THE BIRDS OF SUMMER WILL SEND YOU SOARING Page 24
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Summer Beach Reads from Connecticut Writers
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Lots of Stuff for Fun This Summer and Beyond sA e d in Hom F n e a m com o W el g n gW u o in A Yrpris Su
ELI’S RESTAURANT GROUP
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Eat, Drink and Enjoy – Eli’s Restaurants
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li’s Restaurant Group, a true “family” of restaurants, was founded over two decades ago by true brothers in spirit with a common vision. They knew their restaurant chain would be based upon the philosophy that upscale American cuisine combined with a warm, friendly, inviting atmosphere and extraordinary service would result in the perfect place for families, friends and sports fans alike to meet and EAT, DRINK AND ENJOY all that Eli’s Restaurants have to offer.
Eli’s legacy began in 1994 with the opening of our flagship restaurant, Eli’s on Whitney, located in the heart of Hamden, Connecticut a stone’s throw from Quinnipiac University. Eli’s, as the original restaurant is often referred to, was named as a tribute to Hamden’s most famous favorite son, Eli Whitney, the prolific inventor of among other things, the Cotton Gin and since the restaurant is located at 2392 Whitney Avenue, it was a perfect mix of a salute to the past while ushering in a new American Cuisine. From the “original” Elis’ four more restaurants have been added to their “family”: • Eli’s Brick Oven Pizza and Market located next door to Eli’s on Whitney Avenue in Hamden (which serves equally fabulous Pizza and traditional Italian Dishes); • Eli’s Branford which sits atop “the Hill” in Branford, CT; • Eli’s Tavern on Daniel Street, a true New York-Style Gastro Pub in the chic downtown district of Milford, CT.; and • Eli’s Restaurant Group’s most recent offering, Eli’s Orange which is located on the bustling Boston Post Road in Orange, CT. All Four of the Eli’s American fair themed restaurants feature the signature Eli’s Horseshoe Bar, the perfect place to sit and watch your favorite team on one of the many big screen TVs, where you will certainly find exactly what you want from the large selection of craft beers, specialty cocktails, and wines. Combining the extensive drink selection with a mouthwatering burger, crisp-fresh salad, or perfectly cooked entrée guarantees an unparalleled meal. Eli’s staff is knowledgeable and inviting making each location the perfect daytime or late night setting for hanging out and having a great time with friends.
Their Catering Division offers a wide ranging variety of catering options for weddings, elegant affairs, and corporate events held at any of our restaurants or an off-premise location of your choice. Their restaurants offer private and personal event spaces which include private rooms, loft space, conference rooms, along with more traditional rooms that will accommodate any of your functions whether you want to host 10 or 175. All of the Eli’s restaurants are Wi-Fi capable and have large screen TV’s for presentations. Whether you are looking for a corporate breakfast meeting in our conference room, a bridal or baby shower, rehearsal dinner, wedding, birthday or anniversary party, our Executive Chef specializes in customizing menus to fit your guest list and venue.
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East Coast Greenway No Dreamway?
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he bike trail planned for the east coast, running all the way from Calais, Maine, to Key West has been under discussion and “planning” since the 90s, but now some things are starting to roll. The trail, estimated to cover about 3,000 miles, will be for the exclusive use of cyclists and pedestrians as a safe and scenic way to explore the entirety of the U.S. East Coast. At about 31% completion, the project has picked up speed thanks to increased funding and local support.
The Connecticut portion picks up from Rhode Island at the Moosup Valley Trail and winds about 198 miles through the state, looping north through the quiet corner, to Hartford, down the Farmington Canal Line through New Haven and down to Greenwich along Long Island Sound into New York. Around 30% of the Connecticut portion is still in development, and while the East Coast Greenway Association (ECGA) manages the project top to bottom, it is dependent on states and local municipalities to segment and maintain trails. Track progress at www.greenway.org.
LETT E R S
immy “Quiet Storm Williams 30, “fights out of New Haven” and is now undefeated professionally with twelve wins no losses and one tie, after defeating Antonio Fernandes of Brockton Mass at Foxwoods on July 22.
ATHO M E
His last fight went six rounds and he was awarded the winning decision unanimously.
T
he Norwalk facility, Swim Seventy, has been the training site for the Chinese Olympic swim team this year. Swim Seventy is one of only two facilities on the east coast (the other in Baltimore) with a 50-meter pool available for practice, which Olympic swimmers need to practice in for a minimum of 4 hours per day. The team chose the Norwalk site for its small-town feel with few distractions, and to adjust to the time zone change before the Olympics begin on August 5th of this year. It’s not the first time Connecticut has been an important place for China—a Chinese real estate developer in the south has been developing residential districts to mimic the lifestyle of Greenwich, Connecticut for the local business community. The developer, Zhejiang Giangong Real Estate Development company, seeks to provide Shanghai businessmen the type of scenic views, escape from high-rises, and landscaped mansions that Greenwich provides for its typical hedge-fund residents.
MBI BL I OF I L ES usician, songwriter. activist, pot smoker , tax evader take your pick but Willie Nelson at 83 is still going strong. Nelson will be in New Haven on September 3 In
Nelson an American folk and country music icon saw his assets seized by the Internal Revenue Service in 1990, which claimed that he owed US$32 million. Nelson released The IRS Tapes two years later with hits like: Who’ll Buy My Memories?, the profits of the double album, destined to the IRS, and the auction of Nelson’s assets cleared his debt.
F ÊTES
I NS TY L E
OUTDOOR S Spaces Survey Top Public
Finds New Haven Space #2
Williams hails from Plainfield N. J. where he was an All-State football player which brought him to New Haven to Southern Connecticut State University on a football scholarship where he played cornerback. Williams was also a high school track and field star as well in New Jersey where he won state honors in the 400 meters.
OF NOTES
SWIM CLUB
WOR DS of M OU TH
With His Mother In The Ring
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p Saddle Up Boys
IN TE L
BODY &
Williams became a boxer after his mother was found murdered by strangulation in her Plainfield home in 2008, the murder remains unsolved Williams turned to boxing in 2008 and eventually began fighting professionally in Connecticut in January 2013. Williams holds the Connecticut Super Welterweight title [ 54 pounds] or 11 stones.
Many of his personal items were purchased by fans who then returned them to Nelson.
SS OUL
ome say second place is simply the first to lose, but in a ranking like this, honoring Temple Plaza as the #2 public space nationally thanks to its accessible public art and described as “small and irregularly-shaped, it is bordered by utilitarian concrete structures, metal fire stairs and walkways, brick walls, concrete columns and a dramatic corkscrew exit ramp from the parking garage. Tightly enclosed and with vistas obstructed by long, narrow passageways, the plaza contains outdoor cafes, stairs to perch on, fountains, cascading steps, and a small lawn for picnics or a lunchtime nap,” is much appreciated. Yes, it’s a great little spot downtown and well appreciate it very much, glad you noticed. The survey, conducted as part of a crowdsourcing project, was completed by Planetizen
ONS CR EEN
UNH Deans Recognized For Polishing the Polish Police
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ariusz Blaszczak, the Polish Minister of Home Affairs and Administration, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish National Police, Gen. Jaroslaw Szymczyk came to New Haven to recognize to Univesity of New Haven Deans with the Order of Merit of the Polish National Police in Warsaw, Poland. Mario Gaboury of Old Saybrook, dean of the University of New Haven’s Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, and the late 4 J ULY /A UGUST 2016
late Richard H. Ward. Ward, a former dean of the Lee College were awarded the honors in recognition of “distinguished service in the sciences, higher education, the criminal justice system, and the promotion of educational cooperation between the Republic of Poland and the U.S.A.” Ward inaugurated a training program for the Polish National Police at the University of New Haven in 2008 and the program has taken place annually since, 2010, 29 students and alumni of the university have studied in Poland, and 37 high-ranking police executives have visited the U.S.
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Betsy Grauer Realty, Inc.
WE SELL THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HOUSES!
ELEGANCE PERSONIFIED in this custom built Woodbridge col. w/ 4 BRs, 4.5 baths, extraordinary custom details, outstanding kitchen and baths and beautiful setting on culde-sac. Tasteful, quality home. $999,000.
A FEEL GOOD HOUSE with magnificent views of East Rock. L.R., D.R. Library, and renovated kit. w/ pantry. 6 BRs, 3.5 baths. Good combination of classic original details and modern amenities. $725,000.
HISTORIC AND MODERN HW floors, high ceilings, period trim, renovated kitchen, W/D in unit. Sunny unit. Heat + HW included in HOA fee. Off street parking. Yale shuttle steps from your door! $260,000..
WINNING EAST ROCK 3 FAMILY Huge flats with Arts and Crafts details, FPs, HW floors + tall ceilings. Across from Edgerton Park and walking distance to Yale, Hooker + Town. $649,500.
WOODBRIDGE C. 1937 grand Tudor on 3.6 acres. 6 BRs, 6.5 baths and filled with the most remarkable architectural details. Perfect combination of old world charm + modern updates. $599,000.
BELNORD Bright, top fl unit w/excellent views. Remodeled kit w/ solid wood cabinetry, granite, SS appliances, HW flrs, open floor plan, 2BRs, 1ba. Walk to shops, campus, shuttle few steps away! $249,500.
BRICK TOWN HOUSE 4 story town house close to Yale Campus and the business district. Great for owner occupied or an investment property. Fabulous city living! $499,500.
IT’S A WOW!! Just completed 3 BR, 2 bath condo with top of the line finishes + everything new. Open feeling w/ large LR, DR + superb kit. w/ granite + SS, garage + porch. $450,000.
C. 1769 TREASURE. 6 BRs, 3.5 baths, fireplaces, original woodwork, + feeling of History. Charming yard, patio + stream. Additional bldg. perfect for studio or office.$299,900.
OLD WORLD CHARM. Grand 1930 home with 6 BRs and 6.5 baths has almost an acre of land w/ mature plantings. Renovated kit., lots of light, HW floors. Close to Yale and Town. $674,500.
LINDEN SHORES BRANFORD simply amazing house with glorious water views and large, country feeling lot. 4 BRs, 2 baths, renovated kit, HW floors, LR w/ FP, French doors, heated sun room. $650,000.
WESTVILLE COLONIAL on quiet, tree-lined block. Gracious architectural details include French doors, 9’ ceilings, classic sun room, HW floors, finished 3rd floor perfect for au-pair. Mature garden + great yard $489,900.
EAST ROCK BEAUTY in excellent move-in condition. 5 BRs, 3.5 baths, recently renovated eat-in kit. Outstanding rocking chair front porch + great back yard. Close to Hooker, parks + Yale. $860,000.
WESTVILLE lovely 4 BR colonial on quiet, culde-sac street. Large LR w/ FP, 1st floor screened porch, updated kit, formal DR. Very warm + friendly house. Large deck, 2 car garage + good yard. $359,500.
RIDGE ROAD SCHOOL DISTRICT North Haven. Wonderful condition 4 BR, 3.5 bath col. with renovated, open kit., first floor FR + heated glass sun room. Move-in condition. $499,500
TOWNHOUSE ON THE SQUARE! Great deck with views of park, 2BRs, 1 bath, open feel with floor to ceiling windows, HW floors, laundry in unit, gated parking in rear. Yale Homebuyers Program. $274,900.
PRIVATE, SECLUDED SETTING for this contemporary style 3 BR, 3 bath Hamden home. Bright, generous spaces and delightful gardens. Country feeling, but close to everything. $279,500.
WOOSTER SQUARE CONDO Fantastic cook’s kitchen w/granite + SS appliances. MBR w/ private full bath, another BR w/full bath. Close to Yale, hospital + downtown New Haven. Parking spot incl. in HOA. $289,900
WESTVILLE MULTI. Well maintained, large 2 family with 2 BR flat on first floor and large two story upper unit perfect for an owner occupant. Separate utils + newer roof, windows, electric. $349,500.
YOU’VE ALWAYS ADMIRED ME! Super charming Westville col.on most charming oneblock long St. 5 BRs, 3.5 baths, renovated kit., master suite. HW floors + great light. Well landscaped yard. $393,500.
Betsy Grauer Realty 203-787-3434 www.betsygrauerrealty.com new haven
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SEND YOU SOARING Page 24
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$3.95 | July / August 2016
Summer Beach Reads from Connecticut Writers
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DREAMERS & DOERS By RACHEL BERGMAN
Mistina & Luke Hanscom
Lots of Stuff for Fun This Summer and Beyond sA e ind om nF eH ma om Wo elc g W n ou ing A Yrpris Su
July/August 2016 Editor & Publisher: Mitchell Young Design Consultant Terry Wells Editorial Manager Rachel Bergman Graphics Manager Matthew Ford Contributing Writers Rachel Bergman Bruce Ditman Emili Lanno Lesley Roy Derek Torrellas Claudia Ward-Deleon
Husband and wife pro photographers, the Hanscoms of Westville have developed a coworking photography studio space called The Range with all the traps of a professional photographer’s studio shared amongst peers. Upstairs from The Range are private offices called West River Arts. The “incubator” building fosters creativity and a sense of making something—which is important to the couple as they are deeply involved with the Westville Public Art Initiative as well. Check out their professional work with Lotta Studios, too.
Kwadwo Adae Photographers Steve Blazo Steve Cooper Ian Christman Lesley Roy Derek Torrellas Chris Volpe Publisher’s Representative Robin Kroopnick New Haven is published 8 times annually by Second Wind Media Ltd., which also publishes Business New Haven, with offices at 315 Front St, New Haven, CT 06513. 203-781-3480 (voice), 203781-3482 (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 NewHaven@Conntact.com. Please send CALENDAR information to CALENDAR@conntact.com no later than six weeks preceding calendar month of event. Please include date, time, location, event description, cost and contact information. Photographs must be at least 300 dpi resolution and are published at discretion of NEW HAVEN magazine. Copyright 2016
6 J ULY /A UGUST 2016
Local artist and art teacher who runs an all ages arts academy
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CONNECTICUT’S DRIVE-INS ARE THE BEES KNEES
For a culture that loves to drive everywhere and conduct business directly from the driver’s seat, we’ve seen a surprising decline over the past few decades in our access to drive-in movie theaters. There’s no pause button or stadium seating, could that be it? Well, they do still exist and here are three to visit in Connecticut this summer—hurry, before they become extinct like the glacier!
on Chapel St. called Adae Fine Arts, has painted murals around the city for Marjolane, City Seed and others. Adae recently ran fine arts workshops for kids at multiple libraries through funding from the nonprofit Arte, Inc. He travels internationally to paint murals in schools, too, with at least one complete in Guatemala.
Alexis Kellogg While a graphic design student at University of New Haven, Kellogg interned at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Two years later, Kellogg is the festival’s Marketing Manager overseeing efforts to increase social media presence, engage neighbors in the festival along with the many out-of-towners who attend, and support the community engagement manager. Although she still does a wee bit of graphic design on the side, too.
Don’t worry, they sell window wipes at the snack bar. The theater shows new releases and shares real estate with the Mansfield flea market (open on Sundays until 3). Really, it’s a bargain, so if you’re tempted to hide your little ones in the trunk to save a few bucks, please don’t, each film is actually a double feature— two films for the price of one. Mansfield has three screens for viewing, so you’re sure to find the film you’re in the mood to see.
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MER FUN Page 28
THE BIRDS OF SUMMER WILL
NEWBIE WANTS TO
KNOW
THE FANCY STONE PEOPLE
Facing the New Haven Green, the New Haven Superior Courthouse was designed by local architects William H. Allen and Richard Williams in 1914. A renovation for the courthouse completed last year restored the turn-of-the-century building, which sits on the corner of Elm and Chapel Streets. The courthouse, which is designed in the Beaux -Arts style, has six sculptures on pedestals surrounding its main entrance created by John Massey Rhind. The sculptures represent Justice, Victory, Precedence, Accuracy, Common Law, Statutory Law, Progress, and Commerce. – CW-D
hotspot for many around the state from late spring to early October who appreciate the nostalgia of a fourwheeled entertainment experience.
