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New Haven I May/2008
PHOTOGRAPH:
12 ONE2ONE
Steve Blazo
‘Love, Medicine & Miracles’ author Dr. Bernie Siegel tells why your belief systems can keep you healthy
16 Heritage Clang, clang, clang went the trolley not so long ago. And in East Haven, they still do
20 Broke College Years Liese Klein reports on why middle-class families are being priced out of the college market
27 Summer Fashions Photographer Steve Blazo serves up a mindbending urban fashion shoot
34 Dining By Your Driveway Urban foragers hunt for — and find! — unusual edibles
38 Her Loss Was Her Gain A single mom’s weight-loss success story
42 At Home A Guilford couple builds the home of their dreams — literally
48 The Collector’s Collector A tour of the British Art Center’s Mellon collection with curator Angus Trumble
OUR COVER Bun Lai of Miya’s Sushi in New Haven. Photographed by Steve Blazo. Cover design and typography by Richard Rose. Styling by Leanne Harpin.
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New Haven I May/2008
PHOTOGRAPH:
55 Onstage Brooks Appelbaum reviews the latest offerings from the Yale Rep and Long Wharf
Steve Blazo
58 New Haven’s von Trapps New Haven’s remarkable, musical Taubl family
70 Words of Mouth The guilty pleasure of Five Guys Burgers, plus Claire (yes, that Claire) reveals her favorite other restaurant
78 To Bee Or Not To Bee The beekeeper’s life is milk and honey (without milk)
New Haven Vol. I, No. 8 | May 2008 Publisher Mitchell Young, Editor Michael C. Bingham, Design Manager Larissa Wigglesworth, Design Consultants Richard Rose, Terry Wells, Contributing Writers Brooks Appelbaum, Elvira J. Duran, Joyce Faiola, Michael Harvey, Felicia Hunter, Brittany Galla, Susan Israel, Liese Klein, Cindy Marien, Melissa Nicefaro, Tashema Nichols, Ron Ragozzino, Steven Scarpa, Photographers Steve Blazo, Anthony DeCarlo, Advertising Graphics Michelle Ulrich, Administrator Jill Perno Advertising Director Laura Whinfield, Senior Publisher’s Representatives Mary W. Beard, Ronni Rabin, Publisher’s Representatives Cynthia Carlson, Diana Martini, Business New Haven Advertising Manager Timothy Stanton New Haven is published 12 times annually by Second Wind Media Ltd., which also publishes Business New Haven, with offices at 1221 Chapel St., New Haven, CT 06511. 203-7813480 (voice), 203-781-3482 (fax). Subscriptions $24.95/year, $39.95/two years. Send name, address & zip code with payment. Second Wind Media Ltd. d/b/a New Haven shall not be held liable for failure to publish an advertisement or for typographical errors or errors in publication. For more information e-mail NewHaven@Conntact.com.
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‘Tis the commencement season, and as every commencement speaker since time immemorial has pointed out, commencement represents not an ending, but a beginning. For many of us, the beginning that high-school commencement signals is the onset of the full-blown college freakout. The key element to this malady is the phrase “many of us.” You see, the birth years 1990 and 1991 (the latter the year our son was born) represent the peak of the so-called echo boom — the baby-boomers’ own (not so) mini-baby boom. Doing the arithmetic, it’s easy to see that the high school classes of 2008 and 2009 confront the most competitive arena for college admissions — ever. (“Ever” because although the original baby-boomers were greater in number, relatively fewer of us applied to college compared to our progeny.) How competitive? The numbers are, frankly, ridiculous. This year Harvard turned away 25,514 applicants out of 27,462 — an acceptance rate of 7.1 percent. Yale offered admission to just 8.3 percent of its 22,813 hopefuls. You have a better chance of contracting dengue fever than you have of getting your bundle of joy into an Ivy. Regardless of where your child is admitted, you almost certainly will face the sticker shock of college costs that have escalated far faster than any other product or service other than gasoline. A generation ago it cost $5,000 a year to attend the most elite U.S. colleges. Now it’s ten times that. As Liese Klein reports in “Broke College Years,” middle-class families are increasingly discovering that a private college education is simply beyond their means. Last winter Harvard announced that families earning less than $180,000 annually would pay no more than ten percent of their income to attend, while those earning less than $40,000 would pay nothing at all. Yale quickly followed suit with a similar tuition initiative. But with endowments that exceed the gross national product of most nations, Yale and Harvard can afford to be generous. Other schools remain on the accelerated cost escalator — and in a sellers’ market, they needn’t be terribly coy about it. Now excuse me while I board the plane to China to go sell my kidney. v
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Is That Really Dover Sole? You may not actually see bar code stickers on the striped bass you pull out of the Sound or are served in your local restaurant any time soon, but the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration is building a global reference library of DNA
barcodes for all the fish in the sea. According to the NOAA nearly all biological species have distinct gene sequences, and they can be identified using a short gene sequence collected from a standardized position in the genome — a DNA bar code, if you will. To date 508 specimens representing 162 species — including 101 of 252 known species from the Gulf of Maine — have been “bar-coded.”
as you can give. Visit Artidea.org or phone volunteer coordinator Rachel Shapiro at 203-498-3750 or e-mail volunteer@artidea.org to learn more. Don’t forget — at bare minimum there’s a T-shirt in it for you.
Step Up for the Arts New Haven’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas wants you. The festival, which runs June 14 through June 28 this year, is on the hunt for volunteers, and they’ll take as much or little time
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Get a Job, Says Bob Dale Carnegie’s Bob Dickson has some tips for job seekers — especially those about to graduate this month and next. The Naugatuck-based employee training company has seen, and fixed, it all. Here are some job interview tips Dickson says you might want to consider for yourself, or for that young person whose bedroom you secretly covet for a sewing room. • Have several copies of your resume with you
problems like global warming. Many on campus agree with Levin asking him to take a role in pressuring China on human rights abuses. The Yale Daily News reported on one petition with 400 signatures called for Yale to use its especially strong relationship with the Chinese government to encourage “openminded dialogue.” Levin told reporters he has urged the Chinese “to seek a peaceful resolution to the current [Tibetan] situation through dialogue.” Edwin Everhart, student coordinator for Amnesty International, may be asking for more, however. “Yale is not criminally negligent, but it is morally unacceptable to stand by while your friends are committing abuses,” he said.
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A Foreign Policy To Call Its Own Addressing the Foreign Policy Association in New York City last month, Yale University President Richard C. Levin asserted, “The American research university is not just an educational institution.” No, instead it is a “highly effective instrument of U.S. foreign policy.” Levin wants U.S. leaders to understand how more research dollars, visas and foreign study can better America’s position in the world. He added that his own university ought to set an example as a global problemsolver by helping to tackle
We Have You Saving the World One Latte at a Time The 400 folks in the little village of Bawa in the African country of Cameroon will a have a little more step in their step thanks to the help of students from the Quinnipiac University chapter of Students in Free Enterprise. The 15 students opened Café Cameroon last month. The “social entrepreneurial venture” is aimed at reducing the prevalence of infectious diseases in Bawa. All profits from the sale of Café Cameroon will go directly to the Bawa Health Initiative, an independent nonprofit charitable organization. Says Quinnipiac student Antoinette Maljevic, the Bawa project leader, “This project has opened my eyes to the ability students have today to help people, not only in their communities but on a global scale.”
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That you’re sincere. I call it ‘living the sermon.’ Years ago my wife participated in a lot of the presentations, and often our kids were sitting in the front there, too. People would come and say, ‘We can trust you, your family is sitting in the front row.’ Speaking from my experience, rather than I believe this or I believe that. What I try to do is inspire people.
