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New Haven I February/2008
PHOTOGRAPH:
10 ONE2ONE
Steve Blazo
New Haven’s most controversial CEO, NewAlliance’s Peyton Patterson, talks about the future of community banking.
13 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle The many lives of the Farmington Canal, the “liquid highway” that spans the region.
14 A Medical Mystery Yale’s autism ‘detectives’ use the latest technology to examine a puzzling disorder.
20 Love the One You’re With Unleashing Cupid’s mighty arrow to find new love or rekindle the home fires.
25 Looking for Love In all the wrong places—like the Internet— doesn’t get results for a local single woman.
31 High Style a la Mode A French chateau rises in Cheshire that marries Old World elegance with New World flair.
36 Sole Food A New Haven artist looks down to find an improbable canvas and a worldwide market.
38 No Ordinary Joe Joyce L. Faiola on the trail of New Haven’s hottest coffee shops and roasters.
OUR COVER Miles DeMille, photographed by his mother, Mellissa DeMille.
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New Haven I February/2008
PHOTOGRAPH:
41 Riding the Rails
Steve Blazo
Artist Michael Flanagan’s fascination with trains and time travel merges in a haunting body of work.
46 Curtain Call The Long Wharf Theatre grooms the next generation of stage standouts.
50 He Knows What Evil Lurks Plumbing the depths of evil in a Yale Rep world premiere focused on two couples and their secrets.
New Haven Vol. I, No. 5 | February 2008
Publisher Mitchell Young, Editor Michael C. Bingham, Design Manager Larissa Wigglesworth, Design Consultants Richard Rose, Terry Wells, Contributing Writers Brooks Appelbaum, Elvira J. Duran, Joyce Faiola, Michael Harvey, Felicia Hunter, Brittany Galla, Susan Israel, Liese Klein, Cindy Marien, Melissa Nicefaro, Tashema Nichols, Ron Ragozzino, Contributing Photographers Steve Blazo, Anthony DeCarlo, Advertising Graphics Michelle Ulrich Advertising Director Laura Whinfield, Senior Publisher’s Representatives Mary W. Beard, Ronni Rabin, Publisher’s Representatives Cynthia Carlson, Kym Marchell, Diana Martini New Haven is published 12 times annually by Second Wind Media Ltd., which also publishes Business New Haven, with offices at 1221 Chapel 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.
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EDITOR’S LETTER
Unlocking Medical Mysteries
N
ew Haven and Connecticut are frequently on the cutting edge of medical innovation. But the research undertaken at institutions like UConn and Yale is often little-reported by the media — and, as a result, little understood by the general public.
In our November 2007 issue, NHM’s Liese Klein profiled controversial Lyme disease physician Charles Ray Jones, whose regimen of long-term antibiotics attracted national attention and nearly landed the 79-year-old New Haven family doctor in prison. This month Klein tackles a little-understood and frustrating malady much feared (and with good reason) by parents of newborns: autism. Children with autism are characterized by daydreaming, disregard of external stimulus and often isolation from human contact. Some autistic children become absorbed in a world of repetitive, obsessional activities and interests. To say that autism has been imperfectly understood by medical science would be an understatement. But Klein uncovered a group of autism “detectives” at Yale, researchers who have made great strides toward developing a better understanding of this enigmatic condition for the potential betterment of many thousands of children and families. February is of course the month of Cupid, and two NHM authors explore another, happier (well, sometimes) enigma: the mysteries of love. Melissa Nicefaro, who has authored more than half of the magazine’s cover stories to date, talks with many of those seeking new love, or to rekindle an old flame, to find out how they approach fulfilling the most fundamental human need. Some of the answers will surprise you. And our DISCOVERED columnist Joyce L. Faiola writes with wit and warmth about the challenges of finding new love in the middle of one’s life. Why, in the 21st century, with more tools available than ever before to reach out and touch someone, is it as hard (or even harder) to make a connection? One of NHM’s “secret weapons” is recent Yale grad Elvira J. Duran, who writes the monthly HERITAGE and, even more important, the region’s most comprehensive calendar of events. Indeed, some readers have observed that the calendar is so comprehensive that it’s hard to find specific events amid the 6,000 or 7,000 words that comprise our monthly “to-do” list. So to make it easier to use, this month we’ve broken out calendar listing for the visual arts, music and theater and relocated them to go with their respective feature articles. Seems to make sense — but then again you’re the judge, so let us know what you think! v
— Michael C. Bingham Editor
INTEL Ready To Rumble? A bruising battle may be about to begin over the expansion of public-school choice and charter schools — specifically to close the yawning (and still growing) education gap between white and minority students in Connecticut. Opponents of charter schools in the state have launched an allout assault on the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) , accusing the group of cooking the books on the success of charter schools.
Save the Date, To Save the World Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister of Norway (home to all that really nice North Sea crude) and current special envoy on climate change for the United Nations, will be the keynote speaker at a symposium, “Sustainable Architecture, Today & Tomorrow: Reframing the Discourse” on April 4-5 at Yale. Brundtland chaired a 1983 commission that addressed “the “accelerating deterioration of the human environment and natural resources.” Symposium participants will address such global environmental questions as “Is enough being done?” and “Is what is being done effective?”.
In the past, ConnCAN avoided direct confrontation, but confronted by bullying from union activists and New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr., including calls for board members to resign, ConnCAN is pushing back. The appointment of Tom Vander Ark, former executive director of education for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to the board may be evidence of a new more assertive approach.
Ice, Ice, Baby If global warming is getting you down, why not show off your ice-carving skills? The Chester Winter Carnivale is inviting ice carvers from hither and yon to participate in the 18th annual Chester Winter Carnivale Ice Carving Competition, Sunday February 17 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information call 860-526-1200 or e-mail DonnaG@Century21.com
Can’t Live with ‘Em, Can’t Live Without ‘Em Egads, INTEL never thought we could have a kind word for lawyers. But we love our history, and from the Amistad trial of 1840 to the Black Panthers of the 1970s, there’s plenty of dynamic legal history that has been made in New Haven. Robert Cavanagh, a partner at Wiggin & Dana, has written From the Colonies to Today: Over Three Centuries of Law & Lawyers in New Haven. The book, produced by the New Haven County Bar Association, is a companion to that group’s historical exhibition, a retrospective look at the role law, lawyers and the courts have played in the city of New Haven and the United States for nearly 400 years and is available at select local bookstores. The exhibition is on view in the Community Gallery at the New Haven Museum & Historical Society, 114 Whitney Ave. (second floor) , New Haven. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays except Monday, and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. Admission $4 adults.
Nice Work If You Can Get It Laticrete CEO David Rothberg has taken his adage of “management by wandering around” to the nation of Bhutan, where the executive recently undertook a 500-mile bike trek across the landlocked nation in the Himalayan mountains. Laticrete sells its tile and stone installation systems to the hotel industry that has sprung up to support eco-tourism. His trek along the only road in Bhutan was inspired by his interest in a country where they are said to measure “gross domestic happiness” to determine the country’s success. The 54-year-old Rothberg is used to physical challenges: He has scaled the highest peaks on five of the seven continents: North America (Alaska’s Mt. McKinley) , South America (Argentina’s Aconcagua), Europe (Russia’s Elbrus), Africa (Kilimanjaro) and Australia (Kosciusko). Says Rothberg of his experience, “Sometimes we can’t equate underdeveloped nations as being content, happy locations. We need to learn from other countries such as Bhutan.”
Dough for Dough Boys (& Girls) Here’s your opportunity to make the life of America’s service men and women a little sweeter. Enlist with the Connecticut Cookie Brigade (CCB) , which sends cookies to U.S. military personnel at home and abroad, To deploy yourself go to ConnecticutCookieBrigade.com. new haven
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PHOTOGRAPH:
february 2008
Steve Blazo
Peyton R. Patterson is chairman, CEO and president of New Haven-based NewAlliance Bancshares, holding company of NewAlliance Bank. She arrived in New Haven in 2002 to replace the late, beloved Charles L. Terrell as president of then-New Haven Savings Bank. The bank’s decision soon thereafter to take the 175-year-old mutual savings bank public was excoriated by many, including Mayor John DeStefano Jr., as a money grab by the bank’s management and directors. The IPO raised $1.8 billion, and today Patterson, 51, has settled in comfortably running the fourth-largest bank in New England, with $8 billion in assets and 88 branches. Patterson was interviewed by NHM Publisher Mitchell Young.
What’s your background and education? I was born in Wiesbaden, Germany — an Air Force brat. [From 1948 to 1976 Wiesbaden Air Base in the Federal Republic of Germany was the European headquarters of the U.S. Air Force.] We came to the United States when I was about seven. My mother spent most of her career in Washington with the State Department and the Department of Agriculture. She raised me on her own and I’m an only child. I was in an all-French school until I was about 14. [It was run by] seven French sisters and all the classes were in French. My mother wanted me to have a second language. In college, I got a liberal-arts education in political science, then went back to D.C. and got my MBA at George Washington University.
PHOTOGRAPH:
Steve Blazo
What made you decide to go to business school? I’ve always loved business and thought about different businesses and what makes them successful and grow. My first job offer was from a bank in Philadelphia or to go to Hewlett-Packard on the West Coast. [For the latter job] I wasn’t technologically too proficient and it was too far. I went to
Philadelphia and started with a bank, Core States, and then got recruited to Chemical Bank in New York, [where I] spent about ten years, then went over to Dime, which was the largest thrift in New York. I had my first bank account there. Everybody always says that. What did you do at Dime? I ran their retail operations, their smallbusiness banking. I loved banking, and thought it was going through a lot of changes and becoming more marketing- and salesfocused and very people-oriented, which I am. When the opportunity at New Haven
Bankers’ hours? [Smiles and shakes head] Bankers’ hours. I’ve got a lot of energy. In wanting to be a bank president and then coming to this bank — what was your agenda when you arrived? Specific to New Haven Savings Bank, I took my lead from the board. They were local; they knew this community extremely well. I didn’t know it at all. They were looking for an agent of change. The [bank’s] revenues were declining. We thought if we could replicate what we were doing on a small scale on bigger scale, we could be a much bigger player.