Southington Drive-In www.southingtondrive-in.org 995 Meriden-Waterbury Tnpk. Southington
Pleasant Valley Drive-In pleasantvalleydriveinmovies.com 47 River Rd., Barkhamsted
Mansfield Drive-In www.mansfielddrivein.com 228 Stafford Rd., Mansfield Center
In operation since 1947, this drive-in sells mosquito coils at their snack bar. With a wide open field large enough for 250 cars, this is a weekend
This little gem is actually a town endeavor to keep a tradition alive. The drive-in originally opened in 1955 but eventually closed and ceased operations. The location was purchased by the town and a few years later, a committee of dedicated locals re-developed the drivein for public use. If the lot is full, they take walk-ins with camp chairs and have some picnic seating. “Employees” are actually community volunteers—so be nice.
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Wooster Square New Haven, CT 06511
& Realtors, LLC
Hamden- Spring Glen Colonial with fantastic 20x20 addition, 4 bedrooms, 4 full baths and 1 half bath, updated kitchen with pantry and wet bar, living room with fireplace, dining room, sunroom and huge family room on mail level, master bedroom suite with full bath and laundry, central air, gas heat, level fenced in yard. 349,900. Gena x203
East Haven- Great starter home on corner lot with plenty of yard space home was converted to gas heat in 2007, Main roof was replaced and driveway installed in 2012, tankless water heater and thermopane windows. Is Cape Cod style home have six rooms two bedrooms and one full bath built in 1925. 124,900. Diana x 208
New Haven- direct waterfront 3000 squarefoot townhouse on the Quinnipiac river, includes 30 foot boat slip, living room with two-story atrium windows, fireplace and sliders to patio, formal dining room with fireplace bay windows and sliders to patio, spacious custom kitchen with Viking stove, subzero fridge and granite, library with built-in bookcases fireplace atrium windows and vaulted ceiling’s, master bedroom suite with sliders to balcony overlooking the water. 17th century Italian marble fireplaces, water front windows and other extras too numerous to mention, minutes To Yale. 499,900. Jeff x210
New Haven- Brewery Square, 1 bedroom end unit condo with water views, exposed brick, open floor plan, new bathroom, new paint, central air, washer and dryer hook ups in unit. Yale Home buyers program. 99,900. Gena x 203
www.grlandrealtors.com
203 781-0000 Gena Lockery
East Haven- Four Beaches, First floor, two bedroom Ranch unit overlooking marsh area and bird sanctuary, completely remodeled, new kitchen with granite and stainless, tile and hardwood floors throughout, new baths, new fireplace, new light fixtures and paint, move in ready to enjoy pool and beaches this summer! Walk to restaurants. Priced to sell, 240,000. Gena x 203
East Haven - direct waterfront 5896 ft.² shell located on sandy beach, three stories of open space and light, custom designed with walls of glass in orientation for passive solar and maximum water views from every room, multilevel deck’s, garage holds six cars, utilities brought to the house but everything else is needed inside, unbelievable opportunity to have a unique home on a very special spot along the water boasting panoramic views and professional design. 699,000 Jeff x 210
New Haven- Rivercrest, Wonderful open design contemporary unit overlooking the Quinnipiac River and waterfront park, only minutes to downtown New Haven, Yale, the train, hospitals, and all amenities, spacious LR/ DR space with fire place and lots of glass, hard wood floors, kitchen with lots of counters and cabinets, large master bedroom with master bath with jacuzzi and tons of closet space, sliders to patio with water views. Price reduced. 149,900 Jeff x 210
New Haven - Former servants quarters for a Victorian Estate now an exciting 9 room home with lots of light throughout on over 1/3 acre lot with rolling hill and trees and beautiful flower beds all around the house. Living room with great stone fire place, formal dining, kitchen with pantry, master bedroom suite with bath and skylight, full walk out basement to private yard,minutes to downtown New Haven, Yale, train and hospitals. 246,900. Jeff x 210
New Haven- Edwards Abbey, 3 story townhouse condominium with amazing views of East Rock, renovated from top to bottom, 2 large bedrooms, 3 baths, brand new custom kitchen with Corian, new windows, new recessed lighting, new hardwood floors, walk in closets, large rooms, central air, full unfinished basement, on Orange line of Yale shuttle. 379,000. Gena x 203
Hamden- Beautifully maintained Ranch style home with gleaming hardwood floors, formal living room with fireplace/pellet stove, formal dining room, 3 full baths, 4th bedroom on fully finished lower level with full bath, new architectural roof, new front doors, new garage door, new deck, new retaining wall, sits proudly on half acre lot on dead end street in Bearpath school district. 249,900 Gena x20
Hamden- 4 bedroom, 2 full bath Colonial in sidewalk lined neighborhood, living room, dining room, family room, hardwood floors, finished lower level, new mechanicals, fenced in yard with deck 165,000. Gena x203
New Haven- Fair Haven Heights, charming Colonial with nice views, 4 bedroom, 2 full bath home with hardwood floors, formal living room and dining rooms, 2 stair cases, stained glass window, beautiful gardens and perennials, patio and deck in fantastic fenced in yard. 199,900. Gena x 203
East Haven - Four Beaches, tastefully renovated first floor Ranch condo with hardwood floors throughout, custom kitchen with granite and stainless, new windows and sliders, wood burning fire place, large patio across the unit with beautiful views of the Long Island Sound. Great waterfront complex with beaches and salt marsh. Minutes to Yale and train. 289,900. Jeff x 210. Jeff x 210
Hamden- spacious and bright home on private half acre wooded lot in the Westwood area of Hamden, living room with cathedral and exposed beams fireplace opens to both the Den and formal dining room and kitchen are with center island, sliders off both the dining room and family room to giant rear deck overlooking private wooded yard, central air, two car garage under master bedroom with full bath. 230,000. Jeff x 210 (10131340)
Madison- turn the key and move right into this completely remodeled colonial set well back from the road, come enjoy 1 .93 acres with views of pond and woods in private setting but still close to town beaches and highways. custom kitchen with cherry cabinets, granite counters, island with hood and breakfast bar, stainless steel appliances, cathedral ceiling, fans, recessed lighting, 3000 ft.² including finished walkout basement, new hardwood floors throughout, crown molding and chair rails, four bedroom home with many options to convert to five bedrooms or even an In Law, three full bathrooms, all brand-new custom tile showers in glass doors. 434,900. Maria X 214
GREAT VALUE COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES
New Haven- University Towers, beautifully renovated corner unit facing Yale, downtown and West rock, custom kitchen with granite and stainless, large living room with sliders to Deck, opens to formal dining room, Master bedroom with new master bath, loads of closet space, new cork floors and walls of glass in each room, walk to everything down town including the train station. 185,000. Jeff X 210
New Haven - 4000 sq ft of Commercial space in downtown New Haven, prime real estate with 56 feet of frontage on State Street at Elm. Full kitchen, beautiful out door patio, handicap accessible, full bar, banquet rooms, separate rest rooms, finished lower level with additional 4000 sq ft, offices. New roof and drainage. Ideal for business or investment. 531,250. Gena x 203 (n10133462)
Hamden- Hamden Business Park, several offices and warehouse space available. Bright first floor office with lots of windows and parking. Warehouse space with overhead door, and mezzanine. Convenient location. Starting at 900. A month and up. Jeff x 210
new haven
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David Heiser, Thomas Near and David Skelly of the Peabody at the entrance to the 150th Year Anniversary Exhibit.
These Old Bones Never Rest Yale and “New Haven’s” Peabody Museum Is “Carbon Dated” at 150 – and The Fossils Are Only Just Coming To Life
Photos: Ian Christmann
An invite to a press briefing for the 150th anniversary of the Peabody Museum set us on a different interview path for New Haven magazine’s One To One feature. After more than seven years of these interviews, we decided to explore the many layers of people and purpose behind the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and we needed to talk to more than one person. The Peabody Museum is a very special portal into the natural world that is accessible to everyone and as you’ll read, is far more than a collection of old rocks and bones. In our May edition of New Haven magazine [available online at Newhavenmagazine.com], we reviewed the book by Richard Coniff detailing the history of the museum’s founding and collections. In this interview, we talked to David Heiser, Director of Student Programs. For 15 years, he has run the education programs, teacher and student initiatives, professional development, worked with the Volunteers organized public events, lectures, and even sleep-overs. Thomas Near is a professor Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and curator of the fish collection. Near helped us understand how any one of us can take our unique interests and bring it to the forefront of science and education.
Connecticut native David Skelly liked the woods and now he is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale and a Director of the Peabody Museum. Mitchell Young, New Haven magazine publisher, interviewed the trio. We hope you can gather from our scientist educators enough to do one thing – visit or revisit the Peabody Museum as they celebrate their 150th anniversary. David [Heiser], Where did your interest begin and what do you do at the Peabody now? I was training to be a research scientist in evolutionary biology, but got derailed by the allure of scientific education. I was an undergrad at Carleton in Minnesota, Master’s at University of Minnesota in ecology, evolution, and behavior. I grew up in Nashville. I’m charged now with deepening and broadening engagement with Yale Students, undergrad and grad students. We are part of Yale; students have been doing research in our collections for decades and decades. We are going to increase the number of students we are able to contact, and faculty who would like to do more teaching with the collections. Tom, I guess if you study fish it makes sense to give it a very scientific name so that the rest of us don’t think it has to do with how to catch them? Ichthyology, I study the biodiversity of fish. I’m interested in reconstructing the evolutionary history of fishes, and how new fish species evolve. I arrived at Yale ten years ago. I was an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee. I’m from Chicago, which is where I developed my interest in fish, fishing in Lake Michigan. I went to Northern Illinois University and did graduate work at the University of Illinois. Skelly: We got the midwest covered. Tom failed to mention that he and I jointly curated the 150th anniversary of the Peabody exhibition.
Skelly: David knows more about public engagement by the museum than anyone in the museum. My involvement began when I was five years old. I grew up down in Fairfield County and dragged my parents up here every chance I could. I went to Middlebury College up in Vermont and to Michigan for my PhD, did post doctoral work in Washington [state] and Australia and came back as an assistant professor in Ecology, and a curator here. My thing is frogs, I am the frog guy. What does a curator do? Near: A curator oversees the management of research collections.They’re not just curiosities that sit on the shelf, they are a way that we document biodiversity. So if someone says this species of fish was once found in the Cumberland River System in Tennessee and Kentucky and now it’s gone, how do we know it was there? We know because we have specimens in jars in museums. It gives you a way of documenting in a very evidence-based way. It also provides the basis for understanding biodiversity. Let’s say someone wants to describe a new species, they want to examine species that may have already been collected or compare to a closely related species.They reach out to research collections to borrow specimens. It’s completely analogous to borrowing a manuscript from a library. We loan material out, we have researchers at Yale that are borrowing material from other museums. I can tell you right now,Yale has one of the best fish collections in the world in regard to Antarctic fishes and probably the best collection developed in the last ten years in regards to North American freshwater fishes. And we have an outstanding collection of pond amphibians and other associated pond organisms. When you were dragging your friends and family up here, what were you dragging them up to see?
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Skelly: Well [you suggested] we’re not “allowed” to talk about dinosaurs too much. . . [Everyone laughs] It definitely started with dinosaurs. Like a lot of young kids, I was just fascinated with dinosaurs, and figured out pretty early on through the Golden Book of Dinosaurs that right near us was this place with all of these dinosaurs. We traveled up here for one of my birthdays and I would bring them back any chance I could. I’m pretty fortunate that from the time I was even old enough to think about what you do when you grow up, I wanted to be some stripe of biologist/paleontologist. I never deviated from that for a second. I kind of figured out that I loved biology on my own. What I noticed coming in today is that the kids at least don’t slink out of here, they “dance” out. How do you decide what will attract visitors? We have thirteen million objects, how many are displayed? 5,000. Do the math, that is .04%. We don’t want it to be hidden. Starting in the fall we’re going to have regularly scheduled collection tours. People will be able to sign up and just go. Some of the best rooms at the museum are these storage spaces. Even right now, the hair on my neck is going up, it is unbelievable what’s here. We want people to experience, to see, that most of the people that work in the museum are behind those doors. Dave, so do young adults, people 18-20, do they still have that curiosity for things here that younger kids have? Heiser: Just yesterday I was up in the hall of Connecticut birds and I ran into four students that were here on their senior skip day.They chose to come to the Peabody on their senior “Skip Day” to check it out.They thought they were just going to see dinosaurs. [Everyone laughing, Skelly interrupts] I didn’t go to a museum on my senior skip day. 10 J ULY /A UGUST 2016
Heiser:They had all sorts of questions for me, they were so fired up and really interested. Some twelve or thirteen olds, they’re a little too cool for this, but they’re a little too cool for everything. Some people are grabbed by relating to the cultural objects, others are drawn in by pure beauty and wonder, some to the rocks and minerals, and the way we have them dramatically lit, it is hard to walk by and not be drawn in. At any age you can go up to the third floor and stand in front of these world class habitat dioramas, some of the very best in the world, and be drawn in.They are a window in time and a place where you can step from one time to another and journey from the desert to the Arctic to jungle to the Connecticut Shoreline. You don’t see people with their phones out when they’re standing in front of the dioramas. With thirteen million objects, five thousand on display, how did you decide what to focus on for the 150th year exhibit? Skelly: We went to the [collection managers], and working with the curators, said give us your top ten list. We thought about these objects [collectively] and about the story we wanted to tell. What was that story? We‘re trying to do a couple of things, one is we want to showcase the title,“Treasures of the Peabody Museum.”We wanted to show people that there are these fantastic objects inside the museum.You walk up to the Olmec head and you go “oh my God,” but sometimes you need a little information in order to understand their value. Some of the kids when they see the Winchester Henry rifle they walk right up to that because it’s a gun, but it is Buffalo Bill’s gun and the reason it is there is because Buffalo Bill was O.C. Marsh’s [the founding director of the Peabody] guide the first time he went West and that’s a cool story for that object.