What changed me literally was the pain, I say MD was my disease. I cared about people and I did a lot of pediatric surgery. It’s painful, and you begin to question fundamentals of life. Why would God make a world like this? How old were you then? About 30 when I started practicing. I trained here, left to do pediatric surgery in Pittsburgh and came back. I went to a conference on how to treat cancer patients. There were 125 people there and three doctors. The other two doctors were psychotherapists. Sitting next to me was one of my patients who had breast cancer. Her quote to me, which I’ll never forget, was ‘I feel better when I’m in [your] office; I need to know how to live better between office visits.’ I thought, ‘Okay, stop focusing on keeping people from being dead; help them live.’ How did you turn that interaction into a new way of practicing medicine? I sent out 100 letters to patients in our office [saying] ‘If you want to live a longer, better life, come into our new group.’ I felt I could help empower patients. I thought [we would] have 500 people show up, but at the first meeting less than a dozen women showed up. I realized, ‘You don’t know the people you’re taking care of. You’re offering them a longer life, and they’re not showing up.’ There are issues of guilt and blame and shame, parents and religion.
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What was the first step that put you on your path?
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rooklyn-born, Yale-trained surgeon Bernie S. Siegel has changed the way doctors and patients think about illness — cancer in particular. In 1978 he founded the support group Exceptional Cancer Patients as a “form of therapy” utilizing patients’ drawings, dreams, images and feelings to involve them in taking control of their own therapy. His 1986 bestseller Love, Medicine and Miracles brought worldwide recognition and a new career as a lecturer and author. Thousands of lectures and nearly a dozen books later, Siegel presses on. In 1978 he was a lonely sailor in uncharted seas; today he is but one of many captains of a worldwide movement that seeks to tie the personal and spiritual to health and even the outcome of medical treatments. Siegel facilitates monthly support groups in Woodbridge (where he lives) and Simsbury. Emblematic of the broad acceptance of his once-controversial ideas, Siegel will be the keynote speaker at the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce’s 2008 Regional Healthcare Breakfast June 10 in North Haven. NHM Publisher Mitchell Young interviewed Siegel for ONE2ONE.
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Steve Blazo
-You soon turned away from traditional ‘doctoring.’ What was that like? If I hadn’t grown up loved, I couldn’t have done what I did. I began to get attacked [by critics] — that’s why I was on all the famous talk shows. They call you to say they want you on their show, and then get a whole panel of people to yell at you. What was the gist of the attack? ‘If you ask a patient what is happening in their life, you’re blaming them. You’re making patients feel like [their illness] is their fault and you’re giving them false hope.’ Today, 30 years later, there are studies that show if people are lonely it affects their immune system. I [was] teaching people survivor behavior, but doctors didn’t see it that way. Much of this doesn’t seem abnormal now. I always say we get medical information, but not education. I’ve never met a medical student who was told that Carl Jung interpreted a dream [that he had cancer]. When I wrote my first book, Love, Medicine & Miracles, I sent a copy to the psychiatrist Carl Monaghan, because he saw how the health of an individual was affected by their emotional life. He wrote back: ‘I was about to write book called Twelve Hopeless Cases [about] people all considered [terminally ill] who are now alive and well. But [instead] you’ve written it, so I’m not going to.’ But you walk into an oncologist [with the book] and they tell you you’re nuts. What’s your philosophy in a nutshell? Doctors refer to ‘miracles’ and ‘spontaneous remission, but when I was reading [Aleksandr] Solzhenitsyn’s book Cancer Ward,’ Solzhenitsyn, who had cancer, he said, ‘It is as though self-induced healing flooded out of the great open book like a rainbow-colored butterfly to see and they all held up their cheeks and foreheads for its healing touches.’ I thought, ‘Wow, he’s been there; he knows.’ There are cases of self-induced healing. Why a butterfly? You have to transform your life. If you say, ‘I’m going to be dead in six months,’ you say, ‘I think I’m going to start enjoying my life.’ And at the end of six months, you’re not dead. I can see where patient blame is implied, because if we can heal ourselves the corollary is we can make ourselves sick, too. Or God punished them. But if you say my parents didn’t love me, by midlife almost 100% have a major illness. Why do people smoke, why are they 200 lbs overweight, are they stupid, no, what are they searching for 14
may 2008
Siegel: ‘The doctor is the tourist and the patient is the native.’
that they didn’t have in their life. So that’s why I say we have to re-parent people. One of the points I make is: Don’t do things to not die, it doesn’t work. What I’m trying to get across is how can we heal your life and derive the benefits. You are saying something physical will occur? It’s scientific in the sense that just as bacteria, virus and plants make genetic alterations to survive antibiotics, vaccines and weather conditions, we have the capability, too. It’s not as easy in a human. On Monday mornings there are more heart attacks, strokes and illnesses. So what do you do — cancel Monday? No. You change your attitude about your life and work. Who finally converted you to this philosophy?
My patient — she reprogrammed me to help [patients] live. The benefit of helping people live is, I began to notice they didn’t die when they were suppose to. About two months ago there was a news story about a man in England who was told he had two months to live. He spent every penny, and then he didn’t die. Now he wants to sue his doctor. It sounds like the country song by Tim McGraw, ‘Live Like You Were Dying.’ I love country and folk — it’s about stories of life. On several of your book jackets you have quotes from Deepak Chopra and some other very popular media and New Age types. He’s quoted as saying, ‘Bernie Siegel is one of the greatest healers of our time.’ Is there a relationship?
We started together changing [the way people viewed things]. I went to workshops with Elizabeth Kubler Ross [On Death & Dying], she taught me a lot things [about treatment in hospitals] Then I was called crazy in the hospital for talking to patients under anesthesia. And with music in the operating room, the same. When people saw a benefit, they stopped criticizing. If there are benefits, why not do research to prove it? If they think you’re crazy, who’s going to fund your research? Yale did do a study two or three years ago on the benefits of music in the operating room, and guess what? People feel better. There’s still not much research, is there? The belief systems have to shift. Cancer patients who laugh do live longer, [according to] a study done with the American Psychosomatic Association. These are things that weren’t even thought about decades ago, but at least they are becoming subjects now. Recently there was a media story about a couple who denied their child medical care because they were praying instead. Their kid didn’t heal — how do you balance this?
This is why I began to study religion. I would have said to these parents: If you lose your car keys, does God want you to walk home? The odds are they’d say, ‘I’ll look for my keys.’ Then [I’d say] ‘Your child lost her health — look for it instead of saying God will return it? Go to the doctor and let the doctor find your child’s health. Use religion, but interpret it in a proper way.’
What is your religious background?
Do you think this an age of science or an age of spirituality?
It helped me to open up. I began to see the pain of certain individuals because of their religion. In 1842 Pope Leo declared, ‘If you vaccinate yourself from smallpox, you will not go to heaven, because God decides who gets smallpox.’ The church changed its mind on that one.
As I’ve grown, I’ve become more spiritual and less religious. To me it’s the intelligence behind the universe. Physicists will say desire alters the physical world. Does a doctor say that? No.
My grandfather who left Russia taught Judaism not as rabbi but as a teacher. I never went to [religious] school; it was totally relaxed informal discussion. I wasn’t stuck on rituals and things. When I went to Colgate [class of 1953], being a Jew you were totally out of place. Is that what helped separate you out?
Are doctors and others still saying that Bernie Siegel is nuts?
Do you see yourself as part of the New Age spirituality movement? Some others say that about you.
Some of it has to do with what’s within the person, two people listen to my lecture. One says, ‘He’s nuts’; the other, ‘He’s so inspiring.’ What’s the difference? Not me. It’s what you get out of meeting me. The Sufi poet Rumi says, ‘Criticism polishes your mirror.’ Criticism helps me become a better doctor, person, whatever. I’ve learned I’m here to help people. If I can’t help I don’t want to hurt them.
