Butterworth, adding that maintaining open space land for recreational use is becoming increasingly difficult with demands on land for commercial and

PHOTOGRAPH: Sarah S. Heath

residential development. During World War II the farm was a thriving dairy enterprise run by his father. But in the 1950s the family converted the operation to a horse farm with horse boarding and hayfields as its focus.

“Polo is for everyone who loves the game and has the funds to maintain the horses, trailer them from place to place and own the equipment needed to compete,” says Butterworth. “Here we have players from various walks of life, including a photographer, veterinarian, lawyer, finance professional and even a horse-shoer.”

Equipment, in addition to horse tack, include boots, helmet, knee guards and polo mallets.

Now in his 70s, Butterworth says his polo playing days are behind him, leaving the high-intensity sport to others, including his wife. While children can play the sport, the team competition at Giant Valley is for adults with the youngest in

their club in his mid-30s. Club players are both male and female and many have decades of experience.

Polo ponies (the term is traditional; polo mounts are full-sized horses) are thoroughbreds or cross-thoroughbreds, which are often former racehorses, trained to respond to the body moves of the players and the rigor of the near constant motion.

While the competition can be fierce, Butterworth says that at Giant Valley — and with the clubs with which it competes — the emphasis is on “just having fun.

Polo can be a little bit dangerous, and afterward there is always something to talk about when it comes to the tough game,” Butterworth says. “But we truly enjoy playing the game and want to share that fun with other clubs and the spectators who come to watch.”

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“It’s definitely a group of casual, easygoing people,” adds Franz Douskey, a polo club supporter. “We definitely enjoy each other’s company.”

“Many players bring along their children and teach them. Many grow up with the sport,” says Butterworth. “It is part of the family heritage for many as they pass their love of polo on from generation to generation.”

Butterworth also has a son who plays professional polo in Florida, where until a few years ago the family owned another farm. Professionally, American polo players are feeling the competitive squeeze as many South Americans and players from other countries come here to play.

“Those here legally and illegally are slowly taking over the sport in this country,” Butterworth says.

At Giant Valley, the two dozen duespaying members not only compete, but also serve as umpires and judges as needed at competitions.

Leigh Butterworth produces embossed special-event jerseys, as well as other memorabilia in her Oakstream Originals studio adjacent to the stables and clubhouse. Her promotional items business includes polo shirts, caps, belts and other gifts.

After an afternoon’s event is over, players review the games and plan for the next at the clubhouse. Inside the walls and shelves are adorned with decades of club history captured in competition jerseys, winning cups and trophies and dozens of framed photographs and vintage news clippings.

Continued on 39

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ART

noon-5 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-2800, ycba.yale.edu.

SPECIAL EVENTS The Arts Council of Greater New Haven presents its annual fundraising gala, this year entitled Somewhat Off the Wall. Here’s how it works: Attendees pay $100 for a raffle ticket, which are drawn at random. When your number is called, you may select the artwork of your choice to take home — diabolical!

5 p.m. (raffle 7 p.m.) September 12 at the Odonnell Co., 760 Chapel St., New Haven. $100 ($50 without raffle). 203772-2788, newhavenarts.org.

EXHIBITIONS Opening ‘That Inward Eye’: The Lurie Collection of Modern and Contemporary British Painting. Guided by their passionate belief in the primacy of the personal, emotional encounter with art, Samuel and Gabrielle Lurie have amassed a dynamic collection of contemporary British art spanning the past four decades. The collection includes major works by Ian Stephenson, Patrick Caulfield and John Walker, as well as important prints by Howard Hodgkin and R. B. Kitaj. At the core of the collection are 52 paintings and works on paper by John Hoyland, generally considered one of Britain’s foremost abstract painters. ‘That Inward Eye’ highlights works including Caulfield’s seminal Wine Bar (1983), two transcendental Diorama paintings

by Stephenson, Walker’s monumental tributes to Old Master painting, and a number of major works by Hoyland.

September 15-January 2 at Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven.

Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon., noon-5 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-2800, ycba.yale.edu.

Continuing Art for All: British Posters for Transport. In 1908 the London Underground undertook an aggressive promotional campaign that became one of the most successful, adventurous and best sustained branding operations ever attempted.

This poster campaign not only encouraged ridership on the public transport system, but also helped to foster a civic identity for the city of London, and the more than 5,000 images produced include some of the greatest achievements of poster art. Art for All features more than 100 outstanding posters executed for both the Underground, by designers such as Edward McKnight Kauffer, Frederick Herrick, and Hans Schleger, and for the British railways by designers such as Tom Purvis and Frank Newbould.

Through August 15 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven.

Open 10 a.m.–5 p.m. daily except Mon.,

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

Works by Connecticut artists Emilia Dubicki and Tom Peterson explore abstraction through the use of color and light. Painter Dubicki’s work has been exhibited in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Utah, and Japan. Peterson’s photography has been exhibited throughout Connecticut, most recently in Passing By, a solo show at City Gallery in New Haven. Through August 27 at Gallery 195, NewAlliance Bank, 195 Church St. (4th fl.), New Haven.

Free. 203-772-2788, newhavenarts.org.

Italian Paintings from the Richard L. Feigen Collection features some 60 ’What’s Going On’ (46” X 46,” paint on canvas) by Gerald Saladyga. From paintings from the the exhibition Red Alert in the Arts Council’s Crosby Gallery through 14th through the September 24.

17th centuries. The exhibition draws in her binding, gradually turning her reveals hitherto unknown connections from the wide-ranging collection attention to making jewelry. Structured between works in the BAC’s collection. assembled by noted author, collector Elegance features a selection of her Through September 19 at Yale Center for and dealer Richard L. Feigen (Yale sophisticated and elegantly-bound British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven.

College 1952). A rare opportunity books, commissioned in the 1980s Open 10 a.m.–5 p.m. daily except Mon., for YUAG visitors to view significant by the British artist Eileen Hogan for noon-5 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-2800, examples of Italian art, ranging from Hogan’s own works for Camberwell ycba.yale.edu. the greatest of Giotto’s followers to the Press. Also on view will be a number of Connecticut Treasures: Works from Baroque masters of Bologna, Rome subtle and intricate brooches, rings and Private Collections. Much of the and Florence. Through September 12 at necklaces. Through September 19 at Yale state’s rich artistic heritage is privately Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., held; these works have been preserved and Yale School of Architecture, 100 York New Haven. Open 10 a.m.–5 p.m. daily by their owners, often over several St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. except Mon., noon-5 p.m. Sun. Free. 203generations.