We wanted to get beyond just showing individual objects, interesting as they are, and tell stories. I’m the ecologist here and one of the themes is the role of Peabody folks in the history of Conservation. We’ve got a great person to start that story with: George Bird Grinnell founded the Audubon Society, Audubon Magazine, worked with Teddy Roosevelt to put in the first legislation to protect national parks and it goes on and on. Tom, how do you get into Fishes other than through fishing, I mean, catching them and eating them? Near: I got into it through fishing, and my story was fish were always there, but it wasn’t until college that I knew I wanted to study biodiversity, I was more of a frog person in college. Skelly: I was more of a fish guy. Tom: We switched. I’m sure you got a lot of dates being a “frog guy.” Near: I teach a class at Yale on Ichthyology and it is a fairly popular class. About half of the students are non-science majors.This is the demographic breakdown: students who angle, fishing, aquarium nerds, mostly males who take over their parent’s garage not with rock bands, but with aquariums, divers and snorkelers—that tends to be more females.The last demographic group is people who watch Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. [laughter all round] I’m not kidding you. There is a wonderful film,“Gotham City Fish Tale,” it’s a documentary through all five boroughs.The rule is it must be in the city limits of New York, about people who fish in New York City. From the billionaire stockbroker surf casting for Striped Bass to poor people in the Bronx crab fishing. Our office is on the Quinnipiac River in New Haven, when
people come over they can’t even believe they’re in the city. Near: Let me add this story that just happened this morning. I live at Saybrook College [Yale]. Every morning I wait for the school bus with my daughter.The last few days we’ve noticed this guy on a bicycle and he’s wearing full on neoprene chest waders, his bike is completely tricked out. I want this bicycle, it holds rods, all kinds of tackle boxes, and today he came by with what looked like at least a five and a half pound Mullet in the basket. Are people coming in with local thinking and interests? What is the best entry point into this way of looking at the natural world? Skelly: It is changing very quickly. My term for us is that we probably grew up “feral.” I was kicked out the back door and just had to stay within hearing range of a bell my home had on the back of the house. I just lived in the woods and explored. I engaged in the environment and it was very rural. That happens less. My kids get that because I kick them outside, but a lot of parents, there’s poison ivy, there’s ticks, they don’t want that to happen, so [nature is contacted] through more structured ways. We run summer camps, or like Tom was saying, the kids that come to Yale, at least, have encountered something on a family [event] and that prompts interest—a charter fishing boat or a hiking trip or diving for the first time. Let’s dive in somewhere else. What is your favorite item in the museum? Heiser: It’s going to be a different answer everyday, but the first thing that jumps to mind is this gigantic fossil turtle in our great hall of dinosaurs. It’s not a dinosaur, it’s a turtle. It is A.) absolutely beautiful and B.) so much bigger than any turtle that is alive today. It just brings you back seventy-eighty million years ago, maybe longer, it’s a turtle and it is missing its rear fight flipper. NEWHAVENMAGAZINE.COM
Dr. Henry Lee visits with Forensic classes and I always bring them to the turtle.You can tell this turtle had his flipper bitten off early in life and managed to survive. Near: I have a few, they’re all fish. Our Coelacanth was a lineage that was known only in the fossil record for about three hundred million years until the time dinosaurs went extinct. However, a living specimen turned up in 1938 in South Africa. So wait a minute, this is something that related species had survived for three hundred million years? Near:Yes and it created a firestorm. And in fact, another species was discovered in 1998 on the other side of the Indian Ocean. People have argued it [the Coelacanth] rescued natural history. Natural history was relegated to dusty museum drawers and scientists like David and myself were thought of as stamp collectors.The discovery of the Coelacanth showed that a major lineage of vertebrae biodiversity was rediscovered. We thought they were extinct, they stop in the fossil record at sixty-five million years ago, there are no forty million year old Coelacanths, or fifteen million. Well how is that possible if there are live ones? Near:The fossil record is imperfect, we just couldn’t find one. Skelly:The cool things is, this is the branch of fish most closely related to all of us. So David stole mine [all laughing]. I don’t want to use stealing and the museum in the same sentence, he used yours. I would spend an inordinate amount of time staring at that missing flipper on that turtle and my mom thought there was something wrong with me. I’m dead serious. I was completely captivated. Even if you’re around here for a long time it continues to surprise you. We were walking through a
storage room that is assigned to paleontology, so it should have been dinosaurs and stuff like that, and there’s this life mask. It’s a plaster mask that people in the eighteenth century, before photography took off, used as a way of recording a likeness.There are death masks, too. This is a life mask for John James Audubon and it’s just sitting on a shelf and we don’t know why, we don’t know why we have it. It’s been looked at by an expert and it seems to be authentic. This place is like a curiosityprovoking machine, there are people and objects and information spread all over that just constantly provoke the way you think about things. Back to the 150th year exhibit, what do you think has the most pull for adults? The case that we’re trying to make for both the exhibit and the book [Exploration and Discovery: Treasures of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History Paperback – April 12, 2016 by David K. Skelly (Author), Thomas J. Near (Author), Robert Lorenz (Photographer)], is to let people know that in their midst is this remarkable institution that had a big impact on our understanding of the planet and continues to do that today. Tom just talked about the imperfect fossil record and that it sends us off on false conclusions. How did all the collections get started here? When Darwin’s theory came out in 1859, one thing we don’t see are these transitional forms—what things looked like then and what they look like now. Where are the snakes that have the tiny little legs? So you mean he didn’t find that fossil? Darwin said something in effect ‘the biggest weakness of my theory is the imperfect nature of the fossil record.’ So for the twenty years after his book comes out, he deals with a malaise feeling that the record doesn’t really support his ideas the way he thought it should.
Then Marsh [Othniel Charles Marsh], the first director of the museum, the first professor of Paleontology in the United States, he goes out in the late 1860s and industrializes the research operation. Hiring collectors all over the American West, he starts getting the good stuff fast, he’s commanding a collection empire.These guys were literally cowboys, using dynamite and blowing hillsides and picking up the pieces. But what these guys figured out pretty quickly is there was as much information in the ground around as the fossils. So they started sieving and collecting the little stuff and discovered that mammals were a lot older than we thought and that mammals were scurrying around at the feet of the Brontosaurus very early on.
But in the beginning, massive trainloads were coming in here and he was saying give me what you got. It was a race. It was called the “bone wars.” He and Edward Drinker Cope from the National Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, were literally racing each other to publish more and on the same species first. It was a mess that took decades and decades to untangle. Where are kids entering the curiosity? Heiser: My youngest son Orion is ten, my kids have spent a lot of time here. Orion’s interest in dinosaurs, not so much, he is really interested in plants and rocks and minerals.This somehow rises within people, they get hooked on
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Near’s fish story on how fishing in Lake Michigan led in from an interest in frogsto a career studying fish brings a robust response from Peabody Director David Skelly and Director of Student Services, David Heiser.
something and you never know where it’s going to be. Our summer camps are all themed and there is one that’s called Terra Firma, and it’s all about rocks and minerals and another Around the World in Five Days, is more about culture and anthropology, so there’s some self selection. Parents are usually fairly influential, whether it’s passing their own interests or creating the exposure. For my family, vacation was to a national or state park it wasn’t to Disney. I know that had a huge impact on my own interest in Natural History growing up, my father is an astronomer. Interrupts: So that’s where your son’s name Orion is originating here? Heiser:That’s the connection, I grew up knowing about the night sky but my interest was more Earth-based, plants and animals. Skelly: It’s relatively uncommon for kids to map directly onto what their parents do. My older son, who is ten, is really into paleontology and he isn’t into dinosaurs but he has a real “jag” on ancient marine reptiles. There is a curator over in geology, [Bhart-] Anjan Bhullar, who has published on Mosasaurs and their origin and my ten year old loves to argue with him about the origin of Mosasaurs.
12 J ULY /A UGUST 2016
So we know Skelly’s parents just shooed him out of the house, so Tom, did your folks just put you out on a row boat in Lake Michigan? Near: My father would take me fishing and I grew up in Chicago. I was “feral” as well, kicked out of the house. I grew up so close to Lake Michigan so it was ‘go there.’ My father was a house painter and my mother was a nurse’s aide, working class people. Did your parents understand your interests? Cultivate them? Near:You know those pigs that find Truffles? Well I was the pig and they let me find the Truffle.They let me wander, because I grew up in Chicago and if I said I want to go to the Museum of Natural History, they would take me. They were very encouraging of my interests, they never ridiculed me, they were never “oh that’s stupid you should pick on something more useful,” it was always “I think it’s great you’re interested in that.”That’s what I learned as a parent, let your kids find the Truffle, give them the support they need. So you don’t need to be a scientist to raise a scientist? Near: Exactly.
Skelly: My parents weren’t scientists. My dad ran a business. Day to day, I draw on that experience as much as anything else in my background. David, your dad was in the stars, what did your mother do? Near: She was in early childhood education. I guess that means you have her path. She certainly gave me a strong respect for education and in particular for early childhood education. So is the Peabody a museum or an education institution and resource? Skelly: I don’t think there’s a conflict. Most museums that are oriented toward natural history and the sciences operate in both of those spheres in some way. What makes us different is that we are at a university. The core mission of Yale University is teaching and research and focused around students and faculty. The governing body for this museum are all curators and those curators are all faculty. There are nineteen, and they have appointments in academic departments.They are adjuncts here and essentially volunteering to steward these collections and to provide leadership for the Museum and what it’s about. [Yale] President [Peter] Salovey has said it, [former president] Rick Levin used to say it,“the NEWHAVENMAGAZINE.COM
Peabody is Yale’s front door into the community,” we have much more visceral connections to the local community than [most] other parts of the University. At our Martin Luther King Day celebration, we have thousands of thousands of people who come here and use this as their place. An alarming fraction of the public doesn’t know this is part of Yale. When I saw the 150th exhibit, my “take away” was encourage people to go to the Peabody for this exhibit and generally, that’s why we’re here talking. What do you want the take away to be? Heiser:There are tremendously engaging cases that are going to draw people in and we’re adding docents during the busier times to help direct them toward a [broader] story. My hope is that people leave thinking there is way more than meets the eye, both historically and now—the importance of the Peabody in developing scientific thought in the past one hundred and fifty years. How do you tie these artifacts of the past to present interests? Skelly: In the exhibit, we have connections to research going on right now. It starts with a timeline when Yale was founded and takes you through to the present day. Right opposite the entrance is a slide showing Peabody students, curators, staff out there continuing to build on to the timeline. [We show] the Peabody’s role in prehistoric life, understanding Dinosaurs, there is an image from Anjan Bhullar’s research, which they don’t like to call it, but everyone else calls the chickenasaurus project. They’re selectively turning off genes and bringing out this hidden dinosaur genome that is sitting inside of modern birds. This is where I say “does that mean dinosaurs taste like chicken?” [All] probably did. Near: Birds are dinosaurs.
Skelly:That’s all that anyone is going to remember from reading this. What he [Bhullar] was able to do was silence one gene and turn a bird beak into something that resembles a reptile’s snout.That’s got this total ‘gee whiz, oh my God’ vibe to it, but on the other hand it tells us in a really deep way how evolution proceeds. Even though we’re tens, if not more than hundreds of millions of years away from some of these ancient forms, the genetic difference between what we see walking around the barnyard and what’s on display towering above you can be really small.That’s a really cool message and a very modern message.
that are involved in these “deextinction” events where they are going to try and bring back extinct species. That is going to happen certainly within our kid’s lifetimes.
sequence out of the base of the feather.
And they’ll be using an item in a place like the Peabody?
I guess that’s a different conversation.
Skelly: If not the Peabody, they’re here, we have the physical objects here. With the Passenger Pigeon you can get its full genome
Those kinds of samples will be the basis of bringing these species back if we want to do that.
Skelly: It is a different conversation but a very modern one. •
SCSU_MBA_CPA_Fairfield_4.5x8.5qxp.qxp_Layout 1 3/24/16 4:02 PM Page 1
Two Programs. Endless Possibilities.
Can we expect more information from these fossils in the future? Skelly: When these fossils were collected a long time ago, people had no idea how much information they contained. Museum people are really good at hanging on to things so people in the future can get more information out of objects than we can get right now. There’s a current example we’ve been reading about with the color of dinosaur feathers? Some of the people that innovated this are sitting a hundred yards away from us right now.They can figure out the pigments in fossilized material.There is an image down there [in the 150 exhibit] of a dinosaur called Anchisaurus and it shows what colors the feathers were. It is not just an artist’s rendition, it is based on real data, it is an exploding area of interest and it’s based on discoveries that were made here at Yale. So can scientists tap the DNA in the specimens here?
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Skelly:These collections are more valuable than they’ve ever been because there are more ways we can pull information out of these samples. Whether you think it is good or bad or are indifferent, we have researchers coming in all the time
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Telling Tales In The Elm City By Rachel Bergman
A Folk Art, A Tradition, A Skill To Be Honed and A Career By Rachel Bergman
I
f you’re tempted to think of the narrative arts as “simply” arts, or juvenile expression, be aware that the form has survived for centuries as an important way for people to process concepts, history, culture and feelings. It’s a central mode of communication for most people: What did you do this weekend? Tell me about yourself. These are universal invitations to tell a story that will impact how listeners perceive one’s character, lifestyle and values.
media. Faculty presented students with ideas for creating short films, cartoons and comics, virtual reality features, podcasts, radio broadcasts and even traditional long-form journalism for print and online audiences.
Storytelling provides context for broader perspectives, legacy and entertainment—and in New Haven, it serves a valuable purpose in journalism, education and culture. It is simultaneously a preserved performance folk art, particularly to those at the Connecticut Storytelling Center at Connecticut College, and the storytelling group that meets monthly at The Institute Library. as well as a hobby.
Attendees were eager to slide behind wooden desks and chairs nailed to the floor in Harkness Hall for 9a.m. each morning, notebooks set to fresh pages or laptops and tablets glowing in anticipation of the forthcoming wisdom.
To writers and journalists, storytelling is an expandable and cultivatable process across any new media according to Mark Oppenheimer’s June THREAD storytelling gathering at Yale. Oppenheimer, journalism faculty at Yale, writes a bi-weekly column for The New York Times as well as many other print and online media outlets as a freelance journalist. He began hosting the THREAD event last year to bring together a faculty of national and international industry professionals to coach and encourage a diverse group of attendees at all career levels across different media. Participants ranged from millenials navigating a broadening digital landscape to midcareer professionals making changes and even baby boomers and beyond who sat with rapt attention and took notes, as well as participated, wrote and discussed over the almost four days of writing groups, story shares, lectures and projects on Yale’s Cross campus. The event hosted around seventy attendees and Oppenheimer’s curriculum was designed to get them thinking across a variety of arts and
Glynn Washington, executive producer of the radio series (and podcast) Snap Judgment, a spoken word storytelling phenomenon revealing personal biographies of trauma or intense and difficult clarity because, as Washington says,“the best storytelling comes from picking at scabs, finding those things you can’t process.” Washington added,“Stories are so often tied up in trauma.” Snap Judgment takes listeners through a journey of sorts, following the
teller through a gripping tale of difficult realization, a painful conclusion or a new reality realized by the teller and told to an audience with a broader emotional appeal. According to Washington, that was key, telling and concluding with a set of emotions that are relatable, rather than concluding with an explanation of what the story meant. Washington played clips from the show, as well as dissected the elements of the story for a basic construct, as well as meaning and value. By day three, participants were encouraged to come out from behind their little desks for Rob Holzer of Make Things Matter, a cutting edge film company using virtual reality for social impact and to don his Oculus headsets and experience his work in full form. His films are meant to assist nonprofits and NGOs using storytelling through total 360-degree immersion in virtual reality film to make their message clear. Holzer goes beyond the traditional uses new haven
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New York Times column “The Critical Shopper,” when she showed her short film for the Kate Spade brand’s series “Miss Adventure” depicting a young actress at The Russian Tea Room talking to her little dog as she surreptitiously spied on the woman who took her “regular” table—Gloria Steinem. Bernard discussed the big business of “branded” storytelling and its role in the marketplace.
Historian Arnie Pritchard performs This Business of Fighting based on his father’s war correspondence and hosts a monthly storytelling workshop at The Institute Library.
for the technology of the future, yawns at the idea of virtual reality’s limitations in the worlds of gaming and pornography, and takes his filmmaking to needy organizations that desperately want to be heard, seen, and felt. His virtual reality was put to use on behalf of a group operating to effect deep societal change, like The Girl Project teaming up with Glamour magazine to highlight the struggle of young girls around the world trying to go to school, or The White House initiative My Brother’s Keeper to reach men of color and expand their opportunities nationwide. This is what Holzer’s filmmaking is really after—using virtual reality as a changemaker for good instead of simply for entertainment. The effect of engaging many senses in the storytelling of a cause seeks to spur engagement, interest, change, fundraising.THREAD participants were delighted to feel and experience these stories, to nod solemnly at the call for using storytelling to say or reveal something significant and to scribble down advice about exploring new avenues for creating content and having an impact. The room giggled along with Katherine Bernard, filmmaker and former contributor at Vogue and The 16 J ULY /A UGUST 2016
Last but not least, the traditional long-form print journalists Jill Abramson, former editor of The New York Times, and Sarah Stillman of The New Yorker described the importance of writing with “incredible detail.”The success of the two and the prolific nature of their work prove that length is not a barrier to success nor readership. While Oppenheimer develops his curriculum and hires his all-star faculty from around the country, giving attendees access to expertise from industry leaders and change-makers, he says he also very much hires for Menschlichkeit, the kind of qualities that make someone an affable and easygoing person. For Ann Shapiro and Arnie Pritchard of the Connecticut Storytelling Center, who were recruited to the art of organized oral storytelling by the Center’s founder, Barbara
Reed, storytelling serves a gentler purpose than at THREAD, it’s largely for entertainment and education.The Center, located within the campus of New London’s Connecticut College, was founded by Reed in 1984 through the efforts of her students and has experienced gracious support and backing from the school, even though she has since retired and passed away. According to Pritchard,“Reed is the hero of a lot of origin stories for storytellers.” Shapiro now runs the center as its director and Pritchard heads the board.
read in a book, it’s a more intense experience.