No. I say it’s a new covenant, the relationship you have with the universe. The thing that helped me most is a story about a rabbi who says as he’s watching Jews being slaughtered, ‘I wish I was God.’ Someone asks him, ‘Oh, so would stop this?’ and he says, ‘No, but I’d understand why.’ Wow. If someone had said to me in medical school, ‘You have to understand why we Continued on 33
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Clang Clang Clang Went the Trolleys By Elvira J. Duran
B
efore automobiles crammed streets and sat bumper-to-bumper on highways during rush hour, a cleaner, more affordable, convenient and fun form of transportation was all the rage during the late 1800s and up until the mid-1900s. No, not horses or roller skates, but trolleys. Trolleys helped create the suburban sprawl that cars later confirmed.
San Diego’s trolley may be the fourth most-ridden light rail system in the United States, and San Francisco may have both streetcars and cable car trolleys to boast of, but New Haven County has an electric “trolley” (it isn’t attached to any cables or tracks, so it’s really an electric bus designed to look like an old-fashioned trolley, but the city calls it a trolley) and the oldest continuously operating suburban trolley line in the country. Along with a whole museum dedicated to this mini-railroad industry. If “the weather outside is frightful” and you do have a place to go in New Haven (perchance from one end of Chapel Street — say, where it intersects with York Street — to the other end at State Street), you’re in luck — you’ve got a free ride, so take it easy. The “trolley” operates on a 15-minute loop from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except Sunday. So where did the designers of the New Haven Trolley get their inspiration? Probably at the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, a place recognized for its preservation of Connecticut and American
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East Haven’s Shore Line Trolley Museum operates a 1.5-mile section of the old Branford Electric Railway.
history by the National Register of Historic Places. The Trolley Museum has a collection of restored trolleys it operates on a 1.5-mile segment of the Branford Electric Railway, a piece of the Connecticut Co.’s trolley route (the old “F” line) which ran from downtown New Haven through East Haven, into Branford and even all the way to Stony Creek for nearly half a century (1900-47). Although the rides on this trolley aren’t free (unless you’re under age five), they are time-travelesque. This ride will transport you to yesteryear via the woods and marshland of Beacon Hill to Short Beach.
Return to a time when getting from one town to another in Connecticut was only a quick trolley ride away. Over 100 towns in the state were connected via electric railways, especially all of the shoreline towns. People rode trolleys to shop for groceries, go to work or school or go out on the town for the evening. Trolleys helped create the suburbs, making it possible to live remotely from urban centers of employment and yet commute easily and affordably. Mass use of trolley service declined once the automobile was affordable for the common folk. But perhaps now with the climate change problem, trolleys may come back into public favor. The Trolley Museum owns nearly 100
vintage transit vehicles, some of which are operational and others just for show. Visitors get to ride beauties like the Connecticut Company City Car 1602, a 1911 wooden trolley with a concrete floor and straight-line seating that ran in the city of New Haven; the Brooklyn Convertible 4573, a 100-year-old breezy convertible car, which Brooklyn “Trolley Dodgers” (from which the baseball team, now resident in Los Angeles, took its name) also rode during the winter; the Johnstown 357, an immaculately restored, typical small-town steel-sided trolley from Johnstown, Pa., that survived the great flood of 1938; or Montreal Car 2001, a Canadian car which ran into the 1960s. The museum also houses a large collection of photographic images, books, documents and small artifacts (such as tokens, hat badges and ticket punches) that give visitors the feel of what it was like in the trolley days. The Shore Line Trolley Museum is a fun place for the whole family, especially in May. Moms ride for free on Mothers’ Day (dads ride free on Fathers’ Day, too) . Beginning the weekend of May 17-18 and continuing through September) , museumgoers will be able to be operate a trolley
This year museum-goers will have an opportunity to operate a trolley car themselves.
car themselves as part of the museum’s guest operator program. Sunset trolley tours take place each Friday, Saturday and Sunday from June through September. There’s a Pumpkin Patch and a Graveyard Express in October. The museum is open Saturdays and Sundays in May and daily from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
And if visiting just isn’t enough, the Trolley Museum is a great place to volunteer (most of the people who work there are in fact volunteers). Volunteers range from eight to 80 years old. Everyone is welcome. Bring whatever skills you have and be prepared to acquire new skills and learn about history, culture, and technology. Contact a volunteer coordinator at volunteer@bera.org
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Summer in the City in Their Own Hands One city teen figured there were better things to do than just hanging out during school vacation By Cindy Simoneau
J
avaughn Harris is not one to sit back and let others solve problems plaguing his Newhallville neighborhood. With a maturity that belies his teenage years, he decided the young people living near his home deserved immediate action and attention.
Like many children on summer vacation, his neighbors along with his younger brother James had little to do once school ended. Fearing the idleness could lead to boredom and trouble, Harris founded a summer camp to provide them with educational and social opportunities to occupy their time and minds. With the support of Solar Youth Inc., a handful of financial backers and significant help from his friend Caprice Taylor, Harris has turned his vision into reality. Last summer they formed the Thompson Street Youth Coalition offering a camp to 20 neighborhood children ages six to 17. They kept the campers busy with field trips and school-related studies. “Our neighborhood has one of the highest crime rates in the city,” Harris says. “Knowing this, I realized kids just needed something better to do than hanging around and possibly getting into trouble.” 18
may 2008
Wise beyond his years, 17-year-old Harris ‘realized kids just needed something better to do than hanging around and possibly getting into trouble.’ So that’s exactly what he gave them.
Harris, a 17-year-old senior at the Metropolitan Business Academy, a public magnet high school, learned about leading others as a member of the board of directors for Solar Youth. According to co-founder Joanne Sciulli, Solar Youth is a New Haven-based nonprofit youth development and environmental education organization founded in 2000. “Our mission,” Sciulli explains, “is to provide opportunities for young people to develop a positive sense of self and connection and commitment to others through programs that incorporate
environmental exploration, leadership and community service.” With Sciulli serving as a personal adviser, and Solar Youth as the new coalition’s fiduciary, Harris set about collecting donations from individuals and organizations including the city’s Youth@ Work program. Harris served as the camp director and Taylor, a junior at New Haven Academy, was the education coordinator. Leading others is a calling for Harris. “I’ve
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always been one of those people others “It was a lot of work, but we did it all For this summer, Harris says the watchword looked up to, so it was easy for the kids in ourselves and we felt good when we saw is more. More help, more children and my neighborhood to see me as the leader of kids having fun,” Harris says. “Making more activities, more field trips and more this camp,” he says something happen takes a lot of hard learning. “We could also use more student work and dedication.” As for managing volunteer leaders and help with our budget,” Working with a longtime friend was also other staff and teaching them how to lead he says. a learning experience for the pair. “We children, Harris says he had to learn to learned a lot about each other, and our Based on what Harris accomplished, Sciulli keep everything organized. different ways of doing things,” Harris says Solar Youth has decided to start a says. “We have different ways of working He says the student-run group is new program of its own this summer. and we had to work that out together.” successful because the teens have a better Citycology Summer will be a teen-led understanding of how younger children camp for children at the Westville Manor The pair spent weeks of full-time effort want to be treated and how to talk to them. public housing complex. planning the summer activities, and once “We understand them,” he says. “We know launched, their behind-the-scenes efforts “With adult supervision and guidance, the neighborhood and their problems, continued hours after the six-hour camp teens will plan, organize and lead fun, because we live here, too.” day ended. educational, safe summer programs for Neighborhood families, he says, have younger children in their neighborhood,” Camp session last year ran from July 6 thanked him and his staff and told them she says. to August 8 and the days extended from what a lifeline they were for childcare. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (this summer’s start date Harris of course also has an eye on his Some people, needing to get to work, was TBA at press time) . Campers were future, which he hopes includes a career in would drop off children at his mother’s organized into smaller groups by age so graphic design. Next year he plans to enroll home before camp began. “They wanted activities were appropriate to them. at Gateway Community College. their kids to participate and they had to get Among the field trips were visits to the to work, so they would come over earlier.” To learn more about the Thompson Street Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport as well as Youth Coalition, or to make a donation, Harris’ mother not only helped lending Norwalk’s Maritime Aquarium. The end visit its Web site at TSYC.org. Information this neighborly hand, but also served as a of the season was capped by a special about Solar Youth’s programs is available volunteer at the camp. presentation ceremony and picnic at which at SolarYouth.com. v campers received recognition for their summer efforts.