Through the willingness Tues.-Sat. (until 8 p.m. Thurs.), 1-6 p.m., 432-2800, ycba.yale.edu. of private lenders, visitors will enjoy Sun. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven access to pieces usually only seen by edu, architecture.yale.edu. presents Red Alert, its seventh annual family and friends. Connecticut Treasures Seeing Double: Portraits, Copies, and members show. The color red can comprises works in a variety of media, Exhibitions in 1820s London. In 1829 evoke power, danger, luck, love and including painting, works on paper, and young artist John Scarlett Davis sought countless other associations. “Red sculpture, all reflecting the diversity to make a splash on the London art alert” can represent a warning or of Connecticut’s contributions to scene with his painting, “Interior of signal and can be interpreted literally American art, the vitality of its artistic the British Institution.” An image of or metaphorically. This exhibition community, and the beneficence of its an art exhibition, the painting is also features works in multiple media patrons over the past two centuries. an elaborate visual puzzle. Seeing whose common thread is the color Through September 19 at Florence Double invites viewers to decode this crimson. Through September 24 at Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old puzzle and in the process explore Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery, 70 Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except the relationship between display Audubon St. (2nd floor), New Haven.

Mon., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $9 ($8 seniors, $7 and replication in early 19th-century Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays (until 3 students, free under 12). 860-434-5542, Britain. Davis’ painting has long been p.m. Fridays in August). Free. 203-772flogris.org. recognized as a valuable record of an 2788, newhavenarts.org.

The small exhibition Structured early 19th-century exhibition venue, In observance of the centennial of the Elegance: Bookbindings and Jewelry representing in miniature works by sainthood candidate’s birth on August

by Romilly Saumarez Smith is the Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas 26, 1910, the Knights of Columbus first exhibition to show both facets Gainsborough, among others. What Museum hosts the American premiere of the artist’s distinctive work and to has less often been recognized is that of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Through explore the relationship between them. the figures who chat amiably or stoop October 4 at Knights of Columbus A passion for materials and process to examine canvases are themselves Museum, 1 State St., New Haven. Open has fueled Saumarez Smith’s 25-year replicas of paintings: Davis copied 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Free. 203-865-0400, career as one of Britain’s most highly the figures from pre-existing portraits, kofcmuseum.org. acclaimed bookbinders. In the 1990s notably by Sir Thomas Lawrence. By she began to use metal increasingly examining this practice, the exhibition

By IVAN KATZ

A Walk on the Walton Side

William Walton Symphony No. 1 and Violin Concerto.

Performed by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, conducted

by William Boughton. With Kurt Nikkanen, violin.

NHSO releases CD of works by atypical English composer

T

he Frederick R. Koch Collection is said to hold the world’s largest archive of the original manuscripts of the English composer William Walton (1902-83) The Koch Collection is housed at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, the building on the other side of the Calder mobile from Woolsey Hall. The New Haven Symphony Orchestra (NHSO) has performed at Woolsey Hall since about two weeks after God addressed the freshman class there.

Geography, in this case, is destiny.

The NHSO, under the baton of Music Director William Boughton, has released a compact disc on Nimbus Alliance (NI-6119) of Walton’s Violin Concerto and his Symphony No. 1. The disc, recorded at Woolsey Hall and using the Koch Collection manuscripts “as the source of preparation for [these] performances,” represents the NHSO’s first commercial release in three decades.

Boughton’s affection for English music in general and Walton’s music in particular cannot be gainsaid. In fact, if it was written in England or by an Englishman before 1960 Boughton not only has an affection for it, he has probably recorded it (or plans to).

The performance of the Violin Concerto is, in fact, quite good. The technical demands of the music hold no terror for violinist Kurt Nikkanen, and since the work was originally written for (and commissioned by) Jascha Heifetz you can be assured that the violin part is terrifying indeed. Not only does Nikkanen get under the notes to illuminate the music, he’s rather insistent on everyone involved maintaining focus and forward propulsion, so the temptation for smelling the flowers — and arresting forward musical movement — is entirely avoided.

The program booklet accompanying the CD goes through elaborate gyrations

to place Walton squarely within the pantheon of English 20th Century music, and frankly the effort is a colossal waste of time since the only accurate way to assess Walton as a symphonic composer is to view him as part of the Germanic post-Wagner tradition rather than as some curious amalgam of Elgar and Stravinsky with a bit of Fauré thrown in for good measure. He is not quite Bruckner with a better tool kit, a superior idiom and a better talent for knowing when to say when, but you get the point.

The Symphony No. 1 is a very broad, expansive work that does have a tendency to ramble, and in nearly 47 minutes Maestro Boughton certainly gives it plenty of room to bloom. The reading is warm and sympathetic and, we must assume, informed by the oft-consulted manuscripts. Certainly, it is a recording that devotees of William Walton’s music will welcome with open arms.

new haven

37

MUSIC Classical The second Chestnut Hill Concert of the summer features Sheryl Staples, violin; Mihae Lee, piano;

Raisons D’Etre is a new work for solo piano. This unusual event gives an inside look into the process of creating and presenting a new piano concerto composed and performed by Branford pianist Stacey Rose. Presented in the format of discussion, rehearsal and a premiere performance of this new work, Rose together with Music Director William Boughton and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra

Shakedown channel the Grateful Dead.

But you knew that. 8:30 p.m. August 13 at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $12 ($8.50 advance). 203-624-8623, toadsplace.com.

Original ‘90s New Haven roots rockers the Big Bad Johns return for one night only. Featuring Detroit Dick, Buzz Gordo, Country Bill Collins, Jumpin’ Jim Balga and Nervus Chet Purvis. 9 p.m. August 13 at Café Nine, 250 State St., New Haven. $10. 203-789-8281, cafénine.com.

If you were to mix up a little bit of the Indigo Girls, Black Crowes, Grand Funk Railroad, James Gang and Bruce Springsteen in a bowl you would have the uniquely fresh sound that best describes the Bereznak Brothers band.

8 p.m. August 19 at the Space, 295 Treadwell St., Bldg. H, Hamden. $10 ($8 advance). 203-288-6400, thespace.tk.

The undisputed King of Crooners is the one, the only Tony Bennett. 7:30 p.m.

August 20 at the Oakdale Theatre, 95 S. Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. $71.50-$51.50.

203-265-1501, livenation.com.

Branford composer and pianist Stacy Rose debuts a new concerto, Raisons D’Etra, with William Boughton and the New Haven Symphony September 12 at Sprague Hall.