New Haven-based Pritchard runs a storytelling monthly sharing group out of The Institute Library on Chapel Street. Annually, he hosts a bootcamp at the library for storytellers who wish to participate in an annual “Tellabration” event to perform their stories in front of an audience. Storytellers aren’t reading aloud, very few ever even write their stories down and according to Pritchard, there is a difference between experiencing a story orally versus the written form; facial expressions, gestures, the ability to make changes for audience reaction. Shapiro says she’s much more likely to cry at an emotional story told live versus
At the New Haven workshop, storytellers can take 10 minutes if they want to tell, and are given the option of asking for feedback/critique from the group. It is advisable, according to the group’s guidelines, that tellers avoid stories “about which you do not have your emotions under control” and stories in which “you are the unambiguous hero who solves everything.” Simple, don’t be annoying. Pritchard provides handouts with lists of common prompts like old pets or an incorrect first impression. In terms of telling folk tales, tellers are encouraged to adapt and personalize the story. With any choice, the teller is encouraged, and critique is meant to emphasize, the “need to bring the story to life right here, right now.” Ultimately, the group’s purpose is to entertain, to turn a story into a relatable and thoughtful performance for an audience.
Director of the Connecticut Storytelling Center Ann Shapiro works hard to make sure storytellers and storytelling programs are reaching as many schools as possible, and that professional storytelling events continue to thrive in the State.
Pritchard’s stories started with an old trunk that belonged to his father. When he inherited an army footlocker from his father’s service in World War II the letters and mementos told a story of his father that was new to Pritchard, and it has informed his storytelling practice ever since. When Pritchard performs now, it is a performance called “This Business of Fighting: A Human Face on World War II” based on his father’s philosophical and introspective letters written while stationed overseas.
A New Haven storyteller and history teacher in Pritchard’s storytelling group, Saul Fussiner, has incorporated a storytelling class into his curriculum at New Haven Academy, a public magnet school focused on the topic of “Facing History and Ourselves,” and according to Fussiner, has a strong emphasis on restorative justice. Fussiner got the opportunity to add the elective class in collaboration with the English department with a curriculum derived from Colum McCann’s book Let The Great World NEWHAVENMAGAZINE.COM
Spin called Narrative 4.Through Narrative 4, students learn stories from classmates, and then strangers on the street, to first retell them in ‘phase one’ and then in ‘phase two,’ student storytellers wrote the stories they had retold. Students are charged with listening to someone else’s story and retelling it with meaning and accuracy. Fussiner learned of the curriculum from a colleague at Newtown High School, Lee Keylock, who read the McCann book with his students and incorporated the Narrative 4 model, a dual course in storytelling and empathy, to help his students process the 2012 school shootings. Keylock told Fussiner that when the students came back after the shooting, nobody really know what to do with them to help them process.The teacher and his students wrote fan letters to the author and McCann responded enthusiastically and visited the school to meet the Newtown storytellers, later incorporating Keylock into his organization.
Fussiner was excited for the opportunity to teach the Narrative 4 program at his own school. Since inception, he’s had stronger storytellers participate in international Narrative 4 storytelling conferences and even travel to world headquarters in Ireland. As “experts,” these student storytellers come back to school and co-teach the class with Fussiner and an English teacher as peers. According to Fussiner,“Students react really well. At the last class, we break down what happened and how it felt and if they feel more together – and it tends to bond the groups together really well.” He recalls,“one student had to hug everyone at the end. It creates a feeling of togetherness and catharsis in the group at the end of a session.” Oral storytelling is alive and well as entertainment and education in New Haven. According to our storytelling experts, audiences
follow a good storyteller through a crescendo that could be as innocuous as a weekly dance class with a new partner or an afternoon sitting in traffic—as long as the emotional impact comes through.The act of listening to a story provides an opportunity to experience the teller’s pain, joy, heartache, excitement or lifechanging epiphany in a way that connects people emotionally. In the “right” telling, any listener can see themselves in the story, access their own history or culture and simply connect. To experience storytelling locally, check out the Connecticut Storytelling Center at www. connstorycenter.org, to find details (to be posted soon) about attending a Tellabration event around the state this November, including one happening at The Institute Library, www. institutelibrary.org.To learn more about Yale’s THREAD series, sign up for newsletters at www.thread. yale.edu.
Storyteller and history teacher Saul Fussiner of New Haven Academy found a way to incorporate a storytelling class into the high school curriculum.
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Think Global Read Local Connecticut and Local Writers Reading List
By Rachel Bergman and Claudia Ward de-Léon
R
egional authors and local stories are a great way to build your summer reading list. From New York Times bestsellers to renowned cartoonists and self-published entrepreneurs, take the time to appreciate our local talent while you’re relaxing in that hammock and upping your personal word count. Connecticut writers pay tribute to their home state, dissect our regional and national history, or skillfully take readers on exciting adventures. Shop local, read local! 1941: Fighting the Shadow War, A Divided America In A World At War by Marc Wortman
New Haven author and historian Marc Wortman painstakingly studied journals and diaries, letters, personal accounts, spy networks, and all the news that was fit to print in the years leading up to “official” U.S. involvement in WWII. Between the start of the war in September of 1939 and leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Wortman details
a divided public, domestic Nazi sympathizers, and the government’s secret support of Britain and its Allied Powers in his new book 1941: Fighting the Shadow War, A Divided America In A World At War. In this gripping historical narrative, he explores the political and social climate of the American people as well as the economic factors behind waiting to enter the war, and who was actually siding with whom. As Wortman continues to give talks around the region to promote the newly released book, it can be purchased in most bookstores as well as online at Amazon and in Barnes & Noble.
**Editor’s Pick** The Dog Healers by Mark Winik Branford’s Mark Winik’s new selfpublished book The Dog Healers is available at select locations and on Amazon. Self-published books can be a bit hard to find, but provide a treasure trove of often overlooked but great reading material.The fastpaced adventure story tells of an American traveler learning about
dog culture in Argentina, healing arts from Tibet, and the seedy underbelly of the South American horse racing community while visiting his in-laws in Buenos Aires. Set in a few hotspots throughout South America, the book makes for a great vacation read if you can’t afford a vacation this year. As the American traveler gets deeper and deeper into the tales of a kindly dog walker and trainer he meets on the street, he learns about his wife’s culture, an ancient art rooted in the love of animals and a romance that unexpectedly unfolds in the middle of it all.
Norwich In The Guilded Age: The Rose City’s Millionaires’ Triangle by Patricia Staley In the mid1800s, Norwich was the place to live for many. It wasn’t a big city, but more like a little Newport, there’s a harbor and the confluence of 3 rivers. Water power ran the factories, transportation was accessible, and Norwich was halfway between New York City and Boston. Staley researched a cast of characters, their private settings around town, and the dramatic twists and turns of their lives for her book Norwich In The Guilded Age, which is full of salacious tales and scandals about local industry leaders and trendsetters from a bygone local history. Many of the mansions are still standing, so exploring Norwich real estate sounds like a fun book club activity, doesn’t it? Staley is even known to conduct tours.
The Children by Ann Leary Litchfield author Ann Leary of NY Times Bestselling fame for her book The Good House has published another New Englandthemed gem. In her new book, The Children, a young protagonist somewhere in Litchfield maintains a secret but famous online identity that her family isn’t aware of—she’s a well-known mommy blogger and her readers have no idea that she is, in fact, a single and childless agoraphobic living in a stuffy New England
town with her blended family that is rife with secret drama and unexpressed emotions. It’s a family of old money, obligations of tradition and some of inheritance and in Leary’s tale, some of that long-buried hurt and resentment finally starts to come out. Leary’s writing style is humorous and endearing all at once with quirky characters and sincerely relatable emotional baggage.
FitStyle Your Life: 5 Simple Keys for Taking Exercise off Your To-Do List by Shana N. Schneider Shana Schneider, New Havenbased founder of ZoeFit and an approach to fitness that squeezes important and useful movement into every activity of your daily life—like leg lifts and squats while standing in line—has put together a collection of fitness tips for those who just can’t find the time. Keeping your day active isn’t as much of a challenge as you might think, particularly with Schneider’s enthusiastic approach to finding time in every routine activity. A fitness instructor with more than ten years in the industry, Schneider has built the “Fitstyle Your Life” approach for those of us that just can’t find the time to workout.The book teaches a way to find time and space for movements in everyday activities, to make more of your everyday activities contribute to your fitness goals, and to stay on track even if you can’t get to the gym every day.
The Underdogs by Sara Hammel For juvenile fiction, this murder mystery makes for a pretty great summer read.Told partially
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from the perspective of a sleuthing 12 year old who wants to solve the mystery of who killed the local teen queen, leaving her by the pool at the tennis club, the story unfolds with hidden clues throughout. Not exactly a lightweight cozy mystery, the story also reveals much about its young characters, a best friend mysterysolving duo dealing with an abusive past, weight issues, adoption and disinterested parents as they look through the motives and opportunities of the local rich kid teen scene to find out who murdered Annabel Harper. Recommended for grades 6-10.
Firefly Summer by Nan Rossiter Known for her New England settings and strong characters, New York Times bestselling author Nan Rossiter’s newest book is closely related to previous novels. Although the Quinn siblings bury a childhood trauma, going on with their lives and keeping secrets for years, the wound eventually opens and the truth-letting begins as they reconcile their past and make peace with tragedy.Told through flashbacks and different perspectives, the story narrates a family’s loss, grief and recovery over many years. Available on Amazon and at local bookstores.
By Claudia Ward-de León South Haven by Hirsh Sawhney In his debut novel, South Haven, writer Hirsh Sawhney chose his native New Haven and suburbs as backdrop for this part tale of mourning, part comingof-age story. A patchwork of fictionalized and semifictionalized places in and around the Elm City (here’s looking at you, Louis’ Lunch), suburb South Haven is home to fourth grade protagonist Siddharth Arora. From the opening lines of the prologue, it’s clear 10-year old Siddharth is dealt a bad hand when forced to come-toterms with the sudden, untimely death of his mother. Written in a meandering pace that spans several years of Siddharth’s life, we are taken through the weekly ins and outs of a thoughtful child predisposed to periods of quiet rumination and introversion as he copes with his grief and the general tumult of his preteen years. Sawhney skillfully captures Siddharth’s readjustment to a life without his mother. Much of this readjustment centers around the different and complex relationships Siddharth forms with the handful of friends he makes following his mother’s death, his college-bound brother, the “new woman” in his Dad’s life, and with his larger-thanlife father, a radically opinionated academic who is caught between what it means to be American and the culture he’s left behind.
Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast The cartoons of Ridgefield resident Roz Chast have appeared in The New Yorker since 1978.The conversations and revelations in them often take place on sofas or around kitchen tables with Chast’s characteristic patterned wallpaper adding to the ordinariness and “every woman” quality with which she renders her character’s lives. Sometimes, Chast’s cartoons move off the sofa and ask the reader to navigate through chart-like panels that add up to commentary on everything from narcissism, to news cycles, to aging.The latter, and in particular aging parents, is the main theme of Chast’s touching, tender, and unforgettable graphic memoir, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Winning the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction and included in the New York Times Best Books of 2014 in the same category, this fast-paced read is filled with pithy, humorous, resonant, and bittersweet insights into the emotional toil of dealing with aging parents--a great summer read not to miss.
Foreign Gods, Inc. by Okey Ndibe Lauded by The New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and selected by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as one of the 10 best books of 2014, West Hartford resident Okey Ndibe’s
sophomore novel, Foreign Gods Inc. follows main character Ike, an underemployed Nigerian man who makes ends meet as a cab driver in New York City. Because of Ike’s prominent accent, his career choices are limited, despite an economics degree from a major American university. Falling upon hard times, Ike steals the statue of an ancient war deity from his home village to try and sell it to a New York gallery specializing in the sale of sacred objects. Partially set in America and partially in Nigeria, Ndibe’s novel explores the je ne sais quoi of the exotic, whether it’s America’s obsession with the consumption of anything foreign or Nigeria’s obsession with American food, sports, and entertainment.
The Rising: Murder, Heartbreak, and the Power of Human Resilience in an American Town by Ryan D’Agostino Dr. William Petit became a household name when the 2007 invasion of his home in Cheshire turned brutally violent and left him the sole survivor in his immediate family and a traditionally quiet New England community in shock and mourning. In writing The Rising, journalist Ryan D’Agostino, a former editor for Esquire, and now the editor for Popular Mechanics, had full access to Petit as well as family members and friends to chronicle the fulfilling life Petit has led since the incident. Although the book includes a full first-person account of the night Petit fell victim to a violent crime, this book does not revolve around victimhood or tragedy; instead, it focuses on Dr. Petit’s resilience and ability to
heal and rise up from the chilling tragedy that is described as “one of worst crimes in Connecticut history.”
Hemingway in Love: His Own Story by A.E. Hotchner Fans of Ernest Hemingway will appreciate the latest biographical installment by 95-year old Westport writer A.E. Hotchner, who wrote Papa Hemingway, published in 1966 amid much controversy. Hotchner, who shared a close friendship and
was in large part mentored by Hemingway, wrote this slim volume of stories to supplement the stories left out of his 1966 biography.The stories in Hemingway in Love are rooted around Hotchner’s conversations with Hemingway about his four distinct marriages, but in particular
around the iconic writer’s marriage to first wife Hadley Richardson, who he reveals was his “true love.” Through retelling these intimate conversations, Hotchner’s work reveals how embattled and complex Hemingway’s emotional landscape was with reason and raw emotion frequently in conflict.This memoir isn’t simply about Hemingway in love, but a retrospective about Hemingway living with regret for some of the romantic choices he made.
Night Blindness by Susan Strecker Essex writer Susan Strecker’s debut novel, Night Blindness, is a family drama following the life of 16-year old Jensen Reilly, who survives her brother’s death only to be chased away from home by the terrible secret she holds surrounding it. Many years later, she receives news about her father’s ailing health and is prompted to temporarily leave her new life in New Mexico and confront not only his chronic illness, but also the past that she
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has tried so hard to escape. Set during a steamy New England summer, this novel is described by writer Amy Sue Nathan as,“engrossing, fast-paced, and filled with layers of emotion,” and is likely a novel that will be a hit among fans of writers Paula Hawkins or Jodi Picoult.
Moon Full of Moons, Poetry of Transformation by Kat Lehmann A collection of poems by Connecticut scientist, writer, and mother of two Kat Lehmann, Moon Full of Moons is described as “a path to happiness after sadness, patterned after the moon’s phases.” While Lehmann has dozens of poems published in several literary journals, this is the poet’s first published collection which was inspired by the longing to find answers to questions surrounding a family member’s battles with mental illness. Lehmann is credited with writing the collection in three years and is inspired by writers like e.e. cummings and Anne Sexton.
A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams
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Two love stories, or what’s more aptly described as a love triangle, is at the heart of this novel set during New York City’s Jazz Age by New York Times bestselling author Beatriz Williams. A resident of Connecticut’s shoreline, Williams’ new book is described as an “enchanting and compulsively readable tale of intrigue, romance, and scandal in New York Society, brimming with lush atmosphere, striking characters, and irresistible charm.” For fans of this period of history, stay tuned: Williams felt so creatively inspired writing about the Roaring Twenties in A Certain Age, that she decided to stay there for her forthcoming book, slated to be out in January.
one of the more complicated geopolitical matters of our time. Danforth, who is a letterpress printer and publisher and has a history degree from Hamilton College, is a part-time resident of Stonington.
American Steam by J.A. Friedland
penchant for exotic animals, younger women, amphetamines, booze, and guns. Sound familiar? Praised by Orange Is the New Black author Piper Kerman as “raucous, page-turning, head-spinning, and side-splitting.”