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Peter and Betsy Adams of Cheshire (left) scrimped and saved ever since their two daughters — Nicole (opposite, top) and Paula — were born, and still were confronted with college sticker shock. PHOTOGRAPH:
Steve Blazo
By Liese Klein
F
or Betsy Adams of Cheshire, this “We did extensive research, so wasn’t how it was supposed to work had a pretty good idea of what out. things cost,” Peter says. “There is still the sticker shock that Her oldest daughter, now 22, started her comes at see the numbers of what first job in Philadelphia this spring and is covered by grants, scholarships, is already paying $500 a month toward etc., and what is still out of her student loans. After earning a degree pocket.” at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., the young woman is more than $50,000 in debt, Peter and Betsy Adams are hardly and budgets herself only $40 a week for the only New Haven-area parents food. Adams’ younger daughter will face facing the disconnect between a similar bill when she graduates from income, savings and skyrocketing Miami University in Ohio in three years. college costs. Connecticut ranks fourthhighest in the nation in the amount of Although Adams and her husband scrimped college debt per student, with an average of aid to parents earning and saved since the girls were born, layoffs $23,469 in 2006, according to the Institute between $120,000 to $180,000 a and job changes got in the way of building for College Access and Success. year. Weeks later, Yale said it would spend a sufficient college nest egg. Then both girls fell in love with colleges with costs The University of New Haven topped the $24 million a year boosting aid to those near the upper limit of what their parents list inside the state, with 2006 graduates making up to $200,000 annually. could afford. carrying an average of $35,118 in debt, Stanford followed in February, trumpeting compared to $30,399 the year before, plans to waive tuition completely for “As a parent I would love to be able to say reflecting its high percentage of needy undergraduates from families making less to my children, ‘Go to any school you want students. (Yale students, by contrast, than $100,000 a year. to go to and be able to have a clean start graduated with an average of only $13,344 [without debt],’” Adams says, her voice But Yale and other elite colleges are helping in loan debt in 2006.) breaking. “That’s just not reality, and I only the top fraction of students, most of don’t know if for a lot of people that it is.” To make things worse, the credit crisis of those already blessed with ample options recent months has caused student-loan thanks to their talent. These schools may “Saving for college seems to be a loser’s issuers to raise rates and fees, adding to be also motivated my more than just game,” agrees Peter, a West Haven father family debt. In February, major lenders generosity — critics point out that the of four (who asked that his last name not the Pennsylvania Higher Education tuition breaks came just as Congress was be used). A project manager at a local bank, Assistance Agency and the College Loan considering forcing the wealthiest schools Peter has been putting aside money since Corp. announced they would stop issuing to pay more taxes as their endowments his oldest daughter was born to pay for federally guaranteed loans altogether. surge. higher education. Now with two kids in college and two more nearing application Colleges are belatedly recognizing the And some experts argue that the generosity age, the family has cut back on cars and problem, extended a flurry of tuition of colleges with large endowments is vacations — and it’s still not enough. breaks in recent months. Harvard started distorting the market and making it even the ball rolling in December by increasing new haven
21
PHOTOGRAPH:
Steve Blazo
This month Michelle Ulbrich of Southbury will graduate from the University of New Haven with $120,000 in student-loan debt.
tougher on middle-class parents of average students.
cost is so much less than a private four-year college.”
different category in terms of their endowments,” notes Lynn Bushnell, vice president for public affairs at Quinnipiac University. “We have always been committed to providing the best financial-aid packages that we’re capable of offering.”
“Most colleges will feel compelled to Hayes adds that good students who might follow Harvard and Yale’s lead in price- once have considered private colleges discounting. Yet few have enough money to are also attracted by state schools’ recent give more aid to relatively wealthy students building boom and revamped programs. without taking it away from relatively poor “UConn and the other state schools look ones,” wrote Columbia University officials nicer and facilities are better” than in the “Affordability has been an issue for a Roger Lehecka and Andrew Delbanco in a past, he adds. while,” agrees Judy Dobai, associate vice January 22 New York Times op-ed. president for enrollment management at Snazzy new dorms at UConn, plus a Fairfield University. “Parents are making “That doesn’t make logical sense to me,” demographic “baby bump” that’s peaking a significant sacrifice to afford a private counters Gila Reinstein, a spokesperson in the next few years, means that state education.” for Yale. The university made its move to schools are also a lot more difficult to get better compete with rivals for talented kids, into, Hayes adds. As a result, this year’s Tuition, room and board at Fairfield for this she adds. crop of 290 Branford High seniors have academic year topped out at $47,135, and applied to more schools, and even then the university has boosted its financial aid “We and our peer institutions are aggrmay have to settle for a branch campus. budget 33 percent in the last three years to essively looking for these extraordinarily meet demand, Dobai says. But that higher capable kids,” Reinstein says. As for the “The bar is up everywhere,” Hayes says. budget doesn’t mean that Fairfield, with effects on other colleges of discounting? “Kids are looking at a couple of extra a $250 million endowment compared to “We may not in fact be competing for the [schools] because UConn is much more Yale’s $22 billion, can afford to do much to same students,” she says. difficult to get into. That’s about numbers.” help those earning a middle-class salary. More average students are seeing their As more families turn to state schools for “We are not in a position to say to families choices restricted and their futures dictated affordable higher education, local private that are in middle-income ranges that we as never before by financial concerns. colleges with smaller endowments are can do more,” Dobai acknowledges. “It’s doing their best to keep themselves a viable “I see more kids finding our state colleges the families that are in the middle that do option. appealing,” says Ed Hayes, a guidance struggle the most.” counselor at Branford High School. “The “The Ivy League schools are in a very In many cases, middle class students must 22
may 2008
borrow more to meet costs—Fairfield students graduated with an average of $28,751 in debt in 2006, according to the Institute for College Access and Success. Students are well aware of their burgeoning debt loads and are speaking out, filling blogs and campus newspapers with stories of hardship and frustration. Many question why college costs are rising at double the rate of the consumer price index. “No middle-class student should be asked to pay $50,000 every year for four years for a college education — especially when today’s uncertain job market offers no guarantees a graduate will see returns on his education investment any time soon,” the editors of the Daily Free Press at Boston University wrote on March 17, the week a tuition hike was announced. Colleges counter that their expenses are rising, especially in the Northeast, with higher energy, health insurance and other costs. Students who pay full price also expect hotel-quality dorms and cuttingedge science labs, none of which come cheap. At the University of New Haven, Director of Financial Aid Karen Flynn steers struggling students toward on-campus jobs with stipends. Work as a resident advisor or a job in student government can cover up to three-fourths of the school’s $26,396 annual tuition, she says. (Room, board and fees bring the total cost of attending UNH to $38,813 a year.) “It’s not a coincidence that these concerns arise as the economy is declining,” adds Justin Harmon, vice president for public affairs at Wesleyan University in Middletown. Wesleyan has set its sights on boosting its endowment to $700 million from the current $620 million to meet financial aid needs. “We’ve all heard the concern and it’s been a priority for some years now,” Harmon says. “The pressure’s going to be even greater on all of us to do more.” For Peter, the West Haven parent of four, savings have not kept up with costs and he’s resigned to taking out loans to pay for college. Although he and his wife were able to work their way through college and graduate without debt, Peter knows that’s no longer possible. “With the high cost of even the most modest school, young people will be entering the world with a significant debt already around their necks,” Peter adds. “Half off of very expensive is still expensive.” v
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he first week of April brought joy and sorrow to millions of American teenagers. It was college admissions week, when envelopes and Web sites gave a thumbs up (admittance), down (rejection) or a kiss from your sister (wait-listed).