What happened — taking the bank public — wasn’t the plan going in. That became part of the strategy when we decided to buy the other banks [Savings Bank of Manchester and Tolland Bank]. Because of the IPO we raised so much capital, it gave us a nice building block to replicate in other communities. [Today] in the towns we’re in, we have the second-largest market share. Our community foundation [the NewAlliance Foundation] that we Savings came around it had everything I launched when we did the IPO has made liked about being a community banker, and a huge difference is supplementing what it was in my home state [Patterson lived in we do at the bank in meeting the charitable Greenwich at the time]. needs of a lot of community organizations. We read one story that you went Dime’s former chairman and said you wanted to be president? I was an executive vice president and he was retiring at some point, [but] that never happened because the bank got sold. I had talked to some recruiters about what type of position I might like next. My daughter was very young then — she still is; she’s ten. I wanted to make sure I was relatively close to home. You had a lot of responsibility at Dime when your daughter was very young. Was that tough? Everyone asks me that. I’ve always been able to do a pretty good job at multi-tasking and compartmentalizing what I do. While I always think about the bank, I always think about my family, too. I’m pretty disciplined in my [work] hours, and I’m home the same time every evening, which is pretty early.
Yale President Richard C. Levin told the New York Times that Yale was the only corporate citizen left in New Haven. I thought, ‘I’ll have to ask Peyton Patterson how she feels about that statement.’ I read that article, about the relationship with Yale and the city and how it has improved and that [Yale] plays such a critical role in a lot of the economic vitality here. But NewAlliance as a public company and part of the business community plays probably one of the largest roles. One, because that is part of our legacy; two, we have the foundation. It goes hand and hand with being a community bank, and is not something that anyone would change. [In attracting customers] you may think of the obvious, like access to branches and ATMs, value, but the third element that the research will tell you is, ‘Is the bank a good corporate citizen? Does it give back to the community?’ In our case I have 1,100 employees. They live in these communities, new haven
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they go to the churches, the grocery stores, the library, they have causes of their own. My customers are a byproduct of those people that bring customers to the bank. You tend to hear about the big things, but we’re doing a lot of little things. Every employee is asked [to become active] in one charitable organization. Every employee? Yes. And the higher you are, such as at officer level, we ask you to sit on a [nonprofit] board. We have people representing the arts, economic development, etc. In the time that I’ve been here [there’s been a] focus on marketing the city that I think has huge amount of potential in the city and as the epicenter of the region. My next job hopefully will be in economic development. I thought your current one was.
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I have a real interest in seeing what makes cities tick, [but] my job now is to make a bank tick. I’d love to be able to see New Haven go through the economic progression that let’s say Stamford did in its own way. I reinforced to Mayor DeStefano just last week [the point] that [New Haven] has the underpinning of core competencies that can be leveraged. But when you ask the business community to come for a meeting you can’t have four people at the table. You have to have a lot of businesses at the table. And that’s going to be the focus of our efforts going forward. Let’s go back to Dime. When you were front-line management to the consumer, what did that teach you?
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Fascinating. [Dime had] probably the most ethnically and culturally diverse group of customers in the United States. Manhattan and surrounding it Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Chinatown — you name [an ethnic group], we were the bankers. We had to embrace and appeal to a whole set of cultural differences — perceptions of banks, perceptions about taking loans. I learned a lot about competitiveness and innovation. Banking is an industry where you don’t have [a competitive] advantage for long, and definitely not forever. You grew up with a global mentality, but you didn’t go in your mother’s career direction. Anything you’ll ever hear or read about me will always come back to my mother in some way. I think I just admired, and accepted how she did things. But I always had a desire to lead and be with people — I like to say naively confident.
Is she still alive? No, she died about eight years ago. When you sought advice, what kinds of things did you ask her? [Laughs] I never had to ask my mother for advice. She always maintained a sense of dignity with me, looking at things with confidence, accepting the weaknesses, being exposed to a lot of different things. She put me in public-speaking lessons when I was 14. She was always sort of doing things, but I never quite knew what the path was. She was instilling a sense of confidence [in me] to do something and telling me if you’re going to do something, really do it well. I didn’t set out to do banking until I was 22, but it felt right to me. Do you do the same thing with your daughter? I’m cautious. I know I’m the byproduct of what my mother did, but I can’t deny there are so many things about how my mother bred confidence, and exposure and integrity that I definitely want my daughter to have. I’m always trying to find things that she might be interested in. If she’s watching TV it’s usually Disney, but the last five nights I can’t get her off CNN. She’s finding this election extremely interesting. It’s resonating with her that there’s a woman running and an African American. You mentioned having a different career, and you’re young enough to have a couple more. Well, you’ve done commentary on CNBC as a banking analyst. People often tell me that [broadcasting] would be a good next thing and I would love to do that because it exposes me to business and to people. I read so many business magazines. You know how you sometimes get a high about something? I love to read about how businesses work and how people make them work. So if you were the czarina of economic development, what steps would you take? I think for Connecticut generally and this region specifically, it has to be about job creation and the word of mouth about this fabulous place to live and raise children and work. There are so many things that are attractive, but sometimes what gets on the news is in conflict with that. We get caught up here with a lot of controversy, but I think there’s an opportunity to create that same level of excitement with a plan to bring jobs here. We benefit from so many academic institutions, from Yale Continued on 61
Steve Blazo PHOTOGRAPH:
Liquid Legacy Reduce, reuse, recycle: The Farmington Canal Trail By Elvira J. Duran
C
onnecticut’s best example of putting into practice the “3 Rs” of being green — reduce, reuse and recycle — comes in the unlikely form of a canal — the Farmington Canal.
Although New Haven has historically maintained steady trade relationships with other U.S. seaport cities, and even internationally, local businessmen longed to have better inland routes to distribute their goods within Connecticut and neighboring states. Long before Interstates 91 and 84 came into being, the first attempt at improving on the bumpy and dangerous dirt paths that up to then represented the only land thoroughfares came in the late 18th century with the construction of toll turnpikes. Although the turnpikes may have provided a less-bruising ride for people and goods, they did not reduce travel time by much and tolls made commercial trips more expensive than the only available alternative of the time: water transportation.
Within the shadow of New Haven’s skyline is the southern terminus of the Farmington Canal Trail, which once extended to Southwick, Mass.
In the early 1800s, canals became all the Wolcott, dug out the first shovelful of earth rage in transportation. Any city or state where the Farmington Canal Company that was serious about reducing the costs would build the state’s first canal, a 58of transportation and helping to create a mile-long liquid highway connecting New vast system of internal trade to aid in the Haven with Southwick, Mass. — and via reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign connections to other waterways, much of markets needed to begin constructing the North American landmass. It is said a canal. It was predicted that the lower that Wolcott’s spade broke at the ceremony transportation costs would be passed — perhaps an omen of things to come. down to the consumers and translate into increased consumption, which would in Although such notables as Benjamin Wright, turn bring new investments in developing chief engineer of the Erie Canal, and James Hillhouse participated in the project, the industries throughout the U.S. broad base of public support needed for Taking a cue from New York (which had such a large-scale undertaking was lacking. completed construction of the Erie Canal), The lack of government support (unlike in July 1825 Connecticut’s governor, Oliver the governments of other states with
their canal projects) did not make things easier. Financing was a continuing struggle throughout construction of the canal (because of damage to private property) and later to maintain it (which tolls barely covered) and repair damage caused by unforeseen floods, droughts and drainage of water by farmers. The canal did enjoy a few years of use from 1830 to 1848. Then came the newest innovation in transportation, the railroad. The New Haven Railroad, connecting New Haven and Meriden, opened in the late 1830s. This means of transportation Continued on 19
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\jumphed\AUTISM ENIGMA \hed\The Autism Detectives \sub\A Yale team toils to unlock secrets of enigmatic disorder \byline\By Liese Klein
C
all it a mother’s intuition, but Mellissa DeMille knew “What really set me off and made me realize I really had to do from the beginning that her son Miles was different. something about it was that when he was about to turn five, he sounded like a two-year-old,” DeMille says. “It was like he didn’t hear me and he didn’t respond,” DeMille recalls. “He just was kind of out there.” The diagnosis: Asperger’s syndrome, a form of higher-functioning autism. Miles is now almost seven and doing well, but DeMille The Clinton mother, who has a doctoral degree in molecular wishes she had known sooner so he could have started treatment genetics, told her pediatrician about Miles’ behavior when he was in the crucial early years of brain development. an infant and was assured that there was nothing to worry about. “His pediatrician just never seemed to get it,” DeMille says. “The But even as Miles grew, he remained distant and his speech sounded earlier they get to them, the better.” stilted. Preschool screenings showed he was developmentally delayed but offered no hint at a larger issue. 14
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Mellissa DeMille PHOTOGRAPH:
Miles DeMille shows off his toys at a recent party he hosted with the theme ‘Penguin Appreciation Day.’ Like many kids with Asperger’s syndrome, Miles immerses himself in his interests and was first in line with his mom to see the film March of the Penguins.
Mellissa DeMille PHOTOGRAPH:
Early diagnosis is crucial to treating autism, a disorder of learning, speech and social interaction affecting at least two million people and diagnosed in one in 150 children. Detecting the disorder in children as young as a few months is a focus of research at Yale’s Child Study Center, a national leader in the field. In a cluster of buildings along Route 34, Yale has brought together an interdisciplinary team of scientists and clinicians to tackle the most puzzling aspects of autism. Their discoveries make national news on a regular basis as they probe the causes, expression and treatment of the disorder. Those breakthroughs are already benefiting some local parents, who have braved the Child Study Center’s years-long waiting list to get diagnoses and treatment. Others, like DeMille, hope those breakthroughs will filter down to the level of local doctors to help the next generation of autism parents. “I wish I had started speech therapy earlier with him,” DeMille says. “It’s a maze to figure out who it is who can help your kids.”
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The office of physician Fred Volkmar doesn’t look like a laboratory: Comfy chairs surround a coffee table and a fish tank is mirrored in a colorful screensaver on his desktop. But Volkmar, in his role as director of the Child Study Center, sees lab work as key to the success of the autism program and effective treatment of the center’s kids. “At Yale, the clinical and the research go hand in hand,” Volkmar says. “Other places around the country, it’s much less common to have a strong clinical program or to have those two things work together.” Yale’s autism program has its origins in the pioneering work of Arnold Gesell, who founded the Child Study Center in 1911. His research in the 1920s centered around filming children’s reactions to sound as clues to their development, which dovetailed into an institutional focus on autism as the disorder became widely studied in the 1950s. Child Study Center scientists were among the first to reject a theory in vogue in the 1960s, that autism was caused by emotionally distant, “refrigerator” mothers. Researchers at the center instead focused on the biological causes of autism and its
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Anthony DeCarlo
Harveys are at idiom! Rhea Paul (left), Kasia Chawarska and Ami Klin, key members of the Yale Child Study Center’s autism program. Klin, who directs the program, integrates research and clinical treatment as part of the team’s groundbreaking work.