The Eastern Question: A Geopolitical History by Ted Danforth
A graphic novel sure to please readers interested in history, geography, politics, international relations or the confluence of all four.“The Eastern Question,” refers to the shifting balance of power following the decline of the once powerful Ottoman Empire and what that disintegration meant for other European powers. In Ted Danforth’s book, he uses this question to attempt to answer the “why?” that echoed in his mind as he witnessed 9/11 from his downtown Manhattan print shop. Using historical evidence and 108 maps and drawings, this book points to the fall of the Ottoman Empire as the pivotal moment when the 800-year advance of Islam began. Danforth asserts that the Western world’s command over the succeeding 400 years heavily influences what’s currently
Reade finish a novel at his Colorado ranch. Some of Russo’s job hazards include Reade’s
Lincoln’s Gamble by Todd Brewster
Described as “looselyautobiographical,” this dystopian satire about a professor at a large Northeastern university who suddenly realizes that his world is being ravaged by a zombie-like epidemic of narcissism is the first novel written by J.A Friedland. The Essex resident leaned on his decades of experience teaching at several American universities to write this commentary on what it’s like to teach in the 21st century, and in particular on a campus with technology-obsessed millennials, fraternities involved in unscrupulous behavior, and flirty female students.
A former senior producer for ABC News,Todd Brewster, who lives with his wife and two sons in Ridgefield, co-authored three books with the late journalist, Peter Jennings. Brewster’s latest book, Lincoln’s Gamble chronicles the six months leading up to President Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. Fans of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s 2005 book Team of Rivals will enjoy this meticulously researched account of the half year in which our 16th President made some dramatic and brave decisions that changed the course of our country’s history.
Gonzo Girl by Cheryl Della Pietra Not many people can say their first job out of college was spent working for Hunter S.Thompson, but Branford resident Cheryl Della Pietra can. A fictionalized account inspired by the five months the then 22-year old worked as editorial assistant to the legendary Rolling Stone journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, Gonzo Girl follows protagonist Alley Russo as she helps eccentric writer Walker NEWHAVENMAGAZINE.COM
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THE BIRDS OF SUMMER
Photographs and Descriptions by Lesley Roy Wild shot of an expert hunter — the Great Egret — as it dives into a school of Peanut Bunker. The splash of water and fish flying straight up into the air in an attempt to elude that deadly yellow beak was captured using a Canon telephoto 300mm lens with a 2x extender on a cropped body with stop motion shutter speed. I am always surprised to capture what the naked eye can’t see, but when I downloaded it on the computer and blew it up, I gasped as I really didn’t expecting to see what looked like water on the back of the camera, turn out to actually be FISH!
The City of New Haven is the seemingly unlikely home to spectacular birds.
All You Can Eat Peanut Bunker Buffet 24 J ULY /A UGUST 2016
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As the sun set late on a June evening, a flock of newly fledged Wood Duck burst out of the woods, running to the spot where I was set up photographing the Peregrin Falcons on West Rock mountain. Peeping frantically to locate their 10 or so other sibling, the ducklings ran circles around me as they regrouped, before the trek to Konolds Pond far below. I’d heard a ruckus up on the ledge in the distance a few minutes earlier, but didn’t think anything of it until I saw the stampede of ducklings heading straight toward me. Their premature fledgling was likely sparked by a predator attack, and they must have felt safe running around under my tripod. I had a long telephoto lens aiming 90 degrees upward — I struggled to quickly switch lenses; collapse the tripod to now shoot 90 degrees down, but they were still too close. This is exactly the kind of experience—a once in a lifetime moment — that I so love about photographing in nature. The beauty just comes to you.
Mute Swan parents proudly admire their downy little cygnet on Konolds Pond in Woodbridge, as the absolute last rays of daylight dance across the darkened water’s surface.
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The Dinosaurs of New Haven
Every late winter Great Blue Herons migrate northward thousands of miles, returning to New Haven to participate in elaborate courtship behaviors, build their nests and raise their young for many bird watchers and nature enthusiasts to enjoy.
26 J ULY /A UGUST 2016
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t The Great Blue Heron rookery is
jam packed with resident fledglings, as even these city birds feel the squeeze of urban living.
Along the West River there is a tiny secluded island in Konolds Pond where the Great Blue Herons roost and raise their young high in the tree tops. new haven
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I Need My Space
Great Egret Smackdown — a friendly show of feathers and beakybravado as territory is defended in a friendly dispute over fishing rights.
The Black-crowned Night-Heron had just caught a fish and swallowed it when the Great Egret got its feathers ruffled and decided to evict the squatter from his neighborhood. 28 J ULY /A UGUST 2016
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Great Egret perches on the piling in the brackish estuary part of the West River just before it empties into Long Island Sound. The water quality is “impaired� due to elevated bacteria concentrations and shellfishing is banned, but the birds find the quiet area a sanctuary and safe haven in New Haven.
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The Falcons of West Rock Learn to Fly
Photographer Lesley Roy takes us up on the ledges on West Rock Mountain in New Haven to see how two young Peregrines go from hatchlings perched on a precarious nest scrape ledge to soaring in the Connecticut skies.
After several weeks between hatching and the mother protecting the barely visible fuzzballs from falling off the rocky nest perch, the young Peregrins finally emerge.
Later on I nicknamed the male, “Junior” and the female, “Doe” and marveled at how patiently and intently they watched each other climb the practice perch, to begin a “flap-like-crazy & hold-on-for-dear-life session.” With a 200ft. drop one slip of a claw would mean certain death. The stiff updrafts created great challenges for these siblings as they trained tirelessly to build their stamina and coordination with admiration and respect for each other in the process. It was an honor to watch their progress, tenacity and much like us, their great desire to thrive and survive against all odds. Both watchful parents cared for their young with constant care making steady food deliveries, one hunting while the other stood sentinel over the nest scrape. Predators would circle, but the swiftest of birds on earth would dispatch their attempts to harm their young with loud warning screeches and talons if need be.
After almost a month of documenting behavior and more than 10,000 photographs later, the two young Peregrins of West Rock mountain finally took to the air. It was exhilarating to watch as they interacted with each other in mock fighting aerial acrobatics and all of their practice made perfect with flight.
New Haven resident and Iraqi war veteran Michael Hawley (right) with a fellow soldier at the ruins of Nimrud.
Nimrud on My Mind Iraqi Vet Watches Destruction of National Treasures
C
by Michael Hawley
olonel Norris arrived at Nimrud with the PSD squad in tow. His mission, from what I recall, was to help decide (or plan) if Nimrud could become a tourist destination. We dropped ramp near a large mound, which reminded me of the earthworks that cover dead bodies in the UK. Colonel Norris met with local Iraqi Army and Police Officials while we explored the ruins.
Nimrud was reddish.That’s what I remember: the color. It was roughly square, with walls keeping the wild weather and desert at bay. It sat above the planes where it was believed Darius’s and Alexander the Great’s armies met in battle. Darius lost. Large yawning gates met us as we entered the ruins. Inside the walls were massive statues that were something like 1/3 Eagle, 1/3 Lion, 1/3 Man.They were awesome to behold, and for one quick second when I sat in the waiting room of a tattoo parlor in 2007, I thought about getting one inked into my skin. Instead, I got a far worse tattoo, something closer to my nightmares.The walls were covered with ancient inscriptions, consisting mostly of slashes. 32 J ULY /A UGUST 2016
In April 2015, ISIS militants entered Nimrud, ending the 3000-year-old city’s history. ISIS sought to destroy anything, with their “spokesman” saying,“by god we will destroy signs of polytheism, we will destroy the graves and shrines of the Shia…we’ll demolish the White House…” ISIS produced a polished video of their fighters’ wanton destruction of Nimrud. Berobed, bearded men ripped apart the beautiful sculptures and slabs of hieroglyphics with heavy sledgehammers, chisels, jackhammers, and bulldozers. Topping off the historic terrorism, ISIS loaded the city with bombs and blew it off the map. Smoke and debris exploded into the desert air, spitting 3000 years of well-preserved history into the heated sky. Particles of civilization blew through the wind. Everything the Assyrians built, Iraqis and British preserved and left in the ruins was lost that day.
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Yale’s carvings were removed from Nimrud a full 161 years before ISIS blew the city across the desert sands and sky. They’re housed in a giant, open gallery, against stark white walls. Of course, I take a selfie in front of the pieces. It’s not the same, and the experience is a let down. Men and women walk past as I shift the camera trying to find the right angle. If I get too close, or try to touch the inscriptions like I did in 2006, the guard will say something. All that’s left of Nimrud resides in museums and private collections. At least archeologists spread some of the works across the world before ISIS’s destruction.
Hawley is retired from the military and lives in New Haven with his wife and two dogs.
I feel the pull of emotional pain when I think about it. It was one of the best memories I had of Iraq, and now, there’s nothing left of Nimrud. If Iraq was ever safe enough to visit, Nimrud was one of the first places I’d go.
Williams helped Yale secure and buy Assyrian carvings.
The real Nimrud only exists in my mind’s eye now. It’s not the same standing in front of a museum piece; I’m not surrounded by soldiers—fighting the desert heat.The sights and smells of Northern Iraq are gone, and I struggle to enjoy the experience of seeing Nimrud artifacts. I’m thirty pounds overweight, dressed in civilian clothes, wondering if I should feel something. The gallery’s pristine, but sanitized. I cannot touch the piece, I cannot recreate what I felt when I was overseas, it’s missing. In reality, I just miss Iraq, the sights, smells, the history, and the men I served with. Life’s not the same.
Our mission to preserve was for naught. Fortunately for the world, not all was destroyed. 10 years later, I’m no longer a soldier. Now I trudge through life with heavy feet. New Haven, Connecticut; home of Yale, Population: 130,000 or so. It’s where I currently call home. It’s where I wake up, shower, and shave most days. Being underemployed, I can wake up later in the morning. Sometimes I’ll walk downtown to catch a bit of history and nostalgia, the Yale University Art Gallery. The art gallery occupies a sizable chunk of property in downtown New Haven, and is a combination of faux medieval and modern architecture. Tucked away beneath its arch is the Skull and Bones Society, where the people who start our wars and run our government played during college. I take a selfie in front of the society, and wonder if I’m on camera. I’ve never seen anyone enter or leave, and think there must be tunnels underneath. There’s a yellow cheese truck sitting out front today. I walk past and into the gallery, past the info desk, to the nearest gallery. The Yale Art Gallery houses both art and antiquities, including Babylonian, Roman, Greek, and Assyrian works. In 1854, William Frederick
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www.hamdenartscommission.org/concerts. html Acts will include The Marshall Tucker Band and Springsteen tribute band Tramps Like Us this year. The stage is set up at Town Center Park at Meadowbrook, 2761 Dixwell Ave., on Friday nights for a 7:30 show. Food available for purchase or bring your own.
Concerts on the Green, Madison, www.madisonct.org/710/Summer-Concerts Acts will include Belle of the Fall, for some indie tunes and a Beatles tribute band called The Mystery Tour. The stage is set up on the town green – bring a chair, some bug spray and your best moves on Sunday nights. Also, a second series will take place near the Madison Beach Hotel on Wednesday nights – on the “grassy strip” at 7:30.
Guilford Concerts on the Green, Guilford Summer concerts on Sundays do conflict with their shoreline neighbor Madison, but we can’t say for sure which is the best choice. The Guilford Green will play host to big band ensembles, Nifty Fifties troupes and others starting at 6:30 on Sundays.
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www.branfordjazz.com Thursday night is jazz night on the Branford Green this summer and if you’re up for it, they’ll feature jazz musicians like Steve Cole and Vandell Andrew.
Music on the Green, New Haven www.infonewhaven.com/summercalendar With so many events happening around the city from outdoor theater to art festivals, the concerts have fallen by the wayside in terms of volume, but they do have excellent selections – like Debbie Gibson, En Vogue, and even an Opera Palooza in August.
Oooooh fancy!
East Haven Concerts On the Green, East Haven www.townofeasthavenct.org/sites/ easthavenct/files/uploads/courier-_summer_ ad.jpg Also on Sunday nights, starting at 6, East Haven will have concerts through August featuring classics and oldies by townie favorites.
Music under the Stars, North Haven
www.northhavenct.gov/document_center/ Recreation/ Tuesdays on the town green in North Haven, enjoy some tunes at twilight featuring favorites like Locomotion and Avenue Groove.
Summer Nights by Harbor Lights Summer Concert Series, Milford, cca.milfordct.com
Friday nights at Fowler Field behind the library, enjoy rock, classics and party tunes.
West Haven Summer Concerts, West Haven www.cityofwesthaven.com/documentcenter/ view/281 Friday nights on the West Haven green or at The Grove park by the beach, includes a Stevie Nicks tribute band (finally!) and many others.
Woodbridge Summer Concert Series, Woodbridge
www.woodbridgect.org/ content/6591/6673/6709.aspx Tuesday nights on the Woodbridge green at the gazebo. This year’s line-up will include tributes to Tony Bennett, Billy Joel, and the 60s and 70s.
Call To Plan Your Outing Up The River This Spring NEWHAVENMAGAZINE.COM
The Art of Living By: Emili Lanno
Places You Should Absolutely Go That Aren’t Around Here Art is all around us and usually, with any activity, it is nice to play it safe and stay within the comfort of our own neighborhoods; the familiarity keeping us afloat. But let us step outside those boundaries and inside some works of art this summer to places that aren’t exactly in the confines of New Haven county (no homesickness required). The Bruce Museum of Arts and Science 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Admission: Adults-$7, Students (5-22 Show ID) $6, Seniors- $6, and Children free under five. The Bruce Museum of Arts and Science brings the art, science and natural history world to life in downtown Greenwich. The museum consists of about a dozen exhibitions, which change every year, and also galleries featuring permanent collections like textiles, a large selection of Connecticut-based artists, like the Cos Cob Artist’s Colony, and natural sciences collections focusing on minerals and bird wildlife. The museum also maintains a “Seaside Center” at the beach for aquamarine exploration.
The Bruce Museum makes for an eye opening daytrip from greater New Haven.
and 10 a.m.-7p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Admission: Adults-$18, Seniors/Veterans- $16, Students with ID- $12, Kids six-16- $8, museum members and kids five and under are free. Mass MoCA has transformed about 28 buildings and half a million square feet of two hundred year old factory and industrial space into a stunning museum campus. The museum represents new and upcoming contemporary arts of both unknown and well-known artists—while using a wide array of outlets, including music, sculpture, film, dance, painting, photography, theater, and more. They use indoor
and outdoor spaces, venues and stages to show off this work all year long. Offering not just the enclosure of a museum, but also visual arts in the form of over 75 performances, including dance, music performances, and educational lecture programs, Mass MoCA has a mission of creating an open environment for both the artist and the audience. It’s worth the drive to visit their many exhibits, events, restaurants and cafes to get some contemporary art in your life. I mean, free parking? Come on. 413-662-2111 www. massmoca.org
Check the calendar pages on the museum’s website for details on special events, like a recent celebration of Paris on Bastille Day. The museum also holds benefits, rentals and two yearly outdoor festivals, one in May and one in the fall, October 8-9 2016, which brings craftspeople and artists from around the world, showing off their best original art pieces.