This culminated years of freakish focus and fearful ambition. Little did we babyboomers know that when we gave birth to these little blobs of flesh almost two decades ago, they would yet again be the focus of our own joy and pain. Birth came only after a nine-month period of angstfilled anticipation, made all the worse by our instant-gratification impatience — itself conditioned by being reared in front of a TV set. Pregnancy forced us to put on hold our whining sense of entitlement with extreme preparatory measures. What To Expect When You’re Expecting became our bible, and dozens of collateral classes, videos, magazines and baby groups ensued. Little did we know there would be a parallel experience 18 years later.
excruciatingly boring games and activities, but many practices as well, and focused on making sure our precious bundles of genetic legacy participated at the “highest level.” In creating our little Frankenstein monsters of the nature/nurture toxic soup our progeny invariably became, we set ourselves up for the ultimate practical joke for those who live vicariously through our young — the college application process. This year saw the largest herd of hominids ever to throw their hats into the ring for college consideration. The “elite” schools had the lowest level of acceptance in history — seven percent — with thousands of flawless candidates (perfect SATs, across-the-board honors course A’s) getting rejected. Those rejection odds breed fear, fear breeds panic, and panic creates zillions of coping mechanisms — tutoring, personal counseling, Internet programs, published guides, seminars, SAT prep courses — all attempting to provide psychological succor and strategic insight to those trying to make a system based on merit comport to a system that responds to desire and desperation.
We did vaulting somersaults to figure out what day care, preschool, kindergarten and, if we could afford it, private schooling our spawn would have. We then proceeded to micromanage every aspect of their education The computer age has spawned the — teacher selection, activities and, of course “common ap,” which allows anyone to sports. Not only did we attend the often apply to just about any college on the
computer. This made everything much easier to edit, ďŹ le, etc. It also brought costs down to the point that college application costs — in very stark contrast to the cost of attending college — really have not gone up in the last 30 years. Moreover, creating the essays for college applications can be done literally by typing and pressing a button versus by typing, re-typing and typing again to edit and ďŹ ne-tune various essays for each individual college. Submission simply means pressing the “sendâ€? button as opposed to making sure the postage was correct, the envelope was postmarked by the appropriate date, and it was sent to the right address. When desirable things become easier and cheaper, more of them happen. In the world of college admissions, this means that as the number of applications increased, the number of spots for applicants did not increase sufďŹ ciently to meet them So given the law of supply and demand — the relatively slow increase in supply and the exponential increase in demand due to technological improvements, as well as the huge demographic bulge of baby-boomers having babies, created a perfect storm of extreme need with commensurately less opportunity to meet that need.
As a generation, we boomers have succumbed to the illusion that we can control outcomes by sheer force of will. This faith in focus is utterly delusional when it comes to arenas that are completely market-driven. As any ďŹ rst-year economics student will tell you, increased demand means decreased control of supply. Without control over supply, there is inevitably less choice. To compensate, we have succumbed to our natural predilection to “game the systemâ€? when confronting the daunting numbers of so many competing boomerlets. We so desperately want to ensure the continuation of our world domination by getting our offspring into the “bestâ€? school. After all, they did make the “bestâ€? travel soccer team, didn’t they?
potential savior of all mankind (or at least a pretty decent political science major). This gigantic fool’s errand is aided and abetted by the College Application Industrial Complex, in which consultants, books, blogs, articles and “programsâ€? and any number of mutually reinforcing purveyors of unmerited hope and rumor seduce all of our usually more rational left lobes by promising yet another notch on the belt we call our “life rĂŠsumĂŠâ€?. It’s so much easier to communicate the superiority of our parenting skills by a school’s brand name recognition versus the content of the character of our kids’ souls. College
When you bought all the right toys to hang over your child’s cradle to maximize his simultaneous potential to be a rocket scientist, world-class composer and visual artist (not to mention President of the United States), it was impossible to believe that some institution that you think is “the best� would not have a similar view of your child as the
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admissions has become an end unto itself — the most visible proof that we “did it right” and had the brains and cash to get what we wanted. Oh, yeah — and it’s for our kids, after all.
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We’ve grown up in a world where whatever costs more is deemed to be better, where whatever brand name is better known accrues infinite satisfaction by its attainment, and where the American dream is less about doing the right thing than about owning the right stuff. That’s why boomer parents so desperately want to “own” our children’s education. But we can never “own” something that will be completely subsumed and translated, absorbed and then reflected by our children — something we set into motion, but that is now beyond our control. The anecdotes are endless. The double Harvard legacy child who got a C in his sophomore year and ends up being waitlisted to death at the parents’ alma mater. The double-800 SAT student who limited his choices to four institutions only to be rejected by all of them because his local public high school did not have an honors program that enabled him to stand out in contrast to his competitors. There are, of course, also the other anecdotes — the child who is initially rejected at an Ivy League school but is accepted once a wing is donated, or the elite college administrator with guaranteed admission of his kid into that school whose child subsequently rejects that admission (and free tuition) for a similarly wonderful institution where full freight is imposed. The stories all accrue to one basic truth: that life simply does not offer any of us complete control over any aspect of our lives, and much less the lives of our children. As we have aged, we boomers have asserted as much control as we can over our decaying bodies, we have attained considerable autonomy over the way we earn money and live our lives, and many of us have settled into a life partnering with someone we’ve committed the rest of our lives to. Many of the great questions of our lives have been answered. Our last ability to remotely control the vestiges of our DNA destined to outlive our corporeal presence has a sense of desperation and humorlessness that creates anxiety to the point of despair. But it’s over for this year, anyway. Oh yeah — my kid got into Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music with a merit scholarship. Yours? v
W
hen we sat down with photographer Steve Blazo to discuss New Haven magazine’s first-ever fashion shoot, he had some well-defined notions of what he wanted to accomplish. For one thing, he said, he didn’t want this to be a run-of-the-mill stereotypical summer fashion shoot bursting with bleachedblonde hair and pastel prints.
He wanted instead to take almost an architectural approach to the images: creating bold — even jarring — contrasts in color, shape, texture and line. Steve also felt strongly that the unifying theme of “fashion” could be made to extend beyond the clothes and accessories — to the very city itself. He spent days location-scouting throughout the city, finding surprising tones and textures in some unusual, little-noticed locales. And of course the underlying purpose of the entire enterprise is to highlight cuttingedge fashions you needn’t travel to New York or Boston to find. They’re right here in your own front yard. We hope you enjoy them. Makeup by Leanne Harpin. Hair by Rachel Lyon. All locations and photography by Steve Blazo.
Kendra Mack in a dress in leaf ($258) by A Common Thread, from Tracy B., New Haven. Set of 3 bone bangles in green and blue ($12.95 each) from the Group W Bench, New Haven. Photographed on Shelton Avenue, New Haven.