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effects on the brain. In the last decade, gene mapping and brain imaging has providing the some of the most provocative insights into the causes of autism, says Ami Klin, MD, director of the autism program within the Child Study Center.
to use the method to diagnose the disorder in infants. New technology in brain imaging is also being used by Yale researchers to study how autistic brains function. Robert Schultz, a diagnostic radiologist, uses brain imaging to evaluate kids at different ages and trace how autism affects brain growth and specialization.
Matthew State, a professor of child psychiatry and genetics at Yale, has homed in on variations in a gene that makes a protein used by brain cells to Another way to detect autism in very communicate. Changes in the sequence young children is to look at how they listen of that gene may contribute to autism and to speech, says Rhea Paul, a professor at other developmental disorders, according Southern Connecticut State University to State, who released new findings on the who is part of the Yale team. gene last month in the Journal of Human Genetics. Genetics also plays a key role one “Normally developing children are of the center’s ongoing projects, a study developmentally tuned to language that looks at social skills in the siblings of tasks they are mastering,” Paul explains. autistic kids. “Children with autism aren’t as attentive to speech. We think that may have something Once born, children at risk for autism can to do with why they have so much trouble be identified in their first months using learning language.” eye tracking, a technique explored in Klin’s own research. When spoken to, autistic Like eye tracking, speech studies “may have kids tend to look at mouths or even distant diagnostic use,” Paul adds. “We hope that objects instead of into another person’s by combining information from several of eyes. these experimental procedures we may be able to find stronger indicators early on.” “Eyes are very important in social interaction,” Klin says. “It’s a way we enter Clinical psychologists and child experts are into another person’s heart, another person’s already using the findings to help autistic mind.” An autistic child’s sight patterns kids at the Child Study Center learn better are reflected later in speech problems and and develop social skills. difficulty in social interactions. “They’re looking at faces but not experiencing people as others,” Klin says. His group has developed a way to track eye movement using a headset and is hoping
All of this research is discussed when the 40 scientists and clinicians in the autism
program meet weekly. A central database allows for better communication and information sharing, Klin says. “We work together very well — we talk a lot; we meet a lot,” Klin says. An effort is also made to break down the barriers between disciplines. “The secret of the Child Studies Center is that we are center, not a department,” he adds.
The role of vaccines and environmental toxins in autism is hotly debated, but Klin says scientists are confident that one vaccine preservative, at least, has been cleared. A new study released last month found that autism diagnoses continued to climb in California even after the disputed preservative, thimerosal, was removed from vaccines.
As further evidence that autism is present The team’s work was recognized last at birth, Klin points to a Yale study that August when the National Institutes of found abnormalities in the placentas of Health awarded the program Center of infants who went on to develop autism Excellence status, along with $7.5 million — long before the children were exposed to in direct funding over five years. vaccines. Klin adds that although autism “In the past six or seven years the program has only recently entered the mainstream grew tremendously and the funding grew consciousness, the center sees middle-aged tremendously,” Klin says. “We’ve been people with the disorder. “Autism has been very successful in gaining grants.” with us for a long time,” he notes. Funding is flowing because autism has emerged as one of the hottest topics in child development — it seems as if everyone knows someone whose kid has been diagnosed with autism. Yale scientists are also trying to track down the causes of autism, but don’t see evidence that there is an autism epidemic. Changes in the definition of autism in the 1990s play a major role in the perceived surge, Volkmar says.
What is new is the boom in alternative treatments like special diets and chelation, or removal of metals from the body. Actress Jenny McCarthy made national news last year claiming her son had been “cured” of autism through a gluten-free diet. Some parents see benefits from special diets, Klin says, but many don’t. Unproven theories and treatments get so much press that the Child Study Center has posted a link to an article on “Autism
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Quackery,” on its home page. “Those alternative treatments take a lot of energy and resources from other areas,” Klin says. “They put a tremendous amount [of pressure] on parents,” he adds. “Every time there is a new fad it creates a great deal of anxiety; you’re not trying something so you’re a bad parent.”
But new findings, some at Yale, continue to add to anxiety about possible causes of autism. A 2006 Yale study found that use of ultrasound on pregnant mice caused brain abnormalities in fetuses, triggering concern about the safety of prenatal sonograms. Ultrasounds have an important diagnostic use, Klin says, and in the absence of strong evidence of a cause of autism, the Yale team is focused on detecting the disorder. With better diagnosis comes early help for kids with autism, Volkmar says. “Children with autism are doing better and better. That’s partly a result of early intervention, which is a big focus of our work,” Volkmar says. “Outcomes are improving over time.”
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With better treatment, kids with autism are now staying in school and moving on to higher education, Volkmar adds, which introduces a host of new issues. Yale is hosting a first conference on autistic college students this year, he adds.
Rosenwald helped design a pilot program this year in New Haven that provides services to 28 high-functioning autistic adults to help them live on their own. The $1 million effort has shown great results but depends on legislative support to continue, she says.
“That’s a tremendous difference over how things were 20 years ago,” Volkmar says. “A large part of it is around mentoring and “We’re doing a better job of detecting and social skills,” Rosenwald says. “It’s all kinds getting services to children.” of things: How to use the transportation system, learning how to find out where a But when those children reach 18, school movie is playing. These seem like simple and state services end. “There is a paucity things, but for people with Asperger’s, of resources available to support families they’re not.” and allow for adults to live independently,” Klin says. Rosenwald’s son was diagnosed with autism at 14, but with therapy and Autistic adults need help as they mature, continued guidance he holds a job and lives but until recently had no access to state independently, she says. “I think we had services, says Lois Rosenwald, founder done instinctively a lot of the right things and executive director of the Connecticut early on,” she says. “Not everybody has Autism Spectrum Resource Center in our circumstances.” Wallingford. “People have forgotten that these children become adults and they For Lili Foggle of Madison, a preschool age out into nothing, literally nothing,” teacher’s comment set her on the path Rosenwald says. to getting a diagnosis of her daughter’s
Asperger’s syndrome before the girl turned three. The state stepped in immediately with intensive services to treat her daughter’s speech and social deficits. “I have to say I think those months were absolutely key,” Foggle says. Now ten, her daughter continues to get some therapy but is doing well academically and socially.
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“I credit the intensive early intervention,” Foggle says, adding that many of the parents in the Shoreline Autism Society of Connecticut support group she facilitates didn’t get a diagnosis until much later. “I just think how lucky we are,” she says. v
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was more expensive than water travel but also faster — which the public preferred. Instead of simply ceasing operations and leaving behind a relic of an idea, stockholders in the canal company (which had undergone many name changes throughout the canal’s life) decided to reuse the canal bed by converting it into a railroad right-of-way. Construction of the Canal Railroad took one year and cost $186,000. Both those figures were a relief to investors compared with the five years and $1,089,425 it took to build the canal. The railroad remained in operation for over 100 years until flood damages left it unusable (except for a small section in Plainville) by the early 1980s. The tracks were removed by the late 1980s and portions of the land were sold. The canal has since been recycled and is now used as a trail for hikers, bikers and joggers. A few communities (among them Farmington, Avon and Simsbury) have paved portions for recreation. The Farmington Canal Rail-to-Trail Association (FCRTTA), a non-profit group of volunteers from the towns connected by the trail assists in the upkeep and beautification of the Farmington Canal Trail. If you’d like to help Connecticut’s longest and most interesting “3 Rs” project, contact FCRTTA executive director Norm Thetfor at nthetford@att.net. And if you would simply like to experience the Farmington Canal Trail for yourself, join New Haven’s Devil’s Gear Bike Shop’s (www.thedevilsgear.com) “Night Ride on the Canal” crew, a weekly bicycling group that rides (a two- to three-hour round trip) up the Farmington Canal Trail at a very moderate (15-17 mph) pace. v
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hen was the last time you held hands with your love, or even brushed your hand along his or her back when you passed by in the kitchen? Such simple things are the start of great love, but we forget how nice it feels. Kids get in the way. Work gets in the way. Life gets in the way. Our appearance changes. Sometimes the attraction that first drew us to each other becomes submerged. Some married people are living as lovelessly as single people living alone. It’s not by choice; it 20
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just happened. The devotion, the trust and the commitment to each other is still there, it’s just not the same as it was. But wait — there are so many different ways to rekindle an existing love or find a new mate. Love is like a recipe that requires only a few potent ingredients. Among those are happiness, confidence and, of course, a pinch of sexiness. That last ingredient isn’t always found in the obvious places.
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Touch Me, Heal Me Char Marie knows this well. She practices Chinese medicine in New Haven and she knows that when qi (energy) is flowing freely and abundantly and in balance in the body, good health follows. And so does good lovin’. “People will come in and say, ‘We really love each other, but we’re just too tired for each other by the end of the day.’ Qigong was designed for sexual and reproductive energy,” says Marie. “I teach men and women meditation and whenever your qi is very strong and open, you have a better time and more sexual desire. It’s good for your relationship.”
John Pavel of Hamden isn’t afraid to admit that he’s looking for someone to love.
nightclubs. I’ve tried everything from country bars to upscale bars — you name it and I’ve tried it.” He recently turned to Craigslist.org, where postings are free. You get what you pay for. “Free” can also translate to misleading and not always truthful.