203-869-0376 www.brucemuseum.org
Chesterwood Museum 4 Williamsville Rd, Stockbridge, MA 10 a.m- 5p.m. from May 28 to October 10, 7 days. Admission: Adults-$18, Seniors- $17, Grounds only Fee$10, Military & Children 13-17- $9, and Children under 13 are free. The Chesterwood Museum, originally owned by American sculptor Daniel Chester French, has been transformed into a “National Trust Historic Site.” This home studio and the gardens of Chester French are now owned by the National Trust Historic Preservation, which operates a museum and outdoor sculpture garden. The museum has previously set up temporary exhibitions, along with some permanent ones, including “Daniel Chester French: Sculpting an American Vision,” highlighting the most important works of French’s career as a sculptor, like “The Minute Man,” “The Continents,” “Samuel F. Dupont Memorial,” and “Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial.” Chesterwood also has a variety of special events happening each year, which can be found on their 2016 calendar at chesterwood.org, as well as a tour that takes place around the estate from May 1-October 31 with a group of 10 or more (with the opportunity to have a picnic). 413-298-3679 www.chesterwood.org
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art 1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams, MA Summer Hours: June 25 to Sept. 6, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sun.-Wed. new haven
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creating a discussion-filled environment centered around art and its history. Collections feature both American and European art, ranging from the Renaissance to the 20th century, including paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts. On their website, they list some upcoming exhibitions, current exhibitions, off-site exhibitions, or if you’d like to visit the museum and then travel back in time, past exhibitions. 413-458-2303 www.clarkart.edu
Florence Griswold Museum 96 Lyme Street, Old Lyme Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. 1 p.m.-5 p.m. on Sun. Admission: Adults-$10, Seniors- $9, Students-$8, children 12 and under are free If learning about the importance of Connecticut’s role in American art appeals to you, then a visit to the Florence Griswold Museum should be marked on your calendar for this summer. Some current exhibitions opened up to the public include, “The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887-1920,” as well as “The Art Colony at Old Lyme.” The museum is also known for their fairy villages in the gardens. If you’re confined to the internet for now, or just hate summer traffic on I-95, research archives and collections of the museum are also available online. Whether you want to make a tour of it during your family vacation, plan a school or summer camp field trip, this museum is definitely worth the experience. 860-434-5542 florencegriswoldmuseum.org
The summer home and studio of Daniel Chester French [designed and sculptured Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial and the Minuteman] in Stockbridge, Ma.
New Britain Museum of American Art 56 Lexington Street, New Britain Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sun., Mon., Tues., Wed., and Fri. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. on Thurs. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sat. Admission: Adults- $15, Seniors- $12, Children 1317- $10, Students- $10, members and children under 12- Free Founded in 1903, the New Britain Museum of American Art holds the title of being the first museum to collect and display American art exclusively. This museum offers many permanent exhibitions and installations, totaling 11,791 works consisting of paintings, works on paper, sculptures, illustrations and photographs. One of the newest additions, named in memory of the first director of the museum, is called the Sanford B.D Low Illustration Collection. Along with the permanent collections, the museum hosts many temporary exhibits consisting of new and upcoming artists.
2016 Art Festivals and Events, and Shows OH MY! If you’re not exactly the “stare at art on the wall” type of person and want to enjoy art of all types while enjoying the outdoors, here is a list of art festivals and events you can still make it to – in and out of the Nutmeg State. New Haven Chalk Art Festival The Shops at Yale, Broadway Island. 56 Broadway, New Haven Date/Hours of Event: Saturday, Aug. 20, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. The shops at Yale are welcoming professional and amateur artists, students, artist groups and/or spectators, to the first New Haven Chalk Art Festival. Those participating will create chalk masterpieces. Anyone who wishes to participate in the event can fill out a form on the event website and take note, space is limited. New Haven’s own professional artist, Michael Micinilio, will be
creating a chalk masterpiece during the event. There will be three major prizes awarded to those that live up to the chalk master, with first place being a $500 gift card to Hull’s Art Supply. That’s a lot of chalk. Set amid a busy shopping and eating district in the city, there’s plenty to do and see up and down Broadway Street. theshopsatyale.com/chalkart/
Artists & Artisans in Paradise 2016 Paradise Green Park, 3677 Main Street, Stratford Aug.28 Join the town of Stratford in hosting their fourth annual Artists & Artisans in Paradise festival this summer season. Since August of 2013 when the event was first held, art show goers have been able to interact face-to-face with a wide variety of different artists around the area displaying their work, along with some live music, poetry readings and great food. Their website includes a list of the performers and artists that will be featured at the event as well as more details about the poets reading, so plan accordingly so you don’t miss your favorite spoken word. www.paradiseartshow.com
Art and Flower Fall Festival Brookside Garden Center, 46 Hartford Tpke. Tolland Saturday, Aug. 27, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. If you would enjoy a day of festival going filled with art, beautiful flowers, music, food, flower selling, face painting, and conversations about gardening, the Art and Flower Fall Festival in Tolland is the place to be. Get ready for fall and dive into the fine arts and handmade crafts including oils, clay, metal, glass, fiber, wood, and jewelry as well as plenty of flower-filled beauty.
Mystic Outdoor Art Festival Historic Downtown Mystic, Main Street, Mystic Saturday, Aug. 13 -10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday, Aug.1410 a.m.-5 p.m. For this two day event, people from all over New England congregate to celebrate Mystic’s Outdoor Art Festival. This festival attracts those interested in purchasing fine art pieces as it serves as a juried art show, featuring over 250 artists and artisans. Right in the heart of Historic Downtown Mystic, this event showcases over 100,000 pieces of art as well as a Children’s Art Park full of activities. Food will be offered by nonprofit organizations to raise money for their organizations during the event. www.mysticchamber.org/events/mystic-outdoor-art-festival
2016 Walnut Beach Arts Festival Walnut Beach Grove, East Broadway & Viscount Drive, Milford, August 7 The Walnut Beach Association will be hosting the Walnut Beach Arts Festival for its 18th year in a row. Celebrating the seashore community, this festival event welcomes thousands of visitors every year to the town of Milford which includes a 5k race in the morning of the event as well as a children’s race.
So visit their website now, pick a day on their calendar that works for your art getaway and enjoy either a tour, some special events, or the Cafe on the Park and the company of some truly American pieces of work. 860-229-0257 www.nbmaa.org
The Clark Art Institute
Visitors can expect two free concerts at the pavilion, a food court as well as a variety of work done by local artists and those from surrounding states. www.walnutbeachassociation.com/walnutbeachartfestival. html
225 South Street, Williamstown, MA 01267 Hours: 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Tues.-Sun.
Mystic Museum of Art, 9 Water St., Mystic
Admission: General Ticket: $20. If a member, child under 18, or a student with ID, admission is free. As a place to store their advanced art collection, Sterling and Francine Clark created the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in 1950. The facility was officially opened to the public in 1955. The Clark Institute remains a combination of public art museum with academic and research programs. This includes an art history library and outreach and events centered on
36 J ULY /A UGUST 2016
Tuesday, Aug. 15-6:00 p.m.-8:30p.m. Admission: Members-$12, Public-$15, Children four-12$3, and under four-free
Broadway in New Haven will get a new set of colors at the New Haven Chalk Festival on August 20th.
Join the Mystic Museum of Art as they celebrate a night of food, drinks, live music and live art for their 2016 summer concert series. This event will include balloon art by April Brunelle, live art by Sam Brown as well as performances by Marcy Kelly Trio.
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be Thursday, Aug. 11 from 5:30 p.m.-7p.m. at Mystic Museum of Art. Sponsored by ChelseaGroton Bank, this is an all media juried show open to all artists that wish to participate. All guidelines, fees, and prizes for show winners can be found on their website under events. mysticmuseumofart.org
Gallery Talk: The Painted World of Ancient Americans Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Date/Hours of Event: Wednesday, July 20-12:30 p.m. All members of the public are welcome to join Jennifer
The Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme is a home for Connecticut’s role in American art.
The second “Art After Dark” event in August will feature Wooly Mammoth for live music, live art by Mary Horrigan, and April Brunelle on balloon art. 860-536-7601 mysticmuseumofart.org
The 60th Regional Exhibition-Juried Mystic Museum of Art 9 Water St., Mystic Starts- Friday, Aug. 5-11:00 a.m. Ends-Saturday, Sept. 17-5 p.m. Admission: Members-$12, Public-$15, Children four-12-$3, and under four-free The opening reception for the 60th Regional Exhibition will
Reynolds, Kaye, the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman, Joan Whitney Payson Fellow in the Education Department, as she discusses the colorful world of ancient American art. Whether it was ceramics, stone or textiles, these American art pieces highlight the production, use and significance of that time. 203-432-0600. artgallery.yale.edu
Discovering Some Of Connecticut’s Art Sculpture Gardens Kouros Sculpture Center and Garden 150 Mopus Bridge Rd, Ridgefield 203-438-7636 Over 50 sculptures created by well-known and up and coming artists combined with open fields, patios and garden scenery, make up the Kouros Gallery Sculpture Garden. For over 20 years, this gallery has provided outdoor works under the focus of light and shadow, some under nearby trees, others tucked into nature’s corners. Visit their website to explore some of the many sculptures in the garden.www.kourosgallery.com/ sculpture%20center/sculpture%20center.html
David Hayes Sculpture Fields 905 South St., Coventry If you’re looking for more of a private setting, David Hayes Sculpture Fields is worth looking into. By contacting Hayes through his email (david@davidhayes.com) private viewings of his sculpture garden in Coventry can be arranged. As a sculptor, Hayes’ works can be found in public and private collections around the country and in Europe. The sculptures at his house are set in either an old orchard, by a pond, and even behind the house in a hayfield. Visit his website for a look at his own sculpture pieces: www. davidhayes.com/fields.htm
Studio 80 and Sculpture Grounds 80-1 Lyme St., Old Lyme 860-304-3359 sculpturegrounds.com If a garden filled with contemporary sculptures seems appealing to you in any way, the Studio 80 and Sculpture Gardens, just down the road from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, is the place for you. Open 365 days a year from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., over 100 sculptures are displayed throughout gardens and courtyards and visitors are more than welcome to enjoy and interact with each sculpture work. This sculpture garden is also the home of artist Gilbert Boro, which is not open to the public, however, visitors can enjoy picnicking at the cafe outside. So grab your grounds map at the front entrance and head on in.
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One Whitney Ave, New Haven 203.776.4500 new haven
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Meadow Life June 12-Aug. 5 The Slater Memorial Museum, 108 Crescent St., Norwich Open 9a.m.-4p.m., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., 1p.m.-4p.m. Sat., Sun. $2-$3. Highlighting some of the most familiar lands and landscapes, The Slater Memorial Museum is welcoming this new exhibition. Various Connecticut artists contributed to the exhibition, which includes drawings, pastels, watercolors and oil paintings. Enjoy a selection of art about nature, whether it’s a heavily industrial workspace or just a secluded landscape. 860-887-2506 www.slatermuseum.org
Yayoi Kusama: Narcissus Garden: Through Nov. 30 The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 258 Main St., Ridgefield Open 10 a.m.-5p.m. Mon., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat., noon-5p.m., Sun. $5-$10 The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield is worth a trip from anywhere but at less than 50 miles from New Haven it a trip to make as soon as you can.
The Garden of Ideas 653 North Salem Rd., Ridgefield www.gardenofideas.com/gardenofIdeas/Home.html During this 8-acre stroll, one can enjoy the relaxing and stunning view of both the outdoor flower garden as well as art sculptures placed throughout. With the help of founders Joseph Keller and Ilsa Svendsen and with the assistance of a non-profit, Friends of Garden Ideas, people of all ages can come enjoy the original garden art mixed with a collection of plants and beautiful garden spaces. (All seasons are most likely beautiful) The grounds also house a farm stand full of fresh produce.
Opening and Ongoing Exhibitions and Galleries Masterpieces of The Sanford B.D. Low Illustration Collection July 8-Oct. 2 New Britain Museum of American Art, 56 Lexington St., New Britain 11a.m.-5 p.m. Sun.-Fri.,
11a.m.-8p.m., Thurs., 10a.m.-5p.m. Sat. $10-$15. (860)229-0257. Visit the gallery that brings American history back to life as groundbreaking artists such as Howard Pyle, Frederic Rodrigo Gruger, J.C. Leyendecker, Maxfield Parrish and many more, highlight American values through their artwork. This upcoming exhibition consists of some of the most iconic images that transformed American lives in the early 20th century and gave our nation a sense of identity.
2016 86th Annual National Open Juried Exhibition Aug. 20-Sept. 23 The Slater Memorial Museum, 108 Crescent St., Norwich Open 9a.m.-4p.m., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., 1p.m.-4p.m. Sat., Sun. $2-$3. Help the Connecticut Women Artists, Inc. celebrate the work of women. Deadline for submissions is July 8. Reception on Aug. 20 from 1p.m.-3p.m. is open to the public and free of charge. 860-887-2506. slatermuseum.org
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Virginia Overton May 1-Feb. 5, 2017 The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 258 Main St., Ridgefield 10 a.m.-5p.m. Mon., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat., noon-5p.m., Sun. $5-$10 Responding to a specific site and involving material’s sensory features, comes the work of Virginia Overton. This exhibition highlights the idea of choosing a medium specifically to fit the set of the landscape and the situation that is presented. Creating a mix of sculptures, installations, photographs, and videos, Overton shows the meaning of a relationship between landscape and architecture. 203-438-4519 aldrichart.org
Call or email for more information 203-781-3480 support@conntact.com
~ CELEBRATING TEN YEARS ~
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Celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Glass House being open to the public and the 110th anniversary of Phillip Johnson’s birth, the Glass House presents the Narcissus Garden as a part of its 2016 tour season. This piece involves 1,300 floating steel spheres installed in the Lower Meadow and forest. As the spheres move with the wind to follow the natural currents of the pond and form a kinetic sculpture, the Pond Pavilion, sky, and wooded landscape will all be reflected in its view. 203-438-4519 aldrichart.org
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56th Anniversary Exhibition July 9-Aug. 7 The Gallery on the Green, 5 Canton Green Rd., Canton 1p.m.-5p.m. Fri., Thurs., Sat., Sun. Presented by one of Connecticut’s oldest standing artist guilds, comes an exhibition of fine art by over 100 different artists. This exhibition also consists of fine art photography by Richard Alan Cohen. His solo show called Objectives of Desire: Vignettes explains how aspects around us catch our eye, including their light, color and style. 860-693-4102 galleryonthegreen.org
“Science and Motion: The Photographic Studies of Eadweard Muybridge, Harold Edgerton and Berenice Abbott” July 16-Oct. 16 Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Dr., Greenwich 10a.m.5p.m. Tues.-Sun. $6-$7 and children free. 203-8690376. www.brucemuseum.org This exhibition offers a glimpse inside the art of three artists, Eadweard Muybridge, Harold Edgerton and Berenice Abbott. Provided by Bank of America’s Art in Our Communities and organized by Bank of America Corporation, these artists come together to show off their work of scientific studies and how they represent aspects of motion and science through art and photographs. Only with this exhibition alone, The Bruce Museum will be holding events during the threemonth period. On Monday, July 18 from 10:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. there will be a film screening of “Berenice Abbott: A View of the Twentieth Century,” followed by a Q&A session with a staff member from the museum. On Monday, Aug. 1, Dr. David Fresko, a visiting assistant professor of Culture and Media, The New School will host a discussion about Edward Muybridge. Finally, on Tuesday, Sept. 13 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Dr. Christina Agapakis will host a Science and Motion Lecture.
Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650-1830 Aug.19-Jan. 8, 2017 Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven 10a.m.-5p.m. Tues., Wed., Thurs., Sat., 10a.m.8p.m. Thurs., 1-6 p.m., Sun.
Show Your Own Colors Of The World Catalyst Art Studio
day, check out their website for pricing on special summer workshops and bring the kids along to make some art that can proudly be displayed on the mantel. 203-387-2521
88 Center St., Wallingford
theclaydate.com
Join the Wallingford community and Catalyst Art Studio for full nights of paint-filled activities. The studio will host a variety of painting events during the months of July and August, each with a theme.