On New Haven’s Mechanic Street, Kendra models a single-button tailored seersucker jacket with triple pockets ($306) and medium-rise seersucker pant with front and rear slit pockets ($160), both white with navy stripe and both by Morrissey. Underneath is a silver layering tank ($33) from Last Tango. Double-strand pearl-and-silver chain necklace with almondine garnet and tourmaline droplets by Stephanie Robb. All from Arabella, Branford.
Rachel Lyon in a yellow crocheted slip dress ($172) by Swedish designer Odd Molly, from Bella Fuchsia, Cheshire. Venetian handblown glass necklace with gold leaf ($51) from Matiste, LLC, Hamden. Photographed on Olive Street, New Haven.
On Court Street in New Haven, Kendra wears a convertible Lolita dress in Pantone red ($204) by Butter by Nadia, from Tracy B., New Haven.
Kiva Sutton in black-and-white check-patterned sport coat in Italian silk/wool ($595) paired with gray super 120s wool pants ($225) and black lizard belt with polished nickel buckle ($165). Light blue plaid Italianmade cotton shirt coordinated with solid pink Italian textured silk tie ($110) and pocket square. All clothing designed exclusively for Ferrucci Ltd., New Haven. Photographed on Union Street, New Haven.
On Prospect Street in New Haven, Rachel in a brown, black and white dress by Ariella ($195) from Seychelles, New Haven. Black Nappa leather handbag with Swarovski crystal ornament ($249), from Matiste, LLC, Hamden.
Continued from 15
patient is the native. You don’t experience a diagnosis.
have an imperfect world. It’s because a What I’ve learned — and this is very perfect world is meaningless. If every child important for everybody who reads this grew up loved, we’d have nothing to worry — If you have a physical affliction, ask about. You wouldn’t be destroying your yourself, ‘How would I describe this to planet or killing your neighbors. But the my doctor?’ The words that pop out are children are not being brought up loved. related to your life. When you say, ‘I have a terrible migraine headache and it’s like In 2006 you wrote a book about parenting, pressure,’ let’s talk about the pressure in Love, Magic, Mud Pies. Why? your life. When you [use the word] failure I listened to the words [of patients] in my [pertaining to] cancer, it wasn’t about your support groups. People would say, ‘My body that failed, it was about, ‘My parent mother’s words were eating away at me and committed suicide [so] I must have been a maybe gave me cancer.’ I meet kids who are failure as a child.’ physically and sexually abused. And some prefer to be dead — literally. John Steinbeck You have five children. How has your in East of Eden said that what everyone philosophy affected them? fears is rejection. ‘With rejection comes None of them are doctors; their experience anger, with anger the desire for revenge was watching me bring my pain home. — and there is the story of mankind.’ The I think if I had started in the 1960s as a opposite of love is indifference. practicing physician, they would have all said, ‘I want to be doctor — look how happy So how can you fix this? he is.’ None chose a health profession. You can re-parent someone — a schoolteacher can, for example. I drew a purple You’ve lived here a long time now. How has picture in kindergarten and the teacher said, the New Haven community shaped you? ‘A purple pen is for dead people.’ In first I don’t know if it shaped me or I shaped grade, the teacher said draw a picture; I left it [laughs]. I always say I have a multiple my page blank. Instead of criticizing, he personality. I go out in the world and there comes over and says how clean and white is a child in me and I interact with people. I the snowfall is. School teachers, doctors, talk about Stop & Shop a lot because I love clergy can all re-parent someone. going there. It’s my therapy session. When So I’ll ask the question in a different way: someone says, ‘Young man, what can I get Should we be out there looking for a for you?’ you bet I interact. Or if somebody calls me ‘dear,’ we become friends. scientific answer or a spiritual answer? They come together. That’s why volunteers live longer, healthier lives. What did Jesus say? ‘The Son of Man comes not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many’ [Matthew 20:28]. A Hindu myth is of a child who is giving his life to save someone. He says, ‘Let me be born again and again so I may offer this body for others.’ It’s the same theme: How do you want to serve your love to the world. So do we need genetic engineering and other advanced medicine? My hope is at the same time we are treating you physically, we are treating you spiritually as an entire human being. Are you still angering doctors? No, I think they’ve seen the benefit. I’m not saying there aren’t some that are yelling at patients when they see my book. The more doctors [or their loved ones] who get sick, the more that are saying, ‘Have you read his books?’ Because they’ve experienced illness and so I’m not so crazy anymore. The doctor is the tourist and the
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How does your celebrity affect the way patients — for example in your support groups — interact with you? In many ways I’m very practical because of all these things I’ve seen. And my teachers have been these patients. I was criticized by one group of oncologists because I ‘don’t know what I’m doing.’ [Later] they became my best buddies because we ‘did dialogue’: I began sending them my patients and they began to realize, ‘He’s right — a lot of these people don’t die when they’re supposed to because of their belief — sometimes in him and sometimes in the treatment.’ But what I’m there for is to give people hope — to let them know they’re not a statistic. v
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Steve Blazo PHOTOGRAPH:
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By Liese Klein
T
he foliage is the most vivid shade of “Actually, dog pee.” of dozens of local people who periodically green and so inviting you just have venture into parks and backyards in search Ick. Chances are slight that one of the to reach over and break some off. A of wild edibles. purebreds from nearby St. Ronan Street second later, the leaf is in your mouth, a has made its way to this particular patch of “I think that there’s a lot of different surprising blend of bitter and sweet with a dandelion greens, but you never know. extensions from just wanting great food, and complex herbal quality. sometimes that food is in your backyard,” Whatever, dog pee is sterile, isn’t it? Or is “Uh, I wouldn’t eat that,” says Bun Lai of says Nicole Berube, program director at it dog spit? You swallow the leaf and hope Miya’s Sushi, your foraging companion. New Haven’s Cityseed. “[Foraging] is not for the best. only an incredible skill, it’s also this really It’s not the plant that’s the problem, it’s Such are the perils of foraging, the hot new neat addition to being able to access local the location: between the Edgerton Park foodie trend in which nature’s untamed food.” perimeter wall and Edgehill Road, inches bounty — also known as weeds and from New Haven traffic. Visions of Lai doesn’t roll foraged plants into his sushi, forest plants — is harvested for human pesticides and car exhaust flash into your but does use sumac berries and young consumption. Lai, the critically celebrated brain. pinecones to flavor cocktails like Emerald creator of unorthodox sushi rolls and sake Witch’s Lips and Cherokee Sumac Love “What — chemicals?” blends at Miya’s on Howe Street, is one 34
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Steve Blazo PHOTOGRAPH:
Potion. Lai spends hours packing foraged — and well washed — dandelion blossoms into bottles to make his Magic Garden sake, which has a flavor like spiced butterscotch candy, Lai says. “Foraging fits into a part of my life that brings renewal,” Lai says. “It’s about rebirthing, recreating yourself into something that’s beautiful. It’s pulling out something within yourself that lies dormant.”
Connecticut is a veritable foraging hotbed, according to Steve (Wildman) Brill, the tri-state area’s resident wild plant expert. Based in Westchester, N.Y., Brill travels here each month to lead foraging tours and has seen a definite uptick in attendance and interest in the last year. “In Connecticut the interest is increasing more than anywhere else,” Brill says. He credits the surge to increasing environmental awareness along with trends like local food and the Freegan movement, in which urbanites scavenge dumpsters and other areas for vegetarian edibles. The Nutmeg State is also prime foraging grounds, with acres of open space that was formerly farmland. “There’s lots of habitat variety; there are wonderful plants all over the place,” Brill says. And, crucially for a pastime that may inadvertently bring you onto someone else’s land, “The people seem to be mostly friendly.” As an ancient skill newly popular as an offshoot of the local food movement, foraging has even made it into the pages of Martha Stewart Living, in a recent article on “Edibles in the Wild.” The magazine offers recipes for a weed salad and a dandelion cordial made by steeping the plant’s bright yellow blossoms in vodka.