Julie Albers, cello; and a violist TBA. CHOPIN Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op. 23; KODÁLY Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7; SCHUMANN Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47. 8 p.m. August 13 at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $25-$20 (children free). 203-245-5736, chestnuthillconcerts.org.

This week’s Chestnut Hill Concert features Erin Keefe, violin; Ronald Thomas, cello; and Mihae Lee, piano in a program of: CHOPIN Ballade No.3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47; BRAHMS Cello Sonata in E minor, Op. 38; SCHUMANN Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 110. 8 p.m.

August 20 at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $25-$20 (children free). 203245-5736, chestnuthillconcerts.org.

The concluding Chestnut Hill Concert of the summer features Steven Copes, violin; Ronald Thomas, cello; and Rieko Aizawa, piano in a program of: CHOPIN Introduction and Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3; BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23; SCHUMANN Piano Trio in F Major, Op. 80. 8 p.m. August 27 at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $25-$20 (children free). 203-245-5736, chestnuthillconcerts.org.

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

debut a work for solo piano and 50-piece symphony orchestra. 3 p.m.

September 12 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. 203-865-0831, newhavensymphony.org.

Heart & Soul Productions with SoulRican Entertainment present a Symphony of Soul Concert starring legends of the “classic ‘70s, including the Whispers and the Stylistics, as well as former Blue Magic original lead vocalist Ted Wizard Mills and the seductive Meli’sa Morgan. 8 p.m.

August 20 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $100-$40. 203-3462000, palacetheaterct.org.

When I was back there in seminary school…the was a really cool Doors tribute band called Riders on the Storm — and they’re still out there! Far from Here, Falling Stickmen, Silvergun and Ink open the all-ages show. 7 p.m.

August 21 at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $12 ($8.50 advance). 203624-8623, toadsplace.com.

From Hartford, it’s teen jam band sensation the McLovins, comprising 16-year-olds Jacob Huffman (drums) and Jason Ott (bass), and 15-yearold (!) guitarist Jeff Howard. 8 p.m.

August 21 at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $17.50. 877-503-1286, katharinehepburntheater.org.

Hailing jointly from New Haven and Springfield, Mass. is indie/folk/ experiment outfit Aeroplane 1929, who play their last show ever tonight. 8 p.m.

August 21 at the Space, 295 Treadwell St., Bldg. H, Hamden. 203-288-6400, thespace.tk.

A lyricist, poet and activist, documentary filmmaker and multimedia performance artist, singer Marianne Dissard was born within sight of the Pyrénées mountains in the south of France but has lived in the American West since the age of 16.

Marianne mixed southwestern noir and acoustic French pop to create a sound that is truly her own. Brian Lopez opens. 9 p.m. August 25 at Café Nine, 250 State St., New Haven. $8. 203-7898281, cafénine.com.

Crossover sensations the Celtic Tenors (Matthew Gilseman, James Nelson and Daryl Simpson) raise the roof on the Kate. 8 p.m. August 26 at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $67. 877-503-1286, katharinehepburntheater.org.

Hard-hitting experimental jazz-rock quartet the Breakfast serve up a musical smorgasbord on York Street.

8:30 p.m. August 26 at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $15 ($12 advance).

203-624-8623, toadsplace.com.

One of the most influential singer/ songwriters of our time or any time is that avatar of California cool, Jackson Browne. 8 p.m. August 27 at the Oakdale Theatre, 95 S. Turnpike Rd.,

“Lyrical romance” is the theme of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural subscription concert of the 2010-11 season. SCHUMANN Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op. 52; BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26; BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68. 7:30 p.m.

September 16 at Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. 203-865-0831, newhavensymphony.org.

Popular Howard Jennings is a rising singersongwriter that has been called a “young, new generation Dave Matthews.”

Comparisons have been made to the sounds of Jack Johnson, Tom Petty, Neil Young and Bob Dylan. 8 p.m. August 12 at the Space, 295 Treadwell St., Bldg.

H, Hamden. $10 ($8 advance). 203-2886400, thespace.tk.

No acid involved, we think, as Flashback plays rock and oldies to close out the 2010 Summer Nights by Harbor Lights concert series. 7 p.m.

August 13 at Rotary Pavilion, Fowler Field, Milford. Free.

Singer/songwriter Howard Jennings has been compared to Tom Petty, Neil Young and Bob Dylan. The pressure’s on.

Catch him August 12 at the Space.

Wallingford. $54.50-$44.50. 203-265-1501, livenation.com. Über-cool soul shouter Barrence Whitfield & the Monkey Hips rock the Nine. With the Mallard Drakes. 8 p.m.

August 27 at Café Nine, 250 State St., New Haven. $10. 203-789-8281, cafénine. com.

Live from Woodstock, it’s legendary singer/songwriter Richie Havens.

8 p.m. August 30 at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $52. 877-503-1286, katharinehepburntheater.org.

Did you know that Newport, R.I.’s own Cowsills (“Indian Lake”) were the real-life inspiration for the Partridge Family. So true. Still inspiring four decades later. 8 p.m. September 4 at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $65. 877503-1286, katharinehepburntheater.org.

How’s this for a contemporary country double bill: Keith Urban and Kris Allen?

7:30 p.m. September 5 at the Oakdale Theatre, 95 S. Turnpike Rd., Wallingford. $73.50. 203-265-1501, livenation.com.

It’s a cappella mania with the rockin’ quintet Business as Usual. 8 p.m. September 10 at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $25. 877-503-1286, katharinehepburntheater.org.

From Florida, it’s unsigned but unrepentant indie rockers the Sons of Hippies (and they may just be, too,

even though one of them is a girl).

Think Metric and the Pixies in Bed with Jefferson Airplane (one of their sons is called “Spaceship Ride”). 8 p.m.

September 15 at Café Nine, 250 State St., New Haven. Free. 203-789-8281, cafénine.com.

Meaty alt-rock that transcends musical boundaries? You can have your Cake and eat it, too. 9 p.m. September 17 at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $35. 203-624-8623, toadsplace.com.

Long a critic’s fave, soulful singer/ songwriter Cliff Eberhart rocks the Kate. Lara Herskovitz opens. 8 p.m. September 25 at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $25. 877-503-1286, katharinehepburntheater.org.