Pavel, 33, has tried it all and he’s still not happy with his dating situation. He calls himself affectionate. He works as a pet sitter and a substitute teacher. His longest relationship in years was for just over a year, but it ended the way many relationships “I couldn’t tell you why I’m still single,” do: It just didn’t work out. He met that Pavel says. “I am not picky. I just want to woman on a dating phone line called Quest. meet someone I get along with. I want to The dating phone line — which is free for spend some time with somebody.” women but costs men — scored him about Can anybody find me somebody to love? a dozen dates, but no lasting relationships. He tried eHarmony and had no luck. Maybe Queen did have it right the first time. A few years later, the same band sang, “Overall it wasn’t a great experience,” he “Too much love will kill you.” says. “I’ve had no luck at all in bars or
One service she offers to couples (including in their own homes) is foot massage, a form of channel massage. “In the clinic, I work on everyone’s feet during their treatment,” Marie explains. “In China I had my feet done every day and I saw the benefit. There is so much you can get done with the foot. It’s so empowering just to massage your feet for a half hour. It moves a lot of energy. It’s religious for me. I know it seems like a small thing, but it is a wonderful thing. “One of my clients broke her foot and when I was finished working on her foot, she told me she had so much more sexual desire,” Marie adds. She also teaches couples meditation. “If we can open our heart and our mind,” Marie says, “we find a lot of magic in there.”
Somebody To Love Just as many couples are finding various ways to rekindle romance and relax, many are still looking for someone to share romance with. For the single, the lack of love can be downright painful. Listen closely. Hear the sounds of Queen singing “Somebody to Love” being piped into the air. “Can anybody find me somebody to love? Each morning I get up I die a little, can barely stand on my feet, take a look in the mirror and cry…” the song goes. The world is full of people who are just looking for someone to love. Even some married people are looking for love. More people than are willing to admit share the desperate story of that song by Queen.
Ankles aweigh: Chinese medicine practitioner Char Marie offers foot massage to couples. ‘It’s moves a lot of energy,” she says.
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reconciled herself to the reality that finding a potential love match takes time. “Once you have met this special someone, love takes time to develop,” Pepin says. “Anyone who thinks they are in love within a few months of dating is still in the honeymoon stage. Love comes when you face problems together and are still standing. The universe must be aligned for this to happen.” She thinks love comes when you are healthy emotionally and ready to love.
Let’s Get It On And Pepin is on the right track, according to Woodbridge sex therapist Lois Spivack. There is no avoiding the fact: a great part of love is the sex. Fine, a great part of life is the sex. But the “great” part starts long before you hit the sheets. The lack of physical love and romance can be as big a problem for married couples as it is for singles. Spivack (203-387-9730, if you have a pencil handy) says that couples need first to get back to being good friends. “Love starts with friendship,” Spivack says. “There has to be emotional intimacy. They have to feel as if they trust each other. The key is good communications and that’s usually where the problems begin — when communication causes a couple to lose their connection.” After the emotional connection is established, it’s time to work on the physical connection, which is affection. Woodbridge sex therapist Lois Spivack: ‘Foreplay is really the lovemaking.’
Tammie Pepin of Milford also peruses the Craigslist personals. She says people go about it all wrong. “Looking for love is not a good idea,” Pepin observes. “It leaves you open to thinking that each guy you go on a date with could be your soul mate and you start to take common interests as a ‘sign’ that he is the one for you — which usually leads to being let down later when you find out that he is not what you ‘fantasized’ him to be.” As for Internet dating, she found many men who prefer to “serial date” than get into an actual relationship. “The other issue with Internet dating that I have had is that it really takes away from using social skills when you are out and see 22
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Humans strive for affection and it’s common in the early stages of a relationship, but many forget, according to Spivack.
“It’s very important for people to hug and kiss each other and hold hands,” she notes. someone you actually want to approach,” “After that comes the sexual connection.” she says. “You don’t have their profile in front of you and you can’t go into the Many people and couples come to her conversation knowing if they are into you because they want help reviving their sexual relationship. But not so fast. There’s or if they are even single.” a lot of work to do before you drop trou. That must be how they did it in the golden olden days, before the dawn of Internet Love starts with the emotional connection. dating. Wasn’t it mostly about physical According to Spivack, “There is emotional attraction in those days? You saw someone intimacy, physical intimacy and sexual you thought was attractive, you let your intimacy. To get to this point, we need a imagination run with it, you found a way close examination of the commitment each to get closer and you went in for the kill. member has to the relationship.” Whether it was in a bar, or at a kid’s PTA meeting, opportunists prevailed. The fibs Another big factor in rekindling love is and the fabrications still flowed, especially change. You have to be willing to make over cocktails, but single people did manage change. As we grow older, we change in appearance, and for the married and single to hook up before “the Internet.” alike, much of sexual attraction is based on But Pepin hasn’t lost hope; she has appearance.
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Most clients, however, choose dinner sans “It is important, whether you’re married pooch. Afterward they’re required to call or single, to feel beautiful inside and out,” O’Malley’s office within a few days and let Camputaro says. “To be nicely dressed is her know how the first date went. a wonderful feeling! You have to be happy inside to be happy outside, and clothing When it comes to romance, it’s about can bring such positive motivation.” chemistry and that can often be a challenge. That much is not up to O’Malley. Happiness starts with making the best of the qualities and features that a person “It’s just a matter of ruling things out has — whether she’s a size two or 22 and allowing me to do the legwork,” she — and accenting what they love about explains. For example, “I pay someone to themselves. do my housework. I pay someone to do my yardwork. I have a nanny and I don’t have “It can be their hips, their arms, even their time to be on the Web to do something I lips that bring everything into focus,” could outsource. That’s the type of client Camputaro says. “If you look good on the that will see the value in my service.” outside, you’ll feel good on the inside.” As part of her job, O’Malley must make sure that everyone who comes for her
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specific needs, what type of person they’re service is emotionally in a place where he looking for and takes into consideration or she is ready to enter into a relationship. whether they smoke, drink, have kids, don’t “If someone comes in and says, ‘I’ve been want kids, are divorced or widowed, among widowed for three months,’ and they’ll other factors. She also does a thorough start to well up and start to cry — I can’t background check on every client. take him on as a client,” she notes. “This “That will verify that the person is truly is not someone who is emotionally or not married, that their Social Security psychologically able to be dating.” [number], date of birth and all of their She says that in general, men are visual information matches up to who they say and she stresses the importance of taking they are,” explains O’Malley. She’ll work care of your appearance—if not to attract with a client for an unlimited time frame the other sex, then at least to buttress your and doesn’t look at her occupation as that own confidence. of a dating service. O’Malley sends many clients to meet “We’re based on the old-fashioned with Krista Camputaro, owner of Sogno, matchmaking techniques,” O’Malley says. Boutique of Dreams on Audubon Street in She hand-selects each introduction, runs New Haven. the people by each other and if they agree to meet, she’ll set up a reservation for dinner “Women will come in and say they were or another activity and the pair will meet married for 20 years and now she’s a for a meal, or a movie — she’s even had a divorced, frumpy mom,” O’Malley few people go sailing on a first date. explains. “Krista turns our girls around. She’s a wonderful businesswoman and is “A few people this summer went for walks great with our women who are looking to and brought their dogs,” O’Malley says. Of revamp their image.” course, “That can be stressful if the dogs don’t get along.” But for some dog-lovers, Camputaro will go into a client’s home and that’s the point of getting the dogs together work with her existing clothing style or right off the bat. hold a private appointment in her shop.
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he Beatles were my love gurus, and everything I thought I needed to know about love came courtesy of the Fab Four: I was convinced that in romance, “All You Need Is Love” (da da da-da da). Following divorce numero dos, I discovered something dreadful: We live in a world of couples. Spending a holiday weekend at the cushy OmniNew Haven Hotel, I opened the drapes to my room and caught two squirrels having a squeeze. Geez, everybody’s got a partner except me.
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Finding the right mate (or at least one with all his teeth) gets really hard after 40 — just ask Cher. My theory is that in reality, women don’t mess up their marriages — they simply give up when men continually turn out to be a disappointment. Men make lousy husbands — all chase and no bonding. Men are creatures of few words (and less action) once they’ve hooked their prey. Men will promise their intended the moon, but once they get her, just try getting him to take out the trash, initiate a thoughtful conversation, or reserve a weekend at some perfectly chaaaarming little hotel. Women have children just to have someone to talk to.
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naive browser can figure out exactly who these jokers are by reading their ads. I’m worried about the men who think their ethnicity is their best selling point. They say, “Italian stallion,” “good looking African-American,” “gentle Irishman,” “Greek god.” Some guys have wised up; they know their best hook is their bank account — “have fabulous boat,” “wealthy entrepreneur,” “European traveler,” “owns beautiful house.” (I’ve circled those ads for future investigation.) Some guys don’t have a clue, and have actually predetermined what traits the “right one” will possess: “Must be blonde, fit, petite, must like football, have no kids.” (This from a 50-year-old!) Even scarier is the guy that said, “Looks and age unimportant.” He must be a troll. I’m always perplexed at the ads that state the obvious. Likes: “long walks on the beach,” “fine dining,” “theater,” “soulful kisses,” “rainy afternoons in Paris.” Like, duh — who the hell doesn’t? Most guys, of course, will never figure out who could actually be their soul mate. They have no idea — not only what women want, but even what they want. I’m especially intrigued by the ads that matchmakers post. “Fit, youthful runner, 65, in the arts” (probably works in the frame department at Wal-Mart) “often taken for late 40s” (by whom — his mailman?) “Looking for 45-57-year-old who’s a Democrat, reader, with a wicked sense of humor.” I think Hillary is his gal.