Steve “Wildman” Brill samples some Japanese knotweed, an edible plant that tastes a bit like rhubarb.
Dandelion flowers, used to flavor alcohol, have a light butterscotch flavor.
Wild leeks, or ramps, have been getting the most attention as foraging emerges from the shadows, as they offer an intense, funky flavor not found in traditionally cultivated foods. May is the perfect time to hunt for ramps, common in shady wooded areas and recognizable by their sea-green, veined leaves that release a powerful onion scent when crushed. Ramps have made their way into many high-end kitchens are can be found at some farmers’ markets in May. The pungent flavor of ramps is best appreciated in pestos or sautéed as a side dish. Recipes can be found online or in cookbooks like the Richard Ruben’s Farmer’s new haven
35
Market Cookbook, published by Guilford’s Lyons Press.
But before you head out with your basket and spade to do your own foraging, make sure you know what you’re doing. Many edible plants have poisonous look-alikes and mushrooms especially are tricky even for experts.
Fiddleheads, the furled new growth of ostrich ferns, are also highly sought after for their delicate taste and unusual texture. Harvested wild and sold in spring at gourmet stores, fiddleheads are also tasty baked into a quiche.
Brill’s guidebook, Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants, can help, along with Yahoo’s Forage Ahead newsgroup and sites like Wildmanstevebrill.com and Edibleplants.com.
But less glamorous wild plants that thrive in places like the cracks in your driveway are also taking center stage as their health benefits are confirmed by science. Purslane, a fleshy, shallow-rooted weed that pops up wherever soil is disturbed and can take over a Connecticut garden, has been recently touted as the best vegetable source of Omega-3 fatty acids. Add the pleasantly sour leaves and stems raw to a salad to for a healthy boost or chop the plant and cook it with soups or stews. Burdock root, sold commercially in Asian groceries, can also be dug up from cracks and borders in early spring and has been long celebrated in Eastern medicine for its blood purifying qualities. High in fiber and vitamins, burdock is central to macrobiotic diets and has made its way into dietary supplements.
Brill’s tours, with his patented mix of plant lore and Borscht Belt humor (Why did he start to forage? “I was hungry!”) , are a great way to see the plants up close in their native habitat and get advice on likely foraging spots around New Haven. “People should learn a small number of easy-to-recognize plants that don’t have poisonous look-alikes then slowly add to what they know,” Brill says. “Your backyard would be the first place to go; see To add to its charms, the mature burdock what’s coming up.” plant’s prickly “burrs” also inspired the But roaming the woods for wild plants inventor of Velcro. Harvest the roots before doesn’t get much respect in the professional the plants get too big and scrub them well plant community, with concerns about before cooking. damage to fragile ecosystems.
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Some experts also don’t see Hong Kong — both helped shape the point: “There’s not much his cuisine. to forage,” says Thomas “What I do is immigrant cuisine,” Siccama, a professor of ecology Lai says, citing his diverse clientele at Yale’s School of Forestry & and the Mexican immigrants Environmental Studies. He adds who work at Miya’s. “What I the caveat that he does expect do can only be done in America foraging to boom in popularity because Americans really think if the economy plummets to of the melting-pot experience Depression-like lows. in a different way than almost “Until that time, Stop & Shop’s anywhere else.” the way to go,” Siccama says. “It’s not really about so much the For Lai, foraging is a family food; it’s the environment I create tradition that fits in perfectly and the lifestyle and the values with the multicultural, creative that I have,” Lai adds. “We have vision he has for his restaurant. an entirely unusual restaurant — that’s all connected to how we “Everything that I do at Miya’s approach things and how we essentially is inspired by my live.” mother, Yoshiko, who started the restaurant,” Lai explains. “My “I go to forage because I want to mother is the one who got me be outside, I want to be in nature,” into foraging in the first place — Lai continues. “When I’m in my mother and my father really nature I feel the most spiritually had us appreciate nature.” connected and peaceful. I think these days it’s the most important Childhood romps in Hamden’s thing for me to find peace in my open spaces and his parents’ heart.” v backgrounds — his mother is Japanese and his father is from
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By Melissa Nicefaro
D
iana Martini was tired of being overweight and she was sick of being tired. She knew what caused her to be overweight, she just didn’t think she had it in her to tackle the beast. Knowing that you have 70 pounds to shed can be downright intimidating. But in January she joined the ranks of millions by setting out to lose weight. The 38-year-old had tried just about every weight loss plan in creation, but never stuck with it. Dieting is hard work. It brings out a range of emotions — regret, anger, selfdoubt and even jealousy — that many never knew were buried deep inside. A busy mom of two with two jobs, Diana came face-to-face with those emotions. She was determined. This was it. Life was no longer going to get in the way of her goals. Fueling her determination was how horrified she was to find herself labeled obese. She blamed her growing body on being too busy to take proper care of it. She works as a publisher’s representative for Business New Haven (New Haven magazine’s sister publication) . In her spare time she also sells skin-care products. When a coworker went to Medical Weight Loss Center in East Haven to sell magazine advertising, she was herself sold. She rallied Diana about the center’s very-low-calorie diet plan and a few days later, the two signed up for a 12-week program. (The coworker has since left her sales position and her dieting efforts with the center.)
Diana Martini lost 33 (or perhaps 37!) pounds after three months on the Medical Weight Loss Center program. Hair and makeup by Tory Williams of Adesso Moda Hair•Skin•Nails in Hamden. 38
may 2008
PHOTOGRAPH:
Steve Blazo
Here, in her own words, she shares her journey — one that she now realizes may never end. She knows that weight loss is a continuous and arduous process, but well worth the effort. The outcome astounded her. She learned, as too few do, that being overweight is about more than appearance. Throughout her transformation, her blood pressure has remained at an ideal level. At her last visit with the weight loss center, her cholesterol was down 36 points to 137. Her insulin levels, which started at the high end of normal, finished in the low end of normal. And by the end of her three-month initial program, she had a perfectly performing thyroid. She also lost nearly 40 pounds. She’s learned that a concept that’s easy to understand — eating more calories than you burn creates fat — is not quite so easy to live by.
The Beginning Jan. 8 — Day 1: I am so excited to start this — but I have a little bit of fear about being able to complete it. They say you can lose between 3.5 – 4.5 lbs per week on this diet. That would mean by the end of 12 weeks I could lose over 40 lbs. at the 3.5 lbs.-per-week average. This requires a lot of structure & organization I am just not used to. My biggest problem has always been poor planning and being too busy to eat right. I actually eat less than most people I know, yet I am 70+ lbs. overweight.
I’m not big into snacks or sweets and I don’t munch much at night. But the doctor says it isn’t exactly what I am eating, it is when. I sometimes will go through a whole day without eating anything, then overeat at dinner. Or, even worse, if I don’t make it to dinner, I will stop at a drive-through in the late afternoon. I now know that doing this has scared my body and now it is trained to store everything I eat as fat. Leading up to this day I have been working hard to focus my mind on the health aspect of this rather than the vanity aspect. Though I am not at all comfortable about how I look — I know that with my family history it is much more important that I do this for good health. I’m going to have to get organized & actually plan things. This week I don’t have to worry about meal planning since this week I am on strictly shakes plus 150 calories of vegetables each day — that is a lot more vegetables than I thought it would
be. My initial blood work was way better than I thought it would be. My cholesterol is not bad 173, my insulin levels are in the normal range (I was really worried about that) . The one thing I did not expect to hear was that my thyroid is sluggish. They said there is no medication for it because it is functioning, just not all that well — they said the only way to improve its function is with diet & exercise but they don’t want me to start exercising yet since my body will be going through too much during the first stage of this diet.