World Chris Merwin has spent more than two decades studying various instruments such as the guitar, tiple, Arabic oud, Hawaiian steel guitar, Weissenborn guitar and the Japanese shakuhachi flute. His travels have taken him to Tibet, Japan, China, Egypt, Hawaii and many other places. This world-music concert will include pieces performed with the Hawaiian steel Guitar and the Japanese shakuhachi flute. 7 p.m. August 12 at Hagaman Memorial Library, 227 Main St., East Haven. Free. Reservations. 203-468-3890, hagamanlibrary.info.

Playing Polo Continued from 35

For spectators, watching most games are free, but there are some paid events which include an after-party and barbecue featuring local bands, including the Bluelights and Galvanized Jazz Band, which are more like a community block party than simply watching a sport.

“It’s a tremendous time watching people from all walks of life come together for a day of polo, tailgating, enjoying good music and each getting to know others,” says Douskey.

At the season opener this year there was a flag-raising, and patriotic music in honor of a World War II unit. Every July the club’s largest event, known as the Big Feathers Open, takes place, followed on Labor Day by the annual Dog Bowl event.

Fans also are called on to take on a special role as

groundskeepers when they are asked to tread the turf, replacing the divots of grass loosened in play.

Not certain the rules of the game or how it is scored? No problem, veteran fans along the sidelines are more than willing to teach beginners and spread their appreciation for polo. Or purchase a souvenir program where all game terms and equipment are detailed.

Asked if he plans to continue the polo grounds for the future, Butterworth thinks for a moment then, surrounded by the trio of dogs that accompany him around the fields, he quickly offers, “What else would I do? Polo and horses is what I know, and love to do.”

The local season spans from Memorial Day to October. Look for the sign advertising the events at the corner of Whitney and Tuttle avenues in Hamden. To learn more 203-901-7001 or 203887-8109. v

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39

ONSTAGE READINGS

p.m. Fri.-Sat., 4:30 p.m. Sun. (doors open) through September 12 at Consiglio’s, 165 Wooster St., New Haven. $54.95 (includes prix fixe dinner). Reservations. 203-865-4489, consiglios.com.

The Theatre 4 collective presents a reading of Peace Warriors by New Haveners Doron Ben-Atar and Debbie Pollak. Set on St. Ronan Street in the City of Elms, Peace Warriors brings together four sharp-tongued academics and a precocious adolescent for a night of sparring over politics, adultery and unfulfilled dreams. 8 p.m.

August 24 at Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St., New Haven.

Free. 203-432-5239, t4ct.org.

The original Broadway production of Finian’s Rainbow ran for 725 performances. With book by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg and music by Burton Lane, Finian is a much-loved stew of whimsy, romance and political satire. August 11-September 5 at Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main St., Ivoryton. $38-$15. 860-767-7318, ivorytonplayhouse.org.

ONSTAGE Theater Camp The summer camp of the Madhatters Theatre Co. will stage the 1920s musical comedy, song-

Opening

The Elm Shakespeare Co. mounts its 15th annual summer production, the Bard’s The Winter’s Tale, directed by James Andreassi. The play contains one of the most famous Shakespearean stage

Acquitted of a horrible crime six years ago, Constance Blackwood lives with her devoted younger sister Merricat and their uncle Julian in what was once the home of the richest — and most envied — family in a small New England town. Constance tends to the house and garden while Merricat invents magical charms to protect the surviving Blackwoods from the townspeople’s prying eyes and vicious gossip. But talismans may not be powerful enough to keep the sisters together when their handsome cousin Charles comes to visit. A Yale Repertory Theatre production. September 17-October 9 at the University Theatre, 222 York St., New Haven. $67-$35. 203-1234, yalerep.org.

Photograph: Ed Krieger

Ella: The Musical, by Jeffrey Hatcher. Conceived by Rob Ruggiero. Featuring more than two dozen much-loved songs, Ella: The Musical weaves myth, memory and music into a stylish and sophisticated journey through the life of Ella Fitzgerald, one of the greatest jazz singers of the 20th century. Tina Fabrique, hailed

by Variety as “must-see,” stars in this joy-filled and nostalgic musical, performing such unforgettable tunes as “A Tisket, A Tasket,” “That Old Black Magic” and “They Can’t Take That Away from Me.” September 22-October 17 at Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Dr., New Haven. $40. 203-787-4282, longwharf.org.

Continuing Hailed by Variety as a ‘must-see,’ Tina Fabrique channels a certain song-styling legend in Ella: The Musical at Long Wharf. and-dance extravaganza Charleston, with roles for 21 females and 11 males. The camp will take place at the Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau with two performances at Andrews Memorial Town Hall in Clinton. Camp is open to age nine and older. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays August 9-20 at Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau, 59 Lyme St., Old Lyme. $500. 860-395-1861.

Cabaret Consiglio’s restaurant continues its Outdoor Garden Theatre season with Nonna’s Summer Wine Party!, a musical by Elizabeth Fuller, who also penned last summer’s popular production of The Luigi Board on Wooster Street. Nonna’s is an interactive Italian entertainment that tells the amusing love story of twin girls (of a certain age) and their feisty Calabrese mama played by Gary Cavello. The audience is drawn into joining the fun as they sing, clap and dance along to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Connie Francis, Louie Prima and others. 6

40

directions: “Exit, pursued by a bear,” presaging the offstage death of Antigonus. 8 p.m. daily except Mon. August 19-September 5 at Edgerton Park, 75 Cliff St., New Haven. Free.

203-393-1436, elmshakespeare.org.

Blood Type: Ragu is a hilarious and occasionally poignant ride through the Italian immigrant experience based on the life of writer/performer Frank Ingrasciotta. This one-man show features more than 20 characters, who live, love and laugh as they struggle to thrive in a new culture. It’s a fast-paced coming-of-age story that is not just a comedy, not just a drama.

It’s family – and we all have one. 8 p.m. August 21, 2 p.m. August 22 at Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Rd., Waterbury. $35-$28. 203-757-4676, sevenangelstheatre.org.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a haunting, lyrical, and darkly humorous new musical based on the 1962 novel by Shirley Jackson, author of The Lottery and The Haunting of Hill House.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

Radio Girl is a brand-new musical based on Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Rebecca is a spunky ten year-old with a can-do attitude and enormous talent. She doesn’t let anything get her down — not even being an orphan, or growing up during the Depression, and especially not her cantankerous Aunt Miranda. Through August 22 at the Norma Terris Theater, 33 N. Main St., Chester. $45.50. 860-8738668, goodspeed.org.

Subtitled “A Musical Love Story,” Carnival! is the heart-warming tale of a naïve young woman who eagerly joins a traveling circus.