245 Amity Rd., Suite 109, Woodbridge
Some of their painting nights also allow a bit of adult beverages while others are alcohol-free events for the whole family to enjoy. Just reserve a spot and sign up for the classes on the website, and you are good to go. 203-265-3677 catalystartstudio.com
The Clay Date 1666 Litchfield Turnpike Woodbridge Hours: Walk-ins welcome during all hours. 10 a.m.6p.m. Mon., Tues., Wed. 10 a.m.-9p.m. Thurs., Fri., Sat., (Open until 11p.m. first Friday of Month) 12p.m.-6p.m. Sun. If you’re interested in making that ceramic tea set you were never able to make in school, The Clay Date is a good place to make that dream happen. The Clay Date offers Pottery, Ceramics, Glass Art Fusion and even parties for the whole family to enjoy. If you’re bored inside on a rainy, summer
Palette Art Studio The Palette Art Studio was founded in 1997 in Cheshire by Natasha Piskunova. Through either a short workshop session or a party with the family, students of the art studio will be instructed from start to finish to create their masterpiece (no experience required). Their website offers a list of summer 2016 workshops that are available for students and even an event called “Palettes & Pinot.” So bring your friends and also your Picasso-like painting skills. 475-282-1802
www.paletteartstudio.com/
A Little Square Boutique 75 Hillside Rd., Fairfield At A Little Square Boutique, those interested in exploring their crafty side will surely fit in. All kinds of events are held throughout the year such as “Girl’s Night Out Bath Scrubs and Lip Balm Party,” 2-hour private sewing classes, knitting classes for beginnings, and much more. Contact the number below if you would like to book a party, become a member, check out their various summer activities or to book a class of your choice. 203-955-1099 www.alittlesquare.com
Y institute of sacred music
Performances · Lectures and more Presenting
Great Organ Music at Yale · Yale Camerata Yale Schola Cantorum · Yale Literature and Spirituality Series and more
Visit this upcoming exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery and take a glimpse at Rhode Island furniture from the colonial and early Federal periods. From carved chairs and high chests to bureau tables and clocks, this exhibition holds over 130 Rhode Island objects sourced from various museums, historical societies and private collections, recognizing the innovations of design throughout time, and Rhode Island’s furniture production from the 17th century boom export trade, steady growth of craftsmanship in the 18th century, and then the slow decline to the 19th century. 203-432-0600 artgallery.yale.edu
Vanessa German/MATRIX 174 “i come to do a violence to the lie” June 9-Sept. 4 600 Main St., Hartford Open 11 a.m.-5p.m. Wed.-Fri., 10a.m.-5p.m. Sat., Sun. The Matrix 174 gallery at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art has a new addition setting the example of an act against violence. Artist Vanessa German recreates the tradition of African “Nkisi” power figures representing armor through their decoration of nails, beads, shells, and found objects. This sculpture, minimally illuminated by bare string light bulbs, are a symbol of dissolving evil as the figures stand in a military stance to fight off the violence against African Americans. About 30 of these black figures stand tall. 860278-2670. thewadsworth.org
For latest calendar information call 203.432.5062 or visit ism.yale.edu new haven
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ETA, Under Two Hours: Local Adventures Abound Beach Volleyball
Tired of the same old? Whether you’re an adventure seeker, a book nerd, a music lover, an outdoorsy athlete, an arts appreciator, or a foodie, the list highlights some classics along with some lesser known hidden gems in the Nutmeg State, so pack the sunscreen, the cooler, and don’t forget your shades.
Adult co-ed beach volleyball teams are a great way to burn some competitive energy, meet other people, make-up for winter’s Vitamin D deficiency and get some exercise. Many towns offer co-ed beach sports. The West Haven Volleyball League offers registration through the Parks & Rec department. The league is co-ed. The Stratford Beach Volleyball league is also co-ed.
West Haven Volleyball League – adult co-ed https://www.whparkrec.com/info/activities/program_details. aspx?ProgramID=22878
The Book Barn, Niantic Open 363 days a year, the Book Barn in the seaside town of Niantic is truly a book lover’s paradise and conveniently on the way to nearby Mystic if you’re heading north on 95. For the bibliophile, any day is really the perfect occasion to stroll the quaint and bucolic grounds of this impressive collection of more than 300,000 used books. But for the occasional book lover, the summer months are an especially nice time to shop for books while taking an occasional break to enjoy the gardens, or to scope out the perfect picnic table or lawn chair for that sought-after shady spot to provide some breezy summertime reading. What’s more, the main barn welcomes friendly on-leash pups and families with children will enjoy the array of outdoor games like jumbo versions of connect four, chess, and checkers—this is certainly not your typical bookstore, but to say more would be to ruin the surprise. www.bookbarnniantic.com
Elizabeth Park, Hartford and West Hartford
Noted as America’s very first public rose garden, the 101acre park with access points in Hartford and West Hartford offers a serene place to walk among 475 distinct rose beds. But this is hardly just a place for those who’d like to stop and smell the roses; stroll through and you’ll see the green space being used for yoga, tennis, biking, tai chi, lawn bowling, picnicking, or people-watching from one of the park’s dozens of benches. The park is also home to the The Pond House Cafe, a year-round delight for foodies and locavores. The chic park-to-table eatery boasts a menu with many ingredients that are grown in the park itself. For those seeking outdoor dining and more casual fare, the Dog House cafe serves up a variety of gourmet hot dogs, sandwiches, milkshakes, and dog treats from a take-out window. If that’s not enough, the park’s summer series hosts free family-friendly events such as movie nights on the East Lawn, dance performances, and a weekly Wednesday-night concert series that begins the last week of June. Bands in this summer’s series will play everything from Beatles covers to Swing to Zydeco. elizabethparkct.org
Portside Open Air Market & Food Festival The Waterfront Park in New London is trying something new this year with a weekly Sunday market full of vintage goodies, crafts, food trucks and a specialty food market and boutique vendors. The market will take place each Sunday from 10-4 through September on the half mile promenade on the water adjacent to the New London train station. Arrive by car, train or boat this summer. www.jadenevents.com/index.php?cPath=40
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Stratford beach volleyball league www.quickscores.com/Orgs/ResultsDisplay.php?OrgDir=stra tford&LeagueID=731656
Kayaking on the Quinnipiac River in New Haven can beging with a rental at the Quinnipiac River Marina on Front Street in the city of New Haven.
Escape New Haven Bring your friends, or enter one of the three puzzle rooms with a group of strangers to solve your way out. What does this switch do? What’s over here? What happens if I push this and unwrap that? Why won’t everyone just do what I tell them? Maybe you don’t get along as well with others as you thought. Go test yourself. They have air conditioning. 111 Whitney Avenue, New Haven $22-26 escape-industries.ninja
Water Sports Rent a kayak, or if you have your own, get it in the water and work on that upper body strength. Public docks can be found at Stony Creek beach in Branford, Silver Sands Park in Milford and many other places. If you don’t own one of these awesome pieces of equipment, rentals are available here: New Haven - Quinnipiac River Marina 309 Front Street, New Haven. www.quinnipiacrivermarina.com Stratford – speed boat and jet skis www.boardwalkmarinact.com/boat_rental.htm Westbrook – jet ski rental
Cruises and Boats
www.westbrookpowersports.com/index-2.html
Thimble Island boat tours - this two-hour boat tour won’t require a suitcase, no matter what lessons you’ve learned from Gilligan. Explore the history of this archipelago of almost 300 islands (depending on the tide) off the coast of Stony Creek in Branford that served as not only a pirate cove, but also the place Tom Thumb carved his initials, a retreat for the affluent in the Victorian era, and even still somewhat of a retreat outside of hurricane season. Tour companies mostly take walk-ons at the pier located at the end of Indian Point Road.
Candle Wood Lake (New Milford) – boats and jet ski and water ski rentals, pontoons, kayak
Take boat tours up the Connecticut River from Old Saybrook or various points along the river. Lady Katharine Cruises offers many options along the river, and also offers meals on board. Or, a 100+ year old schooner called the Mary E. leaves from Old Saybrook daily at Steamboat Dock, as part of the Connecticut River Museum, and then there is always The Riverquest, a catamaran traveling up the Connecticut River, if you prefer that modern feel.
Get Moving With Summer Sports, Activities, and Equipment Rentals Nutmeg State Games The Nutmeg State Games, held in New Britain, is the largest amateur multi-sporting event in Connecticut, celebrating 25 years this summer. Games include hockey, baseball, shooting, archery, gymnastics and participants range in age. Sporting events continue throughout the summer and into the fall, check the schedule at https://nutmegstategames.org/ schedule/.
www.gerardswatersedge.com/gerardswatersedgerentals.cfm Milford – canoe and kayak rental at Scoot & Paddle scootandpaddle.com Rentals of canoe and kayaks at State parks www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view. asp?a=2716&q=325288&deepNav_GID=1650
Brownstone Park, Portland Brownstone Park in Portland offers thrill-seekers an outlet for their adrenaline needs. Brownstone offers rock climbing, zip lining, cliff jumping, wake boarding and even some tamer activities like snorkeling and kayaking. The park is affiliated with the Powder Ridge Ski area, as well. Depending on the level of adventure you seek, prices range from $22 to $42. 161 Brownstone Avenue, Portland. www.brownstonepark.com
State History Hotspots Weir Farm, Ridgefield and Wilton Looking for something to do that mixes art with nature and is easy on the wallet? Weir Farm National Historic Site in Wilton, which commemorates the life and work of American Impressionist J. Alden Weir, is open from sunrise to sunset with no admission fee. It is only one of two National Parks dedicated to the visual arts and the only one dedicated specifically to American painting and painters. Visitors can enjoy outdoor activities like hiking, birding, photography, painting, and sketching. You can hike around Weir Pond, or explore any of the ten trails on the 110-acre Weir Preserve, which borders the farm. From May through October, the
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Weir Studio and Young Studio, once the primary working space for painter Sperry Andrews, are open to the public and allow a peek into the artist’s techniques, styles, influences, and creations while living on Weir Farm. Master artist and instructor Dmitri Wright started teaching weekend Impressionist painting seven years ago so be sure to check the park’s website often for his free workshops for varying age groups. This month, workshops include a plein air painting workshop for adults and a teen impressionist painting workshop. www.nps.gov/wefa
Nathan Hale Homestead, Coventry Homestead of one of one of Connecticut’s most well-known revolutionary heroes, the Nathan Hale Homestead hosts the Coventry Farmer’s Market on Sundays from 10-2, and a museum in the family’s former home, which was built in 1776. Much of the acreage is now the Nathan Hale State Forest. The farmer’s market is worth the drive: you can bring your dog and shop for excellent local seafood, fish, crops, baked goods, juices, teas and moonshine—and musicians performing while you browse, dance and eat. A must try? Faddy’s Donuts. www.ctlandmarks.org/content/nathan-hale-homestead
Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven What summer would be complete without a séance in a spooky old graveyard? As the final resting place of notables like Noah Webster and Roger Sherman, the Grove Street Cemetery is also home to the remains of Bart Giamatti, former commissioner of baseball, America’s favorite summer pastime. He was also President of one of the local universities—Yale, maybe? The facility offers tours on Saturday mornings. www.grovestreetcemetery.org
Charles W. Morgan, Mystic Seaport
Mystic Blues Festival, Mystic, 8/12-8/14
America’s only surviving wooden whaling ship, the Charles W. Morgan was built in 1841 and is parked in Mystic Seaport. Maritime history, an important part of Connecticut’s economic story, is captured well at Mystic Seaport. www. mysticseaport.org
Held at the North Stonington Fairgrounds, the fourth annual Mystic Blues Festival will feature three days of music featuring six-time Grammy winner and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member Dr. John and the Nite Trippers, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and DUMPSTAPHUNK The festival will also offer a variety of interactive workshops presented by professional educators and performer/instructors. All festival ticket holders, will have the opportunity to enjoy these programs at no additional cost. www.mysticbluesfestival.com
Powder Ridge Beer Festival & Sun Juice Festival, 7/30 and 8/26 Sure Connecticut has that delectable wine trail that is widely celebrated, but what about the state’s craft brews? In fact, beer events abound here and two of them are this summer and waiting for you to buy tickets. The Powder Ridge Beer Festival, to be held on July 30th this year, hosts thousands each year, samples 20 local brews and offers food, live music and lift rides on the ski lift. powderridgepark.com/powder-ridge-beer-fest-happensjuly-30/ The Sun Juice Festival is a celebration of local hotspot Stony Creek Brewery and will also offer beer—the brewery makes a delicious Sun Juice—food, music, games and entertainment on August 26th from 4-10pm. www.facebook. com/events/1633779176935972/
Podunk Bluegrass Festival, Hebron, 8/11-8/14 Celebrating its 20th year, Hebron’s Podunk Bluegrass Festival at the Hebron fairgrounds features local, regional, and national bluegrass acts on two stages. Bring your tent and banjo because camping is available on a first-come, firstserved basis and and the opportunity to join other campers for some good old fashion pickin’ into the wee hours is always a possibility. Advance tickets start at $15 for a one-day admission. www.podunkbluegrass.com
Shoreline Wine Festival, Guilford at Bishops Orchards, 8/13 & 8/14 Featuring Connecticut wines, local handicrafts, entertainment, food and food trucks, the Shoreline Wine Festival is a smaller wine festival to taste from the Connecticut Wine Trail. Bishops participates, although they offer a non-traditional wine menu: exclusively fruit wines other than grapes, since the orchard does not produce grapes at all. www.shorelinewinefestival.com/
Milford Oyster Festival, Milford Aug 20th This free festival features 35,000 oysters—the largest variety of the bivalve mollusks at any festival in the U.S. While you’re getting your mignonette on, you can get your groove on with performances by Blue Oyster Cult, the The Marshall Tucker Band, and others. Food, drinks, entertainment, kayak and canoe races,, craft shows, oyster eating contests, and even a sunset cruise on an 80 foot schooner cruise available for anyone who wants to go the full nine yards. An end to the summer not to be missed, held in Milford’s downtown. www.milfordoysterfestival.org
GOODSPEED MUSICALS
June 24 - Sept 4 The Goodspeed, East Haddam
July 29 - Sept 4 The Terris Theatre, Chester
860.873.8668 • goodspeed.org new haven
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B IB L I O FI L E S WORDS of MOUTH F Ê T EFreeze S Brain at Its Finest
Whittemore’s Ice Cream
The historic house which now houses the ice cream shop has been many things over the past couple hundred years: a tavern, a general store, maybe some other things—but ice cream is definitely the best use of space. The historic building informs the shop’s accessibility, as well with no phone and no website, you’ll just have to go there and see for yourself. Unfortunately, they’re most known for running out of the flavor you are in the mood for, so check back often. 114 S. Main St., Seymour
It’s time to stock up on Lactaid and hit all of the seasonal farm stands and ice cream shacks you can find churning out fresh creamy frozen happiness—in a cup or cone. Ice cream cakes are available at most traditional shops– so why not pretend it’s your birthday and have the weekend of a lifetime?