I’m not sure what the hardwired differences are, but the other day, while I was having my muffin fix at Atticus Bookstore Café, I spotted two couples with white hair. The men were shoveling down their food and staring at their plates as though they were fascinating, while the women were trying to catch the eye of the cute counter guy hoping for the chance just to say two words. Because around February 14 a woman’s fancy turns to love, shopping for shoes and whatever else she’s been brooding about all winter, I decided to give Google a ride and check out potential mates. There’s
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I tried the printed word: the New Haven Advocate. This time I actually spit out my morning coffee, shaking my head as I read one guy’s ad who was “looking for a nice pair of legs.” The kicker was the one that a boatload of dot.com sites including said, “Tired of meeting perfection; seeking MegaFriends, LoveCity, Quality-Singles a temperamental goddess.” (Where’s my (not to be confused with Sleazebag-Singles), whip when I need it?) One ad sounded Match.com and Green Singles (for whom intriguing until the list of this guy’s the environment is their No. 1 concern) . activities left me worn out: “A passion for MatchDoctor.com offers quizzes for those tennis, kayaking, dancing, skiing, water seeking inner wisdom. I skipped the “Do sports.” I guess he doesn’t mean watching. You Secretly Want To Be a Stripper?” Pity. questionnaire written by someone named Looking for a more upmarket venue I hit the Fender. mother lode with the Connecticut section If I had been born yesterday, I’d believe that of the New York Times. “Affable, athletic, every guy looking for love is “attractive,” giving… boyish sensibility and maturity “in good shape,” “financially secure,” that comes from hard work and ongoing “enjoys soulful conversations.” I wonder personal development.” (I gasp at this where the losers advertise? Even the most point and read on, intrigued.) “Successful
businessman with a definite spark, expansive open mind, always growing, financially sound, considerate, insightful, dedicated and romantic.” (I’m picking up the phone now, dial-finger at the ready.) “Passions include my children (all grown) and my grandchildren.” (Phone receiver: slammed down.) Hey, I’m looking for a boy toy; I’m not ready for a grandpa (yet). I considered visiting a Jewish matchmaker, because even though I’m not Jewish, I heard that Jewish men really appreciate a shiksa (at least Jackie Mason said so) and treat them like queens. So I read up on the Jewish equivalent of the Dating Game on amphetamines: speed-dating. It’s a one-hour marathon where singles pour out their hearts in seven consecutive, eight-minute small-talk sessions with a potential mate to decide if any of them warrant more time. Talk about pressure. My sister told me that I could check out the goods at a “Matzo Ball,” held twice yearly in New York, but that sounded too formal for me. But hey, a room full of doctors and lawyers looking for love sounded great. It was lunchtime so I decided to take to the streets of New Haven and mingle. I began on Broadway where the male-tofemale ratio was overwhelmingly in my favor. I strolled into the Educated Burgher (I was looking great) and the seven guys chowing down at the counter turned their heads. One smiled, so I sat next to him. He never stopped smiling but he didn’t say a peep so I yakked with one of the owners and No. 1 son Jimmy Vastakis, a studious-looking guy.
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“What makes your burgers so smart?” I queried. Trying to sound clever. “Osmosis,” he deadpanned. We both laughed. Still not a peep from the guy next to me, who got up and left. “Was it something I said?” I asked Jimmy. “I doubt it. That guy works next door at Barnes & Noble. He’s deaf.” Cue the Johnny Carson drum roll.
Strolling down Chapel Street I spied a leopard-spotted head in the Starbuck’s window. The leopard lady came outside. “How did you do that?” I gushed. Continued on 61
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Downtown Milford for Valentines Day Every Bead Tells A Story
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Visit Downtown Milford to Locate the Perfect Gifts, Services, and Dining Plans for Your Valentine’s Celebration! You’re Invited! March 20th 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm—Collected Stories Bookstore, Milford. Celebrate the publication of Entr’acte by Connecticut Post bureau chief Frank Juliano. The author will be available to discuss and sign copies of his book. Food and beverages will be served. 12 Daniel Street, Milford.
Later This Year June-September 2008 Saturday Night at the Movies on the Green (Dates to be announced Free and open to Everyone!) June 6’th 2008 The Pirate Ball 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM A great way to kick off the 3rd Annual Captain Kidd treasure hunt, this by reservation only event, will feature music and dancing and everyone must dress the part to be admitted. $10 admission. Rain or Shine.
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The sweeping ground floor of the Polkesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; home houses an open kitchen (foreground) and family area.
By Michael C. Bingham new haven
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Pam and Greg Polke put their feet up in front of their family-room fireplace. At rear is a dark-walnut-paneled billiard room.
AT H O M E
W
hen someone who builds homes for a living sets out to build his own dream home, the results (depending on the skill and taste of the design-builder, of course) can be downright dreamy.
Wallingford. Because the previous owner had calculated (incorrectly, obviously) that the lot was too wet to build on, the Polkes were able to negotiate a favorable price on the lot. Then the fun began. For Greg Polke, who describes himself as a “builder/painter/ remodeler” (he is principal of Polke’s Painting & Remodeling) , it was an 18month labor of love.
The result, completed in 2004, was a pictureGregory and Pamala Polke sold the 2,200- perfect 4,200-square-foot home in an square-foot saltbox Greg had built in eclectic European style that some compare Prospect to move to Cheshire so their to a French chateau. daughter and son, both athletes, could attend Cheshire High. In particular their “We came up with the French country daughter, a swimmer, wanted to swim for look to add a European flair”, Pam Polke legendary coach Ed Aston, whose girls’ explains. To get it right, the Polkes pored swim team has not lost a dual meet since over dozens of architecture books and 1986 and last fall set a national record for magazines featuring Old World homes. most consecutive dual meet wins (235) . Indeed, while “French country” probably (Aston’s secret: “Those girls swim more comes closest to describing the finished miles than most college programs,” says product, the house also has Italianate and Mediterranean touches as well. Greg Polke.) But first, they needed a home. They discovered a three-acre wooded lot on Terrell Farm Place, just north of Wallingford Reservoir that separates Cheshire and 32
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came from the couple, and Greg Polke built the structure, literally from the ground up. Outside, the “chateau” effect is striking and immediate: Although the home is just three years old, Polke “antiqued” the exterior stucco by making the third and final coat of stucco extra-rich with Portland cement, which resulted in a (very deliberate) cracking effect that appears to add a couple of centuries of charm and grace. Inside, “We wanted something bigger [than the Prospect home] without a living room, because we entertain a lot,” says Greg Polke. “And we wanted a big kitchen to be the center of the house.” Indeed, the physical, psychological and emotional center of the home is also the most expansive piece of interior real estate: the combined kitchen island and sprawling family room/entertainment center where much of the family’s “living” takes place.
Because of their home’s combination of open and enclosed living spaces, the Polkes aren’t exactly sure how to answer when Because neither Polke is an architect, the asked how many rooms their house has. couple worked closely with Drexel Yeager, “It’s a weird layout,” Pam Polke says with an architect with Atelier Associates in a laugh. Counting aloud using his fingers, Waterbury. But most of the design elements
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Lifelong connoisseurs of antiques, the couple have filled their home with treasures from the past as well as tasteful reproductions. Dining room beams (above) were roughed up by Greg Polke to suggest hand-hewing.
Greg Polke comes up with the figure ten. In lieu of a formal living room, the couple decided that a billiard room would be more their style. And the dark-walnutpaneled billiard room suggests late nights swathed in a haze of cognac and fine cigar smoke.
Another unusual approach to assigning functions to spaces came with the Polkes’ decision to locate the master bedroom suite on the first floor, effectively ceding the upper story to their two children. (Now that both are away at college, Greg and Pam are pondering what to do with the upstairs spaces, which include a second sprawling entertainment center with a flat-screen TV monitor so big Greg Polke claims not to know its actual size. And maybe he doesn’t.) The Polkes know their wood. Downstairs, rich white pine floors are laid in planking of irregular widths, from 16 to 24 inches, which further enhances the feeling of one-of-a-kind old-school craftsmanship. Exposed ceiling timbers from Vermont were roughed up by Greg Polke to suggest that they were hand-hewn. And a pair of dramatic downstairs doors are made of alder wood imported from Mexico. Luscious. The decorating theme is eclectic, and antiques and tasteful reproductions abound. All the bathrooms, for example, have
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wash-basin sinks. Greg’s predilection for sniffing out great deals in improbable locales is genetic: his mother is an antiques dealer in Stratford, and the Polkes are frequent habitués of the semi-annual Brimfield, Mass., antiques fairs, which are among the Northeast’s largest. The Polkes consider their home a work in progress, although to the casual visitor it certainly appears “done.” The landscaping, for example (Pam Polke does her own gardening) , is completed in the front of the house, but not yet all the way around. Similarly the first-floor master bedroom suite, with its 15-foot vaulted ceiling, remains a work in progress, as the couple have only recently settled on the color (for the record, pale yellow). Atop one wall is a recessed space that may house a cozy loft, or perhaps built-in bookcases accessed by a rolling ladder. Since their second child left for college last autumn, Pam and Greg Polke have been adapting to their new life as empty-nesters. (“You get used to it,” Pam Polke allows.) Their home’s second story, once the nearexclusive domain of the kids, feels a bit abandoned, especially the top-of-the-stairs entertainment center with its home theater and leather chaises.
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Their daughter’s bedroom features a lovely antique bed-and-bureau set and cozy window seat. To compensate their daughter and son for the hardship of having to share a bathroom (“Our one regret is not building two bathrooms up here,” admits Greg) , their parents installed wash-basin sinks in each of their bedrooms “so they don’t have to fight over the bathroom” Pam explains.
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The son’s bedroom, swapped with the originally intended office space to lend the teenager more privacy, is of course more masculine, and is distinguished by the presence of what may be the world’s largest beanbag chair — a good six or seven feet in diameter. (During sleepovers the son’s friends fought over who got to sleep on it, says Pam.)
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PHOTOGRAPH:
Steve Blazo
Can you smell what the Chef is cooking?: Brian Spar serves up delectable Nikes to appreciative audiences.
INST YL E
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even days a week, right from his New Haven apartment, Brian (Chef) Spar is cooking up a storm — a storm of “gourmet” sneakers, that is. What started as a love for limited-edition Nike athletic footwear became a career for the 32-year-old Spar, who discovered that he could employ his artistic talent to create customized sneakers for Nike-crazed fans. He sells the sneakers on his own Web site, GourmetKickz.com, where they sell from $185 to $400 and up. “I realized that I could do something with this when I bought my very first shoes for $50 and sold them for $250 because of my designs,” he explains. It’s been an eventful journey. In high school, long before he got into the sneaker 36
february 2008
business, Spar was diagnosed with bone major, and then med school, I thought, cancer and endured two years of debilit- ‘I’m doing all of this to make money and ating treatments, which drove his cancer live a fulfilling life, and at the end of the into remission by age 17. Next Spar enrolled day I think I can do it my way.’” at Brown University with the intent of His “way” started with staying with friends majoring in pre-medicine, but in his spare at Yale and taking a job as a mortgage time also attended art classes at the nearby broker, but he found it unsatisfying. In Rhode Island School of Design. After two 2002, taking note of the popularity of Nike years at Brown, Chef decided he wanted limited-edition athletic shoes, he would buy more out of life and moved to New Haven. a few pairs when they came out. Once the “Being a cancer patient, life kind of moved sneakers were sold out at stores, he would at a different pace,” Spar recounts. “You resell them to people who were dying to get live drift by drift, and time takes on a a pair and willing to pay a premium. But he different meaning. You develop a sense of wanted to differentiate himself from other impatience that is really indescribable, so resellers who were doing it the wrong way: for me having to move from that scenario bootleggers selling fake Nikes. [of being a patient] to college — when “I made a business card, and I knew I needed it came down to dealing with school, a slick picture on it and a name,” he recalls. prerequisites, classes, then getting to my
ver!