Surrounded by a riot of acrobats and jugglers, music makers and clowns, she is dazzled at first by the troupe’s manipulative magician. In the end she finds happiness with a disillusioned puppeteer who can express himself only through his puppets.

Based on the film Lili and featuring such songs as “Love Makes the World Go Round” and “Her Face,” Carnival! casts a romantic spell over audiences. Through September 18 at Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main St., East Haddam. $70.50-$35. 860-873-8668, goodspeed.org.

BELLY DANCING Continued from 33

eventually work their way to performing at places like the Kasbah Garden Cafe on Howe Street during summer months.

“I have some students [who] come into my classes and just with their stature or posture of flow of the movement, you’re like, ‘Oh, you must have studied dance,’ and it’s not always the case,” she says.

Connecting with every part of your body is one of the most important benefits of belly dancing, Herbst asserts.

“Proprioception, or knowing where your body parts are in relation to other body parts and having a mental mirror of seeing what your body is producing as you’re moving, is crucial,” Herbst explains. “It definitely awakens muscles that you either probably forgot about or haven’t been in touch with for quite some time.”

More often than not, women are turning to dance as an alternative to hitting the gym.

“Because I focus a lot on posture, which is always very grounded, you’re engaging from the floor up, from your ankles to your calves to your quads, up to your arms, which are always very lifted,” Herbst says.

“Just drilling movements and holding your arms up to the side — it’s a workout you’re just engaging so much,” she adds.

Though not explicitly a “cardio-belly” class, Herbst says you will absolutely get your heart rate up in her class.

“Even in our belly dancing classes, which aren’t titled cardio-belly dancing, you’re going to work up a sweat,” she says.

Work up a sweat in costumes you might find in a dress-up trunk at age five.

“Twenty-five-yard skirts that are big — because it is very much a part of the movement, having all of the fabric moving with your hips — are very much a part of the culture,” says Herbst. “It’s definitely fun and you definitely get more confident.”

Joy says self-consciousness is disappears with the sounds of the rhythmic clanking of the zils and beat of the drum.

“You may not have a 26-inch waist or a sixpack carved out — I definitely don’t — but they’re very flattering. Just being in your own skin — it builds a confidence where you might not have been comfortable before wearing that top and exposing your abdomen,” Herbst says.

“It just makes you feel happier.” v

BELLES LETTRES The Mystery Book Club meets the first Wednesday to discuss a pre-selected book. Books are available for check out prior to the meeting. 3-4 p.m. September 4 at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. Free. 203-483-6653, blackstone. lioninc.org/booktalk.htm.

television appearances on MTV, A&E’s Caroline’s Comedy Hour, Comedy Central, NBC’s Friday Night and HBO Comedy Showcase. 8 p.m. August 27, 8 & 10:30 p.m. August 28 at Joker’s Wild, 232 Wooster St., New Haven. $15. 203-7730733, jokerswildclub.com.

CULINARY

New members are welcomed to the Blackstone Library Second Tuesday Book Club. The group meets on the second Tuesday to discuss a preselected book. Books available for loan in advance of discussion. 6:45-8 p.m.

August 10, September 14 at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. Free.

203-488-1441, ext. 318, blackstone.lioninc. org/booktalk.htm.

Cook the Book. Cook, taste, sip, read and blog your way through Barcelona’s cookbook. Find out what it takes to go behind the bar and into the kitchen to whip up the tasty tapas this restaurant is known for. Takes place every second Tuesday. 7 p.m. August 10 at Barcelona Wine Bar & Restaurant, 155 Temple St., New Haven. $25. 203-848-3000, barcelonawinebar.com.

Release your inner poet. Time Out for Poetry meets third Thursdays and welcomes those who wish to share an original short poem, recite a stanza or simply to listen. Ogden Nash, Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss and even the Burma Shave signs live again. 12:30-2 p.m. August 19, September 16 at Scranton Library, 801 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. 203-245-7365.

City Farmers Markets New Haven.

Eat local! Enjoy seasonal fruits, vegetables, and herbs from local farms including seafood, meat, milk, cheese, handcrafted bread and baked goods, honey, and more. 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Saturdays at Wooster Square Russo Park, corner Chapel St. and DePalma Ct. 203773-3736, cityseed.org.

Lee Wulff: ‘Each fly is a dream we cast out to fool fish.’ Manuscripts, correspondence, clippings, magazine articles and photographs documenting the life and times of legendary fly fisherman/naturalist/bush pilot Lee Wulff (1905-91). Also, one of the angler’s fishing vests, an Ultimate fly reel and one of his light six-foot fly rods he used to subdue salmon will represent Wulff’s many innovations.

Included will be documents detailing his efforts to establish sound conservation measures for the Atlantic salmon. Through September 16 at Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, 121 Wall St., New Haven. Free.

Open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri., noon-5 p.m. Sat. 203-432-2977, beineckelibrary@yale.edu.

EXPOSITIONS, FAIR & FESTIVALS

Where the Wild Things Are (USA, 2009, 94 min.). Directed by Spike Jonze, adapted from Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story. Max, a disobedient little boy sent to bed without his supper, creates his own world — a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown him as their ruler. 5:45 p.m.

August 26 at New Haven Free Public Library, 133 Elm St., New Haven. Free.

203-946-8835.

Odyssey: A Greek Festival is one of Connecticut’s largest Hellenic festivals celebrating Greek food, music and culture. Festivities include live music, dancing, marketplace vendors, kids’ area, church tours and lectures. Noon10 p.m. September 4-6, noon-8 p.m.

September 7 at St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, 480 Racebrook Rd., Orange. Free. 203-795-1347, saintbarbara. org.

With more than 400 exhibiting companies, the two-day Connecticut Women’s Expo is described by event organizers as the “ultimate shopping experience.” There will be some serious soap-opera eye candy on premises to keep things interesting, including Eric Martsolf (Brady Black on Days of Our Lives. Plus fashion shows, beauty

Comedian Johnny Lampert is a regular at New York City’s and Los Angeles’ best comedy clubs including the Comic Strip, Caroline’s Comedy Club and the Improv. He has also made numerous

If it’s autumn, it must be Durham Fair time. One of Connecticut’s largest harvest festivals has so much to see and do — from a midway with rides and games to music (headliners Aaron Tippin and REO Speedwagon) to animals (including penning and pulling contests) to exhibits (don’t miss the giant pumpkins!) to classic fair food fare. 9 a.m.-11 p.m. September 24-25, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. September 26 at Durham Fairgrounds. $15 ($13 seniors, under 12 free). 860-349-9495, durhamfair.com.