IN S T Y L E
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B&B Flower Farm & Ice Cream Shop Ok, this one is a bit of a cheat, but the setting is so idyllic with bunnies jumping around and horses looking at you expectantly as you walk by with your over-sized dripping cone. The ice cream is made locally, B&B serves up Milford-based Buck’s Ice Cream, which is delicious and fresh, but not exactly handmade on site. However, it’s location, location, location. Bbflowerfarm.com (203) 937-9794 668 Jones Hill Road, West Haven
BODY & SOUL
Ashley’s Ice Cream
Well, not that you need to be told about Ashley’s with locations in New Haven and the shoreline in Branford, Guilford and Madison, but you can’t talk about local and homemade ice cream without mentioning Ashley’s. The Nutella Chip is a favorite. Ashley was a dog – so canine companions are always welcome here. www.ashleysicecream.net (203) 776-7744 280 York St., New Haven
ONSCREEN
The Old Lyme Ice Cream Shoppe
When the word shop is spelled with an extra ‘p’ and ‘e’ in it, certain expectations are set in terms of authenticity and “specialness.” It’s quaint, yes, and it’s in Old Lyme for added effect, and the homemade ice cream is stellar with an excellent flavor selection. The pistachio with this one is strong. www.oldlymeicecreamshoppe.com (860) 434-6942 34 Lyme Street, Old Lyme
Arethusa Farm
Kind of a new kid on the block and flavors are basic, but fresh and made locally at the dairy farm in Litchfield. The downtown shop serves up fresh cones and cups – or pints to take home. Arethusafarm.com 1020 Chapel Street, New Haven
Sweet Claude’s
Sure we’d all like ice cream for breakfast, but they don’t open until noon. All ice cream made on site and a traditionalist when it comes to flavor selections, although their specials can be pretty spectacular. They offer sorbet, frozen yogurt, tofutti, and they say they even make their own hot fudge. www.sweetclaudes.com (203) 272-4237 828 S Main St., Cheshire
Wentworth’s Ice Cream
They also make their own hot fudge and it’s the rich and dark kind that you’ll want packed into every pint, or in a shot glass to drink straight to calm your nerves. Wentworth’s maintains a large variety of flavors, including a K-9 crunch for your pooch, and plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. www.wentworthsicecream.com (203) 281-7429 / 3697 Whitney Ave., Hamden
Jennifer’s Ice Cream
Fresh ice cream is made daily on site, but the shop also offers a variety of delicious and interesting frozen treats like the ice cream pizza (on a brownie crust), ice cream sandwiches, and ice cream cakes. Not much seating, but a great take-home treat. www.jennifersicecream.com (203) 468-1573 388 Main St., East Haven
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Rich Farm Ice Cream
It’s a dairy farm selling ice cream as a byproduct of the farm. This is frozen scoops of heaven straight from the source. Many excellent creameries make their product fresh, but this one is kind of tops in the “fresh” category what with their own variety of mint chocolate chip and peaches and cream cows. If you’ve decided to run a taste test, this is a solid baseline. www.richfarmicecream.com (203) 881-1040 / 691 Oxford Rd, Oxford
The Little Colombia Restaurant With its cozy little stone-walled dining room and generous portions of carne, The Little Colombia Restaurant serves up plentiful lunch and dinner plates in beloved ‘Staven. How many opportunities does one have to order a dish like the Bendeja Colombiana, which comes with a steak, rice and beans, pieces of avocado,
Bill’s Carousel
Well, they do make some of their own ice cream, like the cherry vanilla and banana and shortcake, but a lot of their stock is purchased from a distributor. However, they’re so incredibly nice and friendly we just wanted to include them for being good people. It’s not like the ice cream is bad – but if you’re in the neighborhood and want friendly service and something cold, Bill’s is a solid choice and open until midnight. (203)891-7302 1185 Whalley Ave., New Haven
chicken, sausage and pork. For something a little less. . . meaty, try the salmon with mango which is a generous portion of fish and a homemade mango-ish salsa. This family-owned restaurant sticks to a traditional Colombian menu for authentic flavor and homey comfort. (203) 745-1649 672 East Main St., East Haven
Mango Salmon Columbian
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Get Brunch Wrong And You’ve Ruined Two Meals
interesting and delicious fresh takes and more “lunchy” type options after 11.
While brunch used to be reserved exclusively for Easter and Mother’s Day, it’s taken hold as a cultural phenomenon catering to the hungover, hipster-ish, and those who like to stretch out a meal for hours so that they can squeeze in potentially another meal in the same sitting.
www.coppercitybarandgrill.com (203) 732-2317 / 82-84 Main St., Ansonia
Copper City Bar & Grill
www.box63.com (203) 821-7772 / 338 Elm St., New Haven
Boasting a menu with chicken and waffles—and who cares what else—weekend brunches are often set to the sounds of music, live bands perform while you indulge in day-themed cocktails, like a bellini.
Indoor and outdoor brunch seating, plus bottomless mimosa or bloody mary. They smoke their own salmon and pair it nicely with cream cheese and an onion bagel.
www.perfectparties.com (203) 245-0250 / 885 Boston Post Rd., Madison
Box 63
Woodbridge Social
www.woodbridgesocial.com (203) 553-9135 / 12 Selden Street, Woodbridge
Elizabeth’s Café
Of Perfect Parties catering fame, the restaurant serves a Sunday Brunch with the “usual suspects” like pancakes, Belgian waffles and eggs benedict, as well as some
With a chef trained in Hyde Park, this “American Rustic” eatery serves up a pretty great brunch on Sundays starting at 11. They also have live music during brunch, for added ambiance.
Tavern 1757
www.tavern1757.com (203) 516-5461 / 318 Roosevelt Dr., Seymour On Sundays from 11, Tavern 1757 offers a brunch buffet complete with omelet, carving, and waffle stations. This is the brunch you remember for Mom & Easter, with bottomless brunch cocktails available to order.
A Summer Cocktail With Garden Influence Chapel Street favorite Ordinary prides itself on “craft” and exotic cocktails. You can belly up to the bar for a slew of interesting and inventive aperitifs, or you can try this one at home. Red Vine Cooler 3 oz. dry red wine 1 oz. Aperol .25 oz. lemon oleo saccharum* .25 oz. lemon juice Pinch of fresh herb from your garden (mint pictured, but try thyme or basil, too) *oleo saccharum is a flavored simple syrup that’s very easy to make, but takes a bit of planning. Peel a citrus fruit (in this case, a lemon, but avoid the bitter white bits) and then coat the peels with lots of white sugar. Cover and let sit for 6 hours or until the citrus oil leaks out and the peels are soft. Add a bit of hot water to dissolve the sugar and give it a stir. To use, strain out a bit of the liquid and add it to your incredibly impressive summer cocktail.
F I N E C AT E R I N G
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ew England’s only destination venue featuring an exotic beach with live palm trees, teak boardwalks, award-winning gardens and sumptuous cuisine. We specialize in weddings, corporate events, private parties and off-site catering. Schedule your tour today!
AnthonysOceanView.com 450 Lighthouse Road New Haven, CT
(203) 469-9010 new haven
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Arepas and a Variety of Latin American on High Street
onions that clashed with pineapple and the quinoa being a tad too scarce.
Rubamba (203) 773-0032 | 25 High Street New Haven www.rubamba.com By Claudia Ward-de León
W
alk down High Street in New Haven, and you are apt to find a handful of restaurants that cater to nearly every budget, mood, and taste. Rubamba, a small storefront with a cheerful and playful interior that opened more than four years ago, will suit those looking for something quick, affordable, and with Latin American roots. To begin our meal, we were served a generous portion of chips and salsa, with the chips having just the right amount of crunch and the salsa hitting the tongue with the right amount of spice. Both tasted freshly made and were a pleasing start. We moved on to the Peruvian salad and the Mexican corn, a steamed, juicy ear of corn rubbed with butter, chili powder, and cotija cheese speared at one end by two slender sticks, which made eating what’s normally a messy appetizer, a breeze. While Rubamba’s interpretation of the now ubiquitous corn that everyone from hipsters to gourmets have fallen in love with was a
strong contender, the salad, although generous in proportion, left something to be desired. A mix of mesclun, tomato, quinoa, and what’s described on the menu as “fruit salad,” was an odd combination of
While the menu at Rubamba is varied with entrees like tacos, burritos, and tortas for the offering, the specialty of the house is the arepa. For those new to arepas, think of what looks like a grilled English muffin split in half and stuffed with a variety of fillings like chicken, pork, cheese, or black beans. Unlike the English muffin, however, this South American staple is made of ground corn. The arepa fillings at Rubamba were vast and creative: shrimp with cilantro, Cuban-style pulled pork, and even roasted portobellos. Opting for the more traditional Venezuelan experience, though, we went with the “reina pepiada” and the “vegetariana” arepas. The reina pepiada, which is as typical a filling to traditional arepas as jelly is to donuts, came out of the kitchen as a mound of mashed avocado, mayonnaise, and shredded chicken shoved between a soft-ball sized arepa. The vegetariana, an arepa stuffed with avocado slices, fried plantains, black beans, sliced tomato, and Oaxaca cheese was a better option for a dish that while certainly not on the light side, was more complex in taste and could be finished easier than the overly rich preparation of Rubamba’s pepiada. At $8 per arepa, with the Peruvian salad being roughly the same price point, the quantity of food at this High Street eatery is without a doubt a good value, but quantity in our eyes, should never mean a sacrifice in quality.
Voted Best Seafood Market 12 Years in a Row
New Haven’s Natural Market Produce • Vitamins • Juice Bar Bakery • Deli • Sandwiches ( )
Tura McNeil, Robert McNeil & Joe Lucchese
and much, much more!
Come by and say Hello to our new General Manager Joe formerly of Balducci’s & Citarella. Sample a full line of Joe’s new prepared items.
Hours: Mon-Sat 7am-6pm 2239 State Street, Hamden
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Established 1978 379 Whalley Avenue, New Haven (plenty of parking)
203-624-6171
www.eotwm.com • 787-1055
NumberOneFish.com
Mon-Fri 8:30am-7:30pm | Sat 8:30am-6:30pm | Sun 9:00am-6:00pm
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Durante’s Pasta
Beerlympic Winning Brew
Durantepasta.com (203) 387-5560 78 Fenwick Street, West Haven This 3 decades old family business is serving area restaurants like Tarry Lodge and independent grocers with a truly hand-crafted food product. Amadeo and Carmelino Durante, founders originally from the Naples region of Italy, are now retired and its their son Angelo at the helm. They produce a lot, we mean a lot, of pasta each week and can put together up to 10,000 pounds of ravioli in as little as 2
days. There is also a shop front at their West Haven location if you can’t find this fresh ravioli, or cavatelli,
We’re Gonna Make Your Day...
spaghetti, pappardelle, linguini— near you. They make quite the variety and even have a few sauces for sale, a very trustworthy marinara and vodka sauce.
Black Hog Granola Brown Ale, recent winner of the 2016 World Beer Cup, is just one of the many suds served up by this Oxford company, which seems to be everywhere these days. Widely distributed throughout the Northeast, Black Hog is in restaurants, at farmer’s markets, bottle shops, charity events, food festivals and pairs nicely with a strong desire to drink a good beer. Brewing since 2014, they know what they’re doing— one of the owners is beloved local chef Jason Sobocinski of Caseus and Ordinary.
Adriana’s
RESTAURANT & W INE BAR
One of the Top Italian Restaurants in the U.S. Zagat Rated www.CTcalendar.com
771 Grand Ave. New Haven • (203) 865-6474 adrianasnewhaven.com new haven
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By Claudia Ward-de León
Coming Home Hope is Where the Heart Is
A
s a teenager growing up in Cheshire, I did not know many lesbians firsthand.The gym teacher in junior high was rumored to be gay. With her no-nonsense short haircut and gruff way of speaking, she didn’t have it too easy in a town that was not known back then for its tolerance or diversity. In high school, I felt like I struck oil when I befriended a group of guys and girls who played guitars, wrote poems, and shopped for clothes at vintage stores. Some of us were open to dating either gender and we often confided in one another on these matters, but I always chalked our sexual fluidity to being edgy, artsy teenagers. With Kurt Cobain and Madonna as our generation’s major icons, wasn’t it our legacy to blur the boundaries of gender norms and sexuality? The year following my graduation from Southern, I fell in love with a woman, but I was stricken with a debilitating anxiety each time we tried to do anything a normal couple would do during this preNetflix era, for instance picking out a movie at the video store or going camping. No matter how internally “right” our relationship felt to me, whenever we stepped outside of my Goffe Street apartment, our relationship was marked with a forbidden quality; when I looked out at the world, I saw only straight couples gazing back. One
weekend, while eating dinner at some touristy shoreline restaurant, I vividly recall attempting to eat a cobb salad wondering the entire time with a hand-trembling fear if
the diners around us suspected we were more than just friends. And if they did, what would that mean for our safety? My thoughts raced: would my love life be destined to
a lifetime of anxiety-filled public outings, secrecy, and pretending to be friends with whomever I dated? A similar uncertainty carried into our relationship, we were both unsure of how to be around one another, and unsure of the parts we were or weren’t supposed to play. Was I supposed to hold the door for her or was she supposed to hold it for me? If she paid for dinner, did that mean that she was playing the part of the “male” in the relationship? Everything we did felt like we were making it up as we went along. With only our feelings to guide us, we stumbled, stuttered, and stammered through. I was devastated when our relationship ended nearly a year later. Coming-to-terms with our break-up took many difficult months; not being out to most people, I suffered in silence. I moved away from New Haven not long after feeling constrained by how small and limiting everything felt, by how close my parents were, by how long I’d lived here, by what seemed a lack of diversity. For the next decade, I move around quite a bit but spent the bulk of this time living, working, and studying in Boston.
Photo: Clytie Sadler
In Boston, it took most of my twenties, lots of courage, and a near-fatal bout with depression to overcome my fear of becoming the real me. It’s not easy to condense new haven
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Wasn’t it our legacy to blur the boundaries of gender norms and sexuality? the experience of what feels like shedding a cocoon with concision, but the words that surface are “relief” and “elation.” Relief and elation capture what I imagine most individuals from the LGBTQ community feel the first time they
step into a gay nightclub or bar, or the first time they’re a part of any of the scores of Pride celebrations that take place each June. When my wife and I decided to move back to Connecticut last summer, one of the first places we stopped in was a gay-friendly bar on Crown Street. Even though it’s touted as one of Connecticut’s oldest gay bars and has been there decades, I hadn’t known about it back in college, but we both felt at ease as we sat in the courtyard on a warm August night letting it sink in that we had a new home. One thing I have continued to marvel at since that night is just how liberal Connecticut and New Haven are. Living in Boston for many years, my wife and I experienced a lot of lip service to liberal ideals, but the “live and let live” mentality rings truer here. Whether one chooses to call it a way of life or a regional attitude, this is the very thing that makes our little city so rich and ripe with
erful uding a sunny rge family eilings and large two-�ered deck.”
possibilities--having spent much of my twenties outside New Haven, it is not a quality you find in any old place. As I continue to get reacquainted with the old and the new, and that which is changing, I am pleasantly surprised by what I see, but what completely disintegrated any remaining doubt I might have had about our decision to move back happened last week. While driving to my parents on a quiet Sunday morning, I passed by a huge pride flag with a black ribbon for Orlando flying in an otherwise empty field on a rural back road somewhere between Cheshire and Prospect. Upon seeing the colorful flag in the breeze, I felt safe and accepted, not to mention grateful for the compassionate act of one community reaching out to another during dire times. This heartfelt sense of community tops the reasons why we decided on this corner of the earth, but
some other reasons are the familiarity, potential, and diversity that we continue to see and feel. It’s easy to find dozens of places and events in New Haven where Ivy Leaguers rub elbows with artists and high school teachers and punks and craft beer brewers and attorneys and have a damn good time while doing it. At the neighborhood dog park each morning, I am surrounded by retirees, college students, researchers, lesbian entrepreneurs, and young dads. Our conversations often revolve around books, weekend plans, and sometimes even sports. As my year anniversary to moving back draws near, I confess to a different kind of “coming out” these days, especially when the topic of baseball is broached.To the chagrin of many of my neighbors, I am a diehard Red Sox fan, but luckily no one around here seems to hold that against me.
Enilda Rosas, Realtor
America's Choice in Home Care® • Bathing & Dressing Assistance • Grooming • Assistance with Walking • Medication Reminders • Errands • Shopping • Light Housekeeping • Meal Preparation • Friendly Companionship • Flexible Hourly Care • Respite Care for Families • Live-In Care Woodbridge
203.298.9700
What I like about this home: “Milford is a vibrant city with many young families moving in to take advantage of all it has to offer. These days buyers are looking for the appeal of established communi�es with a high walkability element. This Classic New England home has an invi�ng front porch, a great loca�on close to the beach and plenty of room for an extended family.” Background: “Born in Puerto Rico, I’m a Westville resident and fluent in Spanish. I've been a Realtor for 17 years and pride myself in customer service as my tag line states: YOUR HOME.....MY PURPOSE!!! Mother of Pedro Soto of New Haven, Deny Soto of Toronto, Canada and Vanessa Soto of South Beach, Miami, FL - all Hopkins graduates.” Passion: “I love to run and have been a runner all my adult life. It is my �me to recharge mentally and spiritually. A foot injury has prevented me from running recently, but I’m on the mend and look forward to ge�ng back into it. Maybe a marathon is in my future!”
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Newington
860.372.4429 VisitingAngels.com/woodbridge
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Real Estate
www.WDSELLS.com
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Alfred Maurer (American, 1868–1932), Nocturne, Paris, oil on board, Avery Galleries, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
ElEctric Paris May 14 – September 4, 2016
Masterpieces of the City of Light BRUCE MUSEUM Greenwich, Connecticut www.brucemuseum.org
Florence Gould Foundation