“But everyone says that, so then I said, ‘gourmet kicks,’ and it hit me like a ton of bricks — it just made sense.” Spar then took his business idea one step further and started to customize the sneakers by painting designs on them or sewing new fabrics on them.
PHOTOGRAPH:
Steve Blazo
“I always try to stay ahead of Nike, and when I realized they were going to raise the prices of Nikes, I started painting sneakers,” he says. “I marketed both customized sneakers and the limited Nike product — and that’s when I got really got serious about GourmetKickz.”
Soon thereafter Spar quit his banking job to work full-time customizing sneakers. Today, operating out of his apartment that is “flooded” with sneakers, his one-man business makes about 15 pairs of shoes a week and ships them out to his customers — mostly adults, both men and women — around the world, even as far away as Australia and Singapore.
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Besides his own site, Spar’s sneakers are also sold on two popular hip-hop web sites and at some local Connecticut stores. Spar, who says he never even picked up a paint brush before he started customizing, uses fabrics, graphics and a special acrylic paint for his designs. He comes up with his designs and color schemes on his own. “Sometimes I wonder if people will like a certain design,” he says. “But then I’ll show someone, and they’ll love it — so I guess I can’t go wrong.” As a one-man operation, Spar does everything himself, even designing his own web site. He makes sure the site is appealing and eye-catching by having shoe styles listed under creative subheads that resemble an actual restaurant menu, such as “appetizers”, kids menu, entrées, dessert, oriental cuisine, a la carte” that show different shoe styles, designs and color choices. Although he’s been in remission for 15 years, he says his cancer has given him a different perspective when it comes to his business. “That’s why I love doing the sneaker business,” he says. “I can zone out when I’m doing my kicks and forget those days.”
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selling them at several crafts fairs, including the Gardeners Market in Wallingford, where she was asked to brew the coffee.
Author, author: Customer Cindy Volpe savors an afternoon brew at New Haven’s Book Trader Café.
“People came up to me and asked where my shop was,” Passaro recalls. “I said I didn’t have one, but it got me to thinking about it.” A space on the first floor of a yellow-andgray Victorian at 235 Center Street became available last March, she signed the lease in May, and moved in the last week in June. She opened for business on July 2.
PHOTOGRAPHS:
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Passaro opens and closes the shop every day. In between, she works at Evolution Benefits in Avon. Coincidentally her coffee roasters, the Coffee Trade, are located a half-mile from her job, on Route 44, which Passaro discovered while doing a Web search for coffee sources. “They’re not a big roasting house,” Passaro explains. “They create different coffee flavors all the time.”
W
hat makes a great cup of coffee?
A roaster might tout the richness of the beans and have his or her own ideas about what constitutes the perfect blend. A student will hold her mug out for whatever will keep her eyes open during an all-nighter during finals week. And a construction worker on breakfast break will almost always ask for coffee with his scrambled eggs.
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Coffee shops frequently offer a lot more than coffee. Some sell books. Some sell antiques. And some offer a full menu and want to be known as a restaurant that serves coffee. There’s more to each coffee place than just what’s in your cup. Donna Passaro, proprietor of A Cup of Coffee And... in Wallingford, previously operated a gift-basket business out of her home, bundling gourmet coffee and tea,
The Coffee Trade is owned by Joan and Dick Portfolio. “My husband roasts the beans every day and we gear people to the most popular and sell only Arabica beans,” says Joan Portfolio, an antiques dealer in her other life. “We have 85 different coffees and have flavors like streussel cake and crème brulée. We only roast beans in very small batches and our decaf is Swiss water-processed with no chemicals.” Aside from Passaro, most of the Coffee Trade’s customers are in the Avon area. It’s a symbiotic relationship: Some of the antiques in Passaro’s shop are from Joan Portfolio. “I also get things from some of my suppliers and visit estate sales,” notes Passaro. “Some things I create on my own. I’m a jack of all trades. You have to do it all. I started out with a bunch of friends and family helping, but a lot of people tried to tell me how to run my business. Some can’t look at you as a boss if you’re a friend. I had a falling out with some of them,” she acknowledges. Behind the counter are sundry cakes and cookies and little bags of red, pink and white Valentine’s Day candy corn. In the small kitchen is a crock pot and butane stove to make soup. Passaro makes special baskets with all the fixings for a treat, such as the Sunday Morning Breakfast basket with pancake mix, maple syrup, a linen napkin and maybe teas or chocolates nestled in a mixing bowl.
The Book Trader Café opened in 1998 at 1140 Chapel Street, where Thomas Sweet once stood. Book Trader specializes in coffee
Gift-basket entrepreneur Donna Passaro opened A Cup of Coffee Andâ&#x20AC;¦ in Wallingford last year.
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Andrew Speziale provides ‘coffee service’ at the new Café Grounded restaurant featuring an airplane hangar motif.
and “gently used” books that are either the Sand Castle at the Madison Surf Club. green hue, sport a new coat of orange paint. donated or sold to the store. Originally “This is No. 2 in the empire,” he explains. But the carvings on the booths and tables are owner David Duda planned to open a used still visible — and utterly unmistakable. Since taking over Café Grounded in bookstore in the space, but in order to pay September, Speziale implemented table This space most recently known as Naples rent he and wife Lauren decided the café service and offers daily specials. “We Pizza and before that, George & Harry’s, and bookstore would feed off each other. took a good thing and made it better,” he has long been legendary among Yalies They started off serving not only coffee but explains. “We serve water when you come and others living and working within the soups, salads and bagels as well. in and sit down. Instead of dry herbs, we embrace of the Blue Mother. But in the Jennifer Tift, the store manager and chef use fresh herbs.” Sunday brunch offers morning, tastes run more to omelettes than who started working at Book Trader in a different menu every week. And the pepperoni, and many of those lined up are 1998 and came back in 2005, “People come café added dinner on Thursday through construction workers toiling at Stoeckel back here because they develop a rapport Saturday. The emphasis is on having a Hall next door or a plethora of other with the café staff.” casual, kid-friendly atmosphere. “You can campus construction projects. get filet mignon and your kids can get a hot Café Grounded used to be a café that According to new owner Celso Marrichi dog,” he notes. served food; now, according to new owner of Trumbull: “Nine out of ten people who Andrew T. Speziale, it’s a restaurant that Speziale gets his coffee from the White come in the morning get coffee. We go serves coffee. Coffee Corp., a family-owned business in through ten to 12 pots of coffee between six Long Island City, N.Y. and his espresso and 11:30 a.m.” Coffee also comes included Located in a Quonset hut at 20 Church from Saccuzzo Coffee Co., likewise a family- with the club breakfast. Street in Guilford, the interior sports an owned and -operated business based in airplane-hangar motif and the upstairs Marrichi has been in the restaurant business Newington. booths along the wall are refurbished for 20 years, but this is the first time he’s airliner seats. “We’re going to get more,” Speziale intends to keep the coffee flowing dealt with breakfast, so his coffee is key. notes Speziale. Café Grounded earned the and the restaurant growing. “There’s no Marrichi orders beans from Superior 2007 Best New Business of the Year Award ‘rest’ in restaurant,” he notes. Coffee, the specialty-coffee division of Sara from the Guilford Chamber of Commerce. Lee, which are delivered twice a week and Speziale, 28, has been in the industry 13 ground fresh on the premises for each pot. years, starting when he was 15. He started The key to success is hard work and good cooking professionally at 19 and in addition The sign hanging in front of 90 Wall Street friendly service, Marrichi explains. to being owner and executive chef at Café in New Haven now reads “Wall St. Pizza v Grounded, Speziale also owns and operates and Restaurant” and the walls, once a dark Not to mention a good cup of coffee. 40
february 2008
’Twilight Run’ (1983, oil on wood, 32” X 24”) by Michael Flanagan.
M
ichael Flanagan’s love of railroads is not so much about the trains as it is about the tracks, the paths they cut through the land, the places they connect, the lives they touch, the changes they bring.
The network of rails that crisscross the United States was, for the age of industrial manufacture, what the Internet is for the information age. For a boy growing up, first in Baltimore then in Ohio, Flanagan found it magical to stand by the silent track, then feel the tremor of the earth, then hear the distant sound growing louder and louder until finally the pounding rush of the great locomotive came thundering past. In high school Flanagan had thoughts of becoming a writer but instead went to Parsons School of Art and Design to study painting. From there he went on to graduate school at Yale, where he discovered that intimate narrative painting was considered out of style by the dominant, and intimidating, abstract color field painters of the day. “They really unnerved me for a while,” he recalls. But then there were the many happy hours he spent in the Old Heidelberg bar in the basement of the Hotel Duncan on Chapel Street. Returning to New York at the end of the 1960s he got in touch with Marvin Israel, his former teacher from Parsons. Apart from teaching, Israel was also a painter and the legendary art director for Harper’s magazine — in the 1960s the most visually daring and innovative of all the national monthlies. Israel took Flanagan under his wing and introduced him to his friends Diane Arbus and Richard Avedon, who in turn employed new haven
41
from the Cordier & Ekstrom gallery to the P.P.O.W gallery in SoHo. And it was trying to fulfill a request from the gallery for a smaller painting that led him to a significant transformation in his work. Among the images on his studio wall — his visual bank account — was a photograph of Francis Bacon’s studio wall. In that photograph he could see a messy page that Bacon had roughly ripped from a Muybridge book and pinned up. Next to it, on his own wall, was a neatly clipped picture of a locomotive. What if that train was on such an old battered piece of paper covered with writing and stamps and notations? It would be like discovering a page from an old railroad journal. Indeed, he could create an entire, fictitious rail line with its stations and crossings and people and tunnels — its history. He began what he called Stations. There are 38 paintings of the same size and format that comprise Stations. Each is painted in such meticulous trompe-l’oeil style that the viewer’s impulse is to reach for the surface to see if it is real or painted. The towns and stations Flanagan depicts are all invented, as are the maps and the writing under the images that depict their “history.”