FAMILY EVENTS Each Tuesday the Yale Astronomy Department hosts a Planetarium Show. Weather permitting there is also public viewing of planets, nebulae, star clusters and whatever happens to be interesting in the sky. Viewable celestial objects change seasonally. 7 & 8 p.m.

Tuesdays at Leitner Family Observatory, 355 Prospect St., New Haven. Free. cobb@astro.yale.edu, astro.yale.edu.

Be the first to explore Lyman Orchards’ newly designed Sunflower Maze, carved among three acres and 235,000 sunflowers. What better way to spend a summer day than to navigate through a field lush with beautiful, multi-colored sunflowers. (Flowers are ornamental sunflowers, without pollen to attract bees or stir up allergies.) Enjoy a bird’s eye view of the maze from the viewing platform, and from the peaks of the surrounding orchard hillsides.

Ticket sales help support the kids of Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. through September 6 at Lyman Orchards, 32 Reeds Gap Rd., Middlefield. 860-349-1793, lymanorchards.com.

MIND, BODY & SOUL

COMEDY Although Kathleen Madigan is small in stature, she inspires huge laughter.

This former NBC’s Last Comic Standing contestant has proven to be one of today’s top female comedians, making audiences across the country laugh out loud with her hilarious equalopportunity antagonism. 8 p.m. August 27 at the Palace Theater, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $38-$28. 203-346-2000, palacetheaterct.org.

New England extravaganza with topname entertainment, major exhibits, the Big E Super Circus, the Avenue of States, New England history and agriculture, animals, rides, shopping, crafts, a daily parade and a Mardi Gras parade and foods from around the world for 17 glorious days during New England’s most colorful season. September 17-October 3 at 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield, Mass.

Most exhibits & buildings open 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. $10 advance ($8 ages 6-12).

413-205-5049, thebige.com.

Dubbed by Jay Leno ‘one of America’s funniest female comics,’ Kathleen Madigan rocks Waterbury’s Palace Theatre August 27.

makeovers, psychic readings and a dozen seminars on topics from feng shui to sex therapy. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

September 11, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. September 12 at Connecticut Expo Center, 265 Rev. Moody Overpass, Hartford. $10 (under 13 free). 203-222-9757, ctexpos.com.

The Eastern States Exposition is New England’s six-state fair. It’s a

Led by Nelie Doak, Yoga promotes a deep sense of physical, mental and emotional well-being. Classes are designed to help cultivate breath and body awareness, improve flexibility, strengthen and tone muscles, detoxify the body and soothe the spirit. All levels welcome. Bring a yoga mat.

5-6:15 p.m. Fridays at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. $10. 203-4881441, ext. 313, yogidoakie@earthlink. net or events@blackstone.lioninc.org, blackstone.lioninc.org.

SPORTS/RECREATION Canoeing Join the Connecticut Audubon Society for a guided Family Canoe Tour of

CALENDAR Milford’s 840-acre Charles Wheeler Salt Marsh. Steeped in local history, the marsh offers an abundance of birds and other wildlife, beautiful vistas and a chance to paddle and relax. Bring water and sunscreen and wear shoes that can get wet. 1:45-4:15 p.m. August 14, 12:45 a.m.-3:15 p.m. August 28, 12:30-3 p.m.

September 11, 1:30-4 p.m. September 12, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. September 25 at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford. $19 members/$29 others (canoe rental $25/$35 per person, $65/$95 per canoe).

203-878-7440, ctaudubon.org.

Cycling Elm City Cycling organizes Lulu’s Ride, weekly two- to four-hour rides for all levels (17-19 mph average).

Cyclists leave at 10 a.m. from Lulu’s European Café as a single group; no one is dropped. 10 a.m. Sundays at Lulu’s European Café, 49 Cottage St., New Haven. Free. 203-773-9288, elmcitycycling.org.

The Little Lulu (LL) is an alternative to the long-standing Sunday morning training ride. The route is usually 20-30 miles in length and the ride is no-drop, meaning that the group waits at hilltops and turns so that no rider is left behind. The LL is an opportunity for cyclists to get accustomed to riding in groups. Riders should come prepared with materials (tubes, tools, pumps and/or CO2 inflators) to repair flats. 10 a.m. Sundays at Lulu’s European Café, 49 Cottage St., New Haven. Free. 203773-9288, paulproulx@sbcglobal.net, elmcitycycling.org.

Tuesday Night Canal Rides. Mediumpaced rides up the Farmington Canal into New Haven. May split into two groups based on riders’ speed but no one will be left behind to ride alone.

Lights are essential. 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays at Café Romeo, 534 Orange St., New Haven. Free. william.v.Kurtz@gmail. com.

Elm City Cycling monthly meeting occurs on the second Monday. ECC is a non-profit organization of cycling advocates who meet to discuss biking issues in New Haven. Dedicated to making New Haven friendlier and more accessible to cyclists and pedestrians.

7 p.m. August 9, September 13 at City Hall Meeting Rm. 2, 165 Church St., New Haven. Free. elmcitycycling.org.

Critical Mass. Participants meet at the flagpole on the New Haven Green on the last Friday for a slow-paced ride throughout New Haven streets.

The ride ranges from 30 minutes to over an hour, depending on weather.

Critical Mass is not an organization; it’s an “unorganized coincidence” — a movement of bicycles in the streets as traffic. After the event, everyone is invited to a potluck dinner at the

new haven

41

Devil’s Gear Bike Shop. 5:30 p.m.

August 27, September 24 at Temple and Chapel streets, New Haven. Free. elmcitycycling.org.

Golf It’s a good time for a good cause: the 27th annual Boys & Girls Club of New Haven Golf Tournament. 10:30 a.m.

August 23 at New Haven Country Club, 160 Hartford Tpke., Hamden.

Hikes Join the Sleeping Giant Park Association for a Geology-of-theGiant Hike. Wear comfortable shoes and bring snacks and water. Be ready for any kind of weather. No pets. 1:30 p.m. September 12 at Sleeping Giant Main Entrance, 200 Mt. Carmel Ave., Hamden. Free. 203-789-7498, sgpa.org.

Join the Sleeping Giant Park Association for a Fall Wildflower Hike.

Wear comfortable shoes and bring snacks and water. Be ready for any kind of weather condition. No pets. 1:30 p.m.

September 26 at Sleeping Giant Main Entrance, 200 Mt. Carmel Ave., Hamden.

Free. 203-789-7498, sgpa.org.