’Four Friends’ (2007, acrylic on paper, 37” X 42”). Clockwise from top left: Diane Arbus, Marvin Israel, Larry Shainberg, Michael Flanagan.
him around the studio and darkroom. He also showed Flanagan the publishing world — how to use images and type. So for much of the 1970s and ‘80s he was able to make a living as a book designer and occasional carpenter. His painting took time to mature. Early on he grappled in a collage style with disparate images of ancient monuments and empty landscapes searching for a meaningful direction. Then, by chance, in 1980 he picked up a railroad magazine of the kind he’d devoured as a youngster but since dismissed as childish. A gentle, thoughtful man, Flanagan smiles at the memory. “It was like blowing on an ember.” he says. “It all came rushing back.” Soon afterward he began collecting images of trains, maps of routes, pictures of freight yards. It was still unconnected to his painting, a sort of hobby, something to pin on the walls. His Lyme studio has hundreds of images pinned to the walls: photographs, 42
february 2008
postcards, magazine clippings, drawings. Images of boats and planes, reproductions of famous paintings, matchbooks and advertisements. The visual stimulation is broad and provocative. Throughout the ‘80s, almost unwittingly, two of Flanagan’s preoccupations began to creep into his painting: railroads and reading. He has been a lifelong insatiable devourer of books. And along with them, inevitably, the knowledge he was gaining in publishing, of how to combine images and words was influencing the way he worked.
After successfully exhibiting and selling the paintings in the early ‘90s Flanagan decided he wanted to keep a record of the images in the form of an art book. He took the idea to one of the Doubleday editors he had worked for, the owner of one of these paintings: Jacqueline Onassis. She urged him to write it as a story rather than an art book. The result, Stations: An Imagined Journey, weaves together the pictures and story of two fictional rail lines running through Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, and the lives and histories they touch.
Life was dramatically disrupted for Flanagan in 2004 when he was diagnosed with cancer. He had only recently moved to Brooklyn. He uprooted again and moved to Connecticut and married his longtime companion Sharon Cooke. The paintings of this period become optimistically brighter, but the subject matter is metaphor Flanagan’s fascination with railroads led to — roller coasters. The old wooden type with his paintings taking on the darker, grungy all their stomach-churning dips and hairquality of coal dust, railroad embankments raising curves, set against volatile skies. and tunnels. Without glorification the Now in remission, a cancer survivor, images ooze the feel of dirt-under-theFlanagan’s most recent large work has fingernails industry, the kind of muscle been a commission from his friend Larry and grime that pushed the country to peak Shainberg to paint a portrait of four friends production. They are, without bathos, who had meant so much to one another: simply the way it was. Marvin Israel, Larry Shainberg, Diane By the late 1980s Flanagan had moved Arbus — and Michael Flanagan. v
’Manassah’ (1990, tempera, ink and graphite on Masonite, 13” X 17”).
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ART
CRITIC’S PICK: A Bubbly Vision
New work from the prizewinners of the 2006 national juried exhibition, Particular Places — Robert J. Anderson of Rockport, Mass. and Erin Raedeke of Martinsberg, W.Va. — will be on view in Robert J. Anderson and Erin Raedeke. Through February 8 at Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., New Haven. Open 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-noon Sat. Free. 203562-4927, creativeartsworkshop.org. AMANDLA! Southern African Liberation Posters from the Collection of Immanuel Wallerstein Exhibition of posters from across southern Africa collected by Immanuel Wallerstein, worldrenowned expert on post-colonial Africa and globalization, past president of the International Sociological Association and chair of the International Gulbenkian Commission on the Restructuring of the Social Sciences. Part of the African Collection of the Yale Library’s Department of Manuscripts & Archives, they are important primary source documents that recount the historic struggle for liberation in Africa in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Curated by Dorothy Woodson and Immanuel Wallerstein. Through February 15 at Sterling Memorial Library Memorabilia Room, 120 High St., New Haven. Open 8:30 a.m.-11:45 p.m. weekdays, until 4:45 p.m. Fri., 10 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Sat., noon-11:45 p.m. Sun. Free. 203432-2798, resources.library.yale.edu/ online/smlexhibits.asp. Revolution & Rebirth: The Christian Art of Huibing He is an exhibition of artwork by Huibing He, a Chinese clergywoman, who incorporates a Western context (the Bible) with an Eastern style (Chinese scrolls). Through February 22 at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, 409 Prospect St., New Haven. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Free. huibingh@ verizon.net, www.yale.edu/ism. Works by Joseph Adolphe and John Ferry are the focus of Deconstruction & Resurrection. Through February 24 (artist reception 5-8 p.m. February 9) at Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wed.-Fri.; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekends or by appt. Free. 203-389-9555, kehlerliddell.com. Travels With My Librarian: Professional Exchanges & Gift Culture. The ancient and honorable custom of gift exchange is common to all cultures, though the forms and the reasons may differ from country to country. It is in fact one of the oldest and most enduring social-binding forces, a traditional aspect of archaic societies which
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Meg Brown Payson’s acrylic on panel “Dark Garden: 8/05.6” appears anything but dark. represents while being lulled into a sense of comforting calm. Her paintings capture the unfolding process of experience with recognition of infinite perceptions. Forms evolve and dissolve, commingle and pull apart, bubble and pop, in a shared transitory existence. Maine is known for the ocean, steamed lobsters and long winters. However, once you experience this exhibition, you may also equate it with great art.
Liquid Space showcases works by painter Meg Brown Payson. Her work is glows and pulls the viewer in with a tantalizing urge to figure out what the painting
remains very much alive today, if often demystified or regulated by restrictions and policies. This exhibition explores the custom and culture of international gift exchange by presenting a selection of objects received by Yale librarians and administrators either during their professional travels or while hosting international visitors in New Haven. Through February 28 at Sterling Memorial Library (Exhibit Corridor), 120 High St., New Haven. Open 8:30 a.m.-11:45 p.m. weekdays, until 4:45 p.m. Fri., 10 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Sat., noon11:45 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-2798, resources.library.yale.edu/online/ smlexhibits.asp. The Shoreline Arts Alliance presents Images 2008, a juried photography show open to all Connecticut photographers. February 10-March 1 at Guilford Art Center, 411 Church Street, Guilford. Open noon-4 p.m. daily. 203-453-5947, donita@ shorelinearts.org, www.shorelinearts. org. The City, an exhibition of paintings by Constance LaPalombara. A landscape and still-life painter, LaPalombara is well known for her city scenes of her New Haven hometown. Her artwork has been the subject of 25 solo shows as well as of numerous group shows, and she was profiled in Cheever Tyler’s 2006 book Artists Next Door: A Great City’s Creative Spirit. Through March 5 at the Gallery at the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale, 53 Wall St., New Haven. Open 3-5 p.m. Mon.,
Payson says she is “fascinated by the human need to construct meaningful order in a world filled with too much information.” Every one of her paintings begins “as a horizontal
Wed. or by appointment. Free. 203432-0670, yale.edu/whc. Carla Payson and Donna Infantino show off their Acrylic & Mixed Media collections this month. February 3-27 (reception 3-5 p.m. February 10) at Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library, 146 Thimble Islands Rd., Stony Creek. Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Thurs., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri.-Sat. and 1-4 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-488-8702, librarystaff@branford-ct.gov, www. wwml.org/art/Gilbane.htm. For the month of Cupid, the Milford Fine Arts Council presents an exhibit extolling artists’ interpretations of that most powerful emotion, Love. Works are not restricted to romantic love and might reflect love of family, children, home, country, pets or other subjects. February 7-March 6 (reception 6-8 p.m. February 7) at Firehouse Art Gallery, 81 Naugatuck Ave., Milford. Open noon-4 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. 203-306-0016, FHGallery@optonline.net, www. milfordarts.org. The CAW Student Show displays new work by Creative Arts Workshop students in book arts, drawing, fiber, jewelry, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and more. February 24-March 14 (reception and open house 2-5 p.m. February 24) at Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., New Haven. Open 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-noon Sat. Free. 203-562-4927, creativeartsworkshop. org.
ground of dripped and poured colors drying according to their varied natures and the dynamics of their application,” to which she then adds and erases portions to create a masterpiece. She thinks “that [since] every painting emerges from the same chaotic conditions [it] speaks to [her] of the unpredictable complexity and instability of meaning in the world, but also of the inevitable, if very temporary, moment of finding it.” February 1-27 at EO Art Lab, 69 Main Street, Chester. Open 10 a.m.6 p.m. Tue.-Wed., 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., noon-6 p.m. Sun. or by appointment. Free. 860-526-4833, chester@ eoartlab.com, www. eoartlab.com.
The abundance and diversity of bird life in ancient Mesopotamia have been reflected in art, literature, and administrative records. People carefully observed birds, raised them for food, made up stories about them, and drew pictures and carved sculptures of them. The tablets and objects in Birds in Babylonia illustrate numerous aspects of the relationship between birds and human beings thousands of years ago. Through March 28 at Sterling Memorial Library, 120 High St., New Haven. Open 8:30 a.m.-11:45 p.m. weekdays, until 4:45 p.m. Fri., 10 a.m.4:45 p.m. Sat., noon-11:45 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-2798, resources.library. yale.edu/online/smlexhibits.asp. More than 150 crosses and crucifixes, collected from around the world (where they were used in churches or by individuals) are on loan from the extensive Yvonne Shia Klancko Collection of religious items and displayed for the first time in Crosses & Crucifixes. Exhibition includes an artifact from the Balkans made more than 800 years ago. Through April 6 at Knights of Columbus Museum, 1 State St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-8650400, museum@kofc.org, www.kofc. org/museum. Exceptional and rarely-seen paintings by John Frederick Lewis, Edward Lear, Sir David Wilkie, Richard Dadd, William Holman Hunt, Stanley Spencer, David Bomberg and Lord Frederic Leighton
of printing a single image from multiple plates. January 29–May 4 at the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon. (until 8 p.m. Thurs.), 1-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu.
will be on view in The Lure of the East: British Orientalist Painting, 1830-1925. Yale’s Center for British Art will serve as the premiere and only U.S. venue for this exhibition focusing on encounters between 19th-century British artists and the Islamic worlds to which they traveled. Approximately 90 paintings, prints and drawings are on view. February 7-April 28 (tours 2 p.m. February 10 & 24, noon February 16 & March 1, 11 a.m. February 21) at the 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. ycba.yale.edu. Colorful Impressions: The Printmaking Revolution in 18thCentury France. Celebrating one of the most innovative periods in the history of color printmaking, exhibition includes 95 images by the most celebrated artists of the time, including François Boucher, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, JeanBaptiste le Prince, Hubert Robert and Jean-Antoine Watteau. These images reflect the carefree spirit of the ancien régime, an era of royal indulgence before the French Revolution. Many of the prints are presented in multiple impressions or alongside related drawings and demonstrate the newly invented engraving and etching techniques of the era combined with new ways
Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery comprises approximately 85 master drawings from the gallery’s collection, providing a survey of European draftsmanship from the late 15th to the mid-19th centuries. The drawings range from early studies in the late-medieval model-book tradition (an anonymous Venetian Lion) up to the beginnings of modern art (Edgar Degas’ Portrait of Giulia Bellelli, c. 1858–59). Intended to draw new attention to Yale’s rich but relatively little-studied collection of European drawings, the exhibition and catalogue provide the first comprehensive look at Yale’s collection of European drawings in more than 30 years. February 12-June 8 at the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon. (until 8 p.m. Thurs.), 1-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu.
“Dear Lorraine” by C. Reilly-Rees can be seen in the upcoming Love exhibit at the Firehouse Art Gallery in Milford.
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Taylor in concert finery: ‘Our No. 1 goal as singers is to communicate.’
The Man with Golden Pipes Newly flush with cash and young talent, the Yale School of Music snags a star for its faculty
T
hat old saw — “Those who can’t do, teach”? Throw it out of the window.
Graduate voice students at the Yale School of Music can tell you what a laugh the old stereotype is after spending some time with one of their school’s newest faculty members: world-renowned tenor James Taylor. No, not that James Taylor. (The “Sweet Baby James” guy is a baritone, and in any event wouldn’t even get out of the starting gate in a competition with serious singers of art music.)
Texas native Taylor had lived for the past 15 years in Germany as a concert and recording artist, most recently living in Augsberg, where he also taught at the hochschule, or conservatory. After spending most of his adult life on stages spanning the globe — including London’s Royal Albert Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Vienna’s Musikverein — “I was really ready to come back to the United States.” Taylor arrived at Yale in 2005 on a fiveyear appointment as associate professor of voice. It is a propitious time for the School of Music; a 2006 anonymous gift of $500 million allowed the school to waive tuition in perpetuity, which it is thought ought to attract many of the most promising young musicians in the world to New Haven. That, and the opportunity to work with first-rank artists like James Taylor.
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Remember vinyl records? One of them made Taylor fall in love with singing as a little boy growing up in Houston.
Many great artists have messianic complexes. But Taylor’s first brush with greatness came when he was, literally, the Messiah.
The record? A Christmas album by crooner Tennessee Ernie Ford. “On that album he “My church choir was doing a production did a piece with a children’s choir,” Taylor of Godspell, the musical,” he recalls. recalls. “I think it was ‘Silent Night.’ And “And even though it was a high-school I thought, ‘Wow — I didn’t know children production and I was only in eighth grade, could sing like that.’” But they could — they cast me as Jesus. And that’s when I and so, it turned out, could young Jimmy realized I enjoyed singing and I was really Taylor. able to communicate when I sang. It was also when my father said he realized I had It helped that Taylor’s mother was a church a special talent and that he would support organist, and his church-singing father had me in music if that was what I wanted to a “really pretty” tenor voice. His older do.” brother, Gary, is a classical guitarist who also studied composition. It was. Taylor attended Texas Christian, where he studied voice with Arden Hopkin Taylor began singing in the third grade as well as music education. Upon graduation when his church’s new music director in 1991 he was awarded a Fulbright decided to start a children’s choir. But it scholarship to the Hochschule fur Musik was in middle school that he and those in Munich, from which he was graduated around him first realized that Taylor’s in 1993 with a “Meisterklassendiplom” voice was something special.
(literally “master class diploma”).
opera school here [Yale Opera’s production of Die Fledermaus was at the Shubert last month].”
While studying in that southern German city, Taylor sang for the Munich Opera Studio; he went on to perform at the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels and the Staatstheater in Stuttgart — the beginning of a busy and productive concert, recital and recording that would keep him in Europe for nearly all his young adult life.
Yale’s grad music school has two “tracks”: opera and early music. Although he’s sung opera and originally pondered an opera career, Taylor at Yale is concentrating on helping young singers master early music and oratorio.
One reason he stayed was that there are more opportunities for singers in Europe than in the U.S., where classical music is to a great extent marginalized as a niche art for small, elite audiences.
“The official title of our program is Early Music/Oratorio/Art Songs,” Taylor explains. “We also do contemporary music, meaning [of course] contemporary classical.”
The tenor can also be heard on more than 30 commercial recordings, most recently including a Mozart Requiem with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Andreas Delfs on Limestone Records; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Nashville Symphony on the Naxos label; and the rarely heard Baroque opera Ariadne by Johan Georg Conradi with the Boston Early Music Festival led by Paul O’Dette on ArkivMusik.
The two-year program takes four singers a year, so it has only eight musicians, and Taylor works with all four voice parts. One of his students is countertenor (male alto) Jay Carter, who characterizes Taylor, the teacher.
Taylor is a specialist in the cantatas and oratorios of J.S. Bach, whose improbable melodic intervals and angular melismas place sharp demands on even the most facile vocal instruments. Which brings us to James Taylor’s voice, about which “pretty” is a pretty inadequate descriptive adjective. His sound is very “bright” and at louder dynamics almost trumpet-like (one review of a recording of J.S. Bach’s Magnificat praised the “redblooded ardor” of Taylor’s singing) . But what impresses, indeed astounds, even more is Taylor’s pianissimo singing, especially in the higher register, which sounds so facile and effortless that it makes lesser singers want to do him grave harm. Of the four common voice parts (soprano and alto, usually sung by females, and the tenor and bass parts sung by men) , tenor (the higher of the two men’s parts) may be the most unnatural of all, since the pitches in which tenor voices sing are so remote from the natural speaking voice. And because so much music written for tenor emphasizes high notes, hearing tenors in concert is a bit like watching a high-wire act with the ever-present danger of a catastrophe. Taylor concentrates in oratorio, early and sacred music. “I had heard from a friend that they were starting a program here [at Yale] precisely for that, and they were looking for a teacher for that position. There’s a well-established and well-known
“Professor Taylor is always exploring the emotions of the music we’re working on and helping us to do the same,” Carter says. “Often in academic environments there’s a very dry approach to this process, where the raw emotional aspect is glossed over. But he isn’t afraid to really look at these emotions at hand in whatever piece we’re working on. “It allows me as a student to explore what it means to communicate these texts and pump meaning into them, sometimes even in a language I don’t speak,” Carter adds. “That’s our No. 1 goal as singers — to communicate,” Taylor says. “It’s what singers do that instrumentalists can’t do: We have words to sing with. I think most instrumentalists would love it if they had words, had that direct meaning in their instrumental solo pieces that we have.”
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Having accomplished so much in such a short time, are there new challenges James Taylor would like to take on as a performing and recording artist? “There is always something else — always another conductor you’d like to work with, an orchestra you’d like to work with, so in that sense yes, there are more things I would like to do,” Taylor says. “I’ve never sung with the Philadelphia Orchestra, for example. And there are always more pieces I’d like to do. So there is always room for growth.” New Haven audiences can hear Taylor in person April 11 when the Yale Camerata perform Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah at Woolsey Hall. See the April NHM for details.
v
Call for information on openings. 263 Chapel Street, New Haven 203.787.1584 coldspringschool.org new haven
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MUSIC Classical New Music New Haven. With guest composer Alvin Lucier. 8 p.m. February 7 at Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. yale. edu/music. Orchestra New England’s BaroqueFest ‘08. An entertaining evening of great Baroque music, featuring three of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and an additional Baroque-period concerto. 8 p.m. February 9 at Battell Chapel, 400 College St., New Haven. $40-$20. 203-777-4690, Shubert.com.
Una furtiva lagrima from L’elisir d’amore, DI CAPUA O Sole Mio, RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor Op 30. 7:30 p.m. February 14 at Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. $65-$10. 203562-5666, NewHavenSymphony.com.
Ludovic Halévy’s Le réveillon). Sung in German with spoken English dialogue and projected English translations. February 15-17 at Shubert Performing Arts Center, 247 College St., New Haven. $41-$19. 203562-5666, shubert.com.
Yale Opera presents Die Fledermaus, a comic opera in three acts. With music by Johann Strauss and libretto by Carl Haffner and Richard Genée (after Henri Meilhac and
Harpist Colleen Potter performs in recital. 2 p.m. February 16 at Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. yale.edu/music.
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Graduate students at the Yale School of Music perform Classical Guitar Music in the Library Court. 12:30 p.m.
CRITIC’S PICK Oh! Darling, Let’s Get Our Rock
Alianza Quartet featuring Sarita Kwok and Lauren Basney, violin, Ah-Young Sung, viola and Dmitri Atapine, cello. LADERMAN String Quartets No. 9, No. 11 and (world premiere) No. 12. 8 p.m. February 11 at Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. yale. edu/music. It’s the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s Valentine’s Day Concert. BORODIN Polovtsian Dance, CILEA Lamento di Federico from L’Arlesiana, PUCCINI Recondita armonia from Tosca and Preludio sinfonica, DONIZETTI
Pianist Wei-Yi Yang performs as part of the Horowitz Piano Series. BEETHOVEN Andante favori, WoO.57; BRAHMS 8 Klavierstucke, Op. 76; MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition. 8 p.m. February 19 at Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. $18-$10 ($5 students). yale.edu/music.
Audience members will get a chance to take a trip back to a simpler time with the Seven Angels Theatre British Invasion extravaganza, Yesterday and Today.
Rock to the music of the Beatles in a high-energy, interactive concert at Waterbury’s Seven Angels Theatre. Billy McGuigan of Seven Angels Theatre hit Buddy fame debuts his brand-new production, Yesterday & Today: A Concert Celebration of Beatles Music, this season. Audience members are sure to enjoy this interactive and participatory concert celebration of Beatles hits. February 21-March 16 at Seven Angels Theatre, Hamilton Park Pavilion, Waterbury. $29. 203-757-4676, www. sevenangelstheatre.org.