Road Races/Triathlons Proceeds from the second annual Tanger Fit for Families 5K Run/Walk will benefit Middlesex Hospital and the American Red Cross. T-shirts to first 350 registrants; goody bag and

medal to all finishers. 8:30 a.m. August 21 at Tanger Outlets, 314 Flat Rock Pl., Westbrook. $20 advance ($25 after 8/15). 336-834-6821, tangeroutlet.com/ tangerstylefitness.

Liberty Bank sponsors the 13th annual Bluefish 5K Road Race. A USATFcertified single-loop course through the back roads of Clinton. 9 a.m. August 21 at Jared Eliot Middle School, 59 Fairy Dell Rd., Clinton. $15 ($18 day of race).

860-669-3889, clintonct.com/roadrace. html In the 19 years since it began, Stratford’s MADD Dash 5K has raised more than $125,000 for the Fairfield County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Another beneficiary is the runners themselves — the Short Beach course is absolutely flat, fast and scenic. 9 a.m. August 21 (8:15 kids fun run; 8:50 two-mile walk) at Shirt Beach, Stratford. $17 advance, $20 day of race ($5 fun run). 203-374-6433, msrunningproductions@yahoo.com.

Proceeds from the Wesley Village 5K Road Race benefit Spooner House and the Wesley Village “Journey of Dreams” program. USATF-certified course; awards to the top two male and female finishers in each age group. 9 a.m.

August 28 at Crosby Commons, 580 Long Hill Ave., Shelton. $17 advance, $20 race day. 203-225-7980, wesleyvillage-ct.org.

If you’d like to go through life bragging that you competed in a triathlon (and

AMAZEING

FAMILY FUN

NOW THRU SEPT. 6 CORN MAZE OPENS SEPT. 4

One of Connecticut’s premier sporting events is the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament, an Olympus US Open Series event on the ATP (men’s) tour and Sony Ericsson WTA (women’s) tour. 2010 French Open champ and No. 6-ranked Francesca Schiavone on the women’s side, and 2009 men’s Pilot Pen finalist Sam Querrey have already committed to this year’s event.

The 48 men and 32 women in the main singles draw (and 16 teams in each main doubles draw) will be playing for a total $1.35 million in prize money.

Day & evening sessions August 20-28 at Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale, 45

2010 French Open champ Francesca Schiavone returns to New Haven for the Pilot Pen beginning August 20 at the Connecticut Tennis Center.

Yale Ave., New Haven. 888-99-PILOT, pilotpentennis.com.

Please send CALENDAR information to CALENDAR@conntact.com no later than six weeks preceding calendar month of event. Please include date, time, location, event description, cost and contact information. Photographs must be at least 300 dpi resolution and are published at discretion of NEW HAVEN magazine.

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It’s the 14th annual Hammerfest Triathlon, challenging participants with a half-mile swim, 13.5-mile bike rave and four-mile run (distances approximate). 7:30 a.m. September 19 at Owenego Beach Club, 40 Linden Ave., Branford. $75 USA Triathlon members, $85 non-members. 203-488-8541, hammerfesttriathlon.com.

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SUNFLOWER

$1 of each ticket supports the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center

who wouldn’t?), you could do a lot worse than the Dave Parcells Madison Triathlon. For one thing, it seems semido-able: a half-mile swim, followed by 13 miles on the bike and a three-mile road race. For another thing, it benefits the Madison Jaycees. 7 a.m. September 11 at Surf Club, Madison Town Beach, Surf Club Rd., Madison. $75. 860-6691354, madisonjc.com.

Call 860.399.5901 for Reservations.

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By Liese Klein

NEW EATS: The Suburban Restaurant choose from among small plates, large plates and a lengthy specials menu, recited at length by our personable server. Charcuterie occupies its own section, beckoning with upscale ingredients like Humboldt Fog goat cheese, Serrano ham and Marcona almonds.

PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

Seafood dishes best highlighted Arturo FrancoCamacho’s deft touch in the kitchen, like a raw oyster sampler with a trio of sauces.

Delicate washes of citrus and herbs set off the juicy shellfish perfectly and primed the appetite for what was to come. A sardine special also showcased the chef’s skill at using seasonal produce with a beautiful blend of tomato and fruit playing off the seared fresh fish and toasted bread.

T

he birds are chirping, late-model cars and the occasionally Harley flash past and an expanse of manicured garden occupies the foreground.

Nope, we’re not on Chapel Street any more.

The view from the front of the new Suburban Restaurant in Branford couldn’t be more different than the downtown streetscapes of New Haven.

But with veteran Elm City restaurateurs Suzette and Arturo Franco-Camacho in charge, the Suburban offers some quintessentially urban attractions.

First, the concept: a British-style gastro-pub for Branford’s downtown, known more for more formal dining at favorites like Le Petit Café, Assaggio and Foe. The Franco-Camacho version of

the gastro-pub opened earlier this summer and has already developed an enthusiastic fan base.

“We wanted to make the restaurant a neighborhood gathering place,” says Suzette Franco-Camacho. The entire family has moved to Branford’s Short Beach section and is enjoying its tight-knit charms, she adds.

(The couple is also planning a second eatery with a “modern Mexican” menu in a space closer to Branford’s Green, slated to open late this year.)

Modern American fare is the carte du jour at the Suburban, although the attentive service and sophisticated preparations have a distinctly urban flair.

The rustic, candlelit interior envelops the hungry diner at the door, with lots of exposed

wood and shelving suggesting a rural library or general store. Clothespins branded with the restaurant’s name secure the kitchen towels that serve as napkins at the tables, placed close enough together that you might find out more than you want about your neighbor’s annoying boss or kitchen renovations.

A tart elderberry cocktail started off our meal, generously portioned and pulpy with fresh fruit. More than a dozen wines by the glass and a well-edited selection of bottled beers round out the drinks menu and encourage sampling and lingering. Price range from around $12 for small plates to $27 for substantial “bigger plates,” which include several small sides.

You’ll need a bit of time to

An amply portioned lobster salad continued the winning streak, dressed in a citrusy vinaigrette and tossed with avocado and impeccably fresh vegetables. Less appealing was a pork chop special, cooked to order but overwhelmed by a sauce made too salty by Spanish chorizo, its impact muddled by a pungent rosemary garnish.

A trio of chocolate desserts ended the meal on a high note, especially a milky pot-de-crème that tasted of quality cocoa and an intense soufflé with extra richness from nuts. As great place for a light meal and some lively conversation, the Suburban might just make a suburbanite out of you.

The Suburban, 2 East Main St., Branford (203-481-1414). v

new haven

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JUST A TASTE: The Kitchen Table

JUST A SIP: New England Brewing

A

modern take on the brew that sustained British sailors on voyages across the empire is bringing some spice to summer in New Haven.

New England Brewing’s new GandhiBot double IPA, a flavorful and potent exemplar of the India pale ale style, is due to make a second appearance late this summer on tap and in cans after a successful early-summer release.

pening an upscale restaurant inside of one of downtown New Haven’s most notorious nightclubs takes some chutzpah, but the team behind Kitchen Table seems to have made it work. Kitchen Table, linked to the Gotham Citi dance club by an interior swinging door, is a stylish and casual respite from the nightlife frenzy. And the eatery makes its own mark with sophisticated, quality food.

down-home ethic.

“It’s seasonal cuisine using local products,” says Chef Eric Rogers.

“We try to find things that are free-range and sustainable — the menu depends on what’s available.” Entrée prices range from $14 for a macaroni and cheese with Vermont cheddar to $29 for meat dishes like beef tenderloin or venison with port-wine cream sauce.

Walk into Kitchen Table, located right off Ninth Square, and the décor signals right away that you’re not in Gotham Citi. Fabric in funky prints covers the seats to create a rustic, homey ambiance, and the warm service is worlds away from bouncers and ID checks. Upbeat folk music serenades diners at a volume that allows for both appreciation and conversation.

What’s on the plate reflects the simple,

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

In season on a recent evening were fiddleheads, firm and delicate with a flavor that hinted at asparagus and complimented by truffle oil and caramelized onions. A gnocchi appetizer was more assertive with a garlicky brown butter that begged to be mopped up with the fresh rolls in our basket, which tasted fresh from the oven.

Wines by the glass were well chosen if served at uneven temperatures — one glass of a white was chilled; the next barely

below room temperature.

Of the entrées sampled, a scallop risotto hit it out of the park: savory, rich and cheesy with a generous portion of seared shellfish on top.

Skirt steak was well cooked to order with a deep beefy taste, even if the accompanying squash and sweet potato were a bit bland.

Also a bit underwhelming was a blueberry cobbler dessert, well executed if a bit mundane compared to the earlier courses.

But in all the welcoming service, quality ingredients and attention to detail are likely to make Kitchen Table a destination for downtown diners looking for something new. And if you’re in the mood to gyrate, the dance floor is just through the swinging door.

The Kitchen Table, 128 Crown St., New Haven (dinner only) (203-7875422).

The Woodbridge brewery has become a regional player with its Elm City Lager, Sea Hag IPA and Imperial Stout Trooper. But Gandhi-Bot has been such a hit that Westfall and owner Rob Leonard are taking it to the Great American Beer Fest in Denver to take on West Coast craft-brewing powerhouses.

Bright copper-colored and unfiltered, the beer commands attention right out of the can. The brew’s floral, piney hops aroma hints at the citrusy, refreshing flavors to come. Extra malts balance the extra hops to keep bitterness in check and make the brew mellower and more drinkable than the typical “extreme” craft beer.

Priscilla Searles

O

“I wanted to step up to the plate and let people know that East Coast brewers can make these flavorful, very hoppy beers,” says head brewer Matt Westfall.

PHOTOGRAPH:

PHOTOGRAPH:

Anthony DeCarlo

India pale ales were developed in the 1800s when Britain needed a beer that could survive months-long sea voyages. Hops, a flower bud that gives beer its bitterness, were used in greater quantity as a natural preservative, giving the style its pungency.

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Photo credit: Bob Cornell

Connecticut

by Kayak

By SUSAN E. CORNELL

C

onnecticut must have been created for kayakers. The state is blessed not only with natural beauty and historic charm but also choice.

There are lakes, large tidal rivers, small freshwater rivers, marshes and of course Long Island Sound with its beaches and islands. Kayaks make it easy to check out the variety: They are a cinch to paddle and perfect for exploring.

“In a kayak, birds and wildlife are easy to observe, small streams and shallow marshes can easily be navigated, and you feel connected to nature in an intimate way,” explains Jerry Wylie, owner and lead instructor at Connecticut Coastal Kayaking.

the sun begins to rise up burning off the fog,” she says. “It is fun to watch all the wildlife engaging in their morning rituals of which you are a part as I sit there and sip my coffee. Everyone else is making a mad dash to get into the office.”

The number of recreational kayakers continues to rise, although the number of sea kayakers has remained relatively stable, according to ConnYak president Phil Warner. ConnYak (short for the Connecticut Sea Kayaker Club), Warner explains, is a paddling club that meets monthly during the winter and holds scheduled and spontaneous paddles twice a month or more during warmer weather.

The club’s focus is sea kayaking, so it hosts coastal excursions.

a true gem in Connecticut and it feels like Maine, without the drive.”

The Thimbles are the most popular tour given by Connecticut Coastal Kayaking, whose owner Jerry Wylie has many favorites. “Bluff Point [Groton] and Great Island [Old Lyme] are great for nature/ birds,” Wylie says. “Mystic for historic tall ships. Lieutenant and Hamburg Cove [Old Lyme] for fall colors. Pattagansett River marsh [Niantic] for cool breezes on a hot July afternoon. Napatree Point [Watch Hill, R.I.] for a lazy day at the beach reading and playing in the surf.

[Old Lyme’s] Selden Neck State Park for kayak camping.”

At least eight outfits in Connecticut can help you get started:

“Where else can you be watching a dramatic sunset overlooking the Fenwick section of Old Saybrook on one side and by just turning your head to the left you see a full moon rising over the water with reflections on the water,” adds Karen Lipeika of North Cove Outfitters, an Old Saybrook adventure outfitter.

There are, however, more “meet-up” groups that sea kayak on the Sound.

Recreational paddlers, on the other hand, are mostly individuals. Sea kayaking.

Warner says, “can be calm and relaxing — or an adrenaline rush when you’re surfing a ten-foot wave.”

West Cornwall

Early morning is one of Lipeika’s favorite times to kayak. “When everyone is rushing off to work, sometimes a fog is all around you, the waters are calm and then

Among his favorite destinations is the Thimble Islands off Branford, where the paddling “can be anything from tame to really rocking, depending on the day. It is

Offers canoe, raft and kayak trips on the Housatonic River in northwestern Connecticut. Shuttle to and from the river is provided, choose a six-or ten-mile

46

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010

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