I’m having a hard time focusing, I’m going to try to increase meditation. My mouth is so dry and that is not fun. I’m not hungry at all, that is so cool.
I got a little emotional when my exhusband brought pizza over for the kids. I’m not even sure what I am emotional about since I don’t like pizza all that much anyway. Maybe it is just the fact that I can’t have it. I’m struggling on the weekends. I am making the kids try some of the recipes I am making for myself to try to make my meals not so boring. It’s kind of hit or miss I have far more energy than I thought I — both of them only like one of the same would and I am having trouble sleeping. dishes, the rest either one or the other likes. I’m not sure I am drinking enough, even Figures! though it’s far more than I have ever before, especially since all I drank before Jan. 29 — Week 4: was coffee and diet soda. I am another 2.5 lbs down. That is I now limit my coffee to discouraging — all this work and only 2.5 two a day (large black lbs — now this is getting harder. I really at Dunkin Donuts) and don’t think I am getting enough water, so added in a lot of water, I asked more detailed questions about what too. I got more of my actually counts as water. I was under the blood test results back. assumption that everything you drink I am severely vitamin counts as water, but learned that coffee D-deficient, so they doesn’t. All this time I have been counting added vitamin D to it as water. Now, one month into this, I my daily vitamins. learn that if you drink coffee you have to actually increase your water intake by the number of ounces. I am supposed Jan. 15 — same to be drinking half of my body weight in Week 2: ounces of water. I’m not coming anywhere I am down 6 lbs! Now I am really near that each day. I’m going to have excited. This is totally going to limit my coffee intake to only in the to work. I thought I would be hungry & morning. I have plenty of energy so I guess miserable but I am not. I get to add fish I don’t need to drink very much coffee but I and chicken for dinners this week. This is going to be tough when it comes to meal-planning now — I will have to make separate meals for me than I am making for the kids. I am still having a hard time sleeping but it is a weird feeling, my brain feels really tired & a little bit foggy but my body is ready to go. I stopped the appetite suppressant for two days and was a complete raving bitch for the entire day. I was starving! I started it again the next day but reduced it to onequarter of a pill. I saw my “before” picture this week and I’m completely horrified. That is definitely not what I saw when I looked in the mirror — had I ever seen that I would have done this long ago. Why didn’t I see it? The ‘before’ photo, shot on January 8.
Jan. 22 — Week 3: Another 5 lbs lost! It was a really tough week, though. I am so tired and
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GR A P H
: Steve
Blazo
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am so used to it. There’s another bad habit I need to break. Sorry, Dunkin Donuts. It’s going to be more important now to stay focused on what I am doing and why. My clothes are very loose. Yeah!!
Week 5 — Feb. 5: Only two pounds lost at this weigh-in. It’s better than nothing, I guess. Outwardly I am staying positive — I am saying all the right things but inside my own head I am starting to have my doubts. I am very moody. This is really hard. I have not gone anywhere because I don’t want to put myself in an environment of too much temptation. I have to keep in mind this is where I have failed before. When it got too hard, I gave up. I am investing too much this time and I can’t give up.
when I say it out loud but it is a lot of water and it is so hard to drink it all. I also had to confess today — I don’t always get the right amount of proteins in. I seem to skip my last one or two each day. I am still keeping my body in starvation mode, so it is storing more than it should be. I’m struggling outside the structure of the workday. I keep up with everything while I am there but once I get home I relax. I forget to drink the water and do the protein packs. The weekends are even worse. Sometimes I get up, get busy, and before I know it, it’s 1 p.m. and I haven’t eaten or drunk anything except coffee.
am still doing well and my body mass index is going down. I haven’t given in to temptation or given up and I’m trying with all my might to stay focused on the positive. I looked into joining a gym, but there is no way I can fit the time in. I am not even going to kid myself. My schedule is insane between my jobs & the kids’ schedules. Glad I didn’t waste the money to join. I bought a couple of work out-at-home DVDs, that way I can do them whenever I can squeeze them in.
I have to stay focused on the positive. I have lost more weight than I would have without this diet. I feel really good and Week 9 — really healthy for the first time in a very March 4: long time. Good news: I can’t even wear Two pounds down. My kids are excited and my coworkers are the pants that I wore in the ‘before’ picture I am definitely notreally pulling for me. This really is what I — they are way too big. Yeah!! icing a trend here. want to do. Meditation is the key to this. I I think this is what have to make sure I don’t skip even one day Week 7 — Feb. 19: it will be for me. I and I have to keep saying the right things asked the doctor if I’m down another 2.5 pounds. The daily out loud — then they will become true. the people who are meditations are working and I am less far heavier lose quicker. I started walking a couple times this week unhappy with the fact that I have only lost He told me that it varies — not very far, but more than I have been 2.5 lbs this week. All of these little amounts from person to person doing in a very long time. add up and I am finally, finally at the 20and I should not to get I am worried about this article being pound mark. discouraged. I’m really not published when I am done. What was I When I went for my weigh-in today, I put discouraged. thinking when I agreed to this? on a 20-pound vest so that I can feel how It is difficult to explain how I feel because much I have lost from my body. OMG I really do feel good, but at the same time that is heavy. I am very proud that I have Week 6 — Feb. 12: I am so disappointed that I am not further stuck it out this long and that even though Two pounds again. Ugh!! I am halfway I am struggling, I know what to do to stay along than I am. Water and those nighttime packets are still an issue. Maybe if I can through and I have lost 17.5 lbs., averaging focused. manage to get that right I will lose more. 2.9 pounds per week, which is below average. I thought I would be much further I think this is what is called ‘personal growth.’ I find myself wanting to get along than this by this point. outside to walk often throughout the week. Week 10 — March 11: My biggest problem is getting the right I also noticed I am parking a little further Another 2.5 pounds lost and I am officially amount of water in. It sounds so stupid away from places so that I can walk a little out of the ‘obese’ category. I have another more. 30.5 lbs to go to get into the ‘normal’ category.
Week 8 — Feb. 26: I’ve lost another two pounds. Today I noticed they have a ‘biggest loser’ board in the doctor’s office. I don’t know if it is something new they are doing or if I just haven’t noticed it before. I am a little upset that I’m not doing the kind of numbers to get me on the list. I need to remember that this is not a competition. I
I did better this week with both the water and the nighttime packets and still only lost 2.5 pounds. My clothes are really big and I really should buy some new clothes. Fortunately, I do have some basics in smaller sizes in my closet. They fit again, but I need an updated look. Maybe that will make me feel better. I don’t have any reason to be upset with myself, yet I am. This might be the perfectionist side of me rearing its ugly head. The ‘after’ picture & magazine article is weighing very heavily in my mind. I am so afraid that it won’t look like I want it to
and that everyone I know will see it.
Week 11 — March 18: One pound. Oh, stress is a terrible, terrible thing. I was so worried about the after picture and the article that I skipped a lot of water and protein packs. I feel good and I like the changes in my body but what is going on with me? Selfsabotage? That’s what got me here to begin with. I need to get it together. One more week to go, there is no way I can stop now. I’d like to continue with the weight loss even after the 12 weeks are over. Maybe without so much pressure, I will do better. It’s funny, now I don’t feel so overwhelmed with how much weight I still have to lose. It’s a goal that finally looks achievable.
Week 12 — March 25: How funny: I finished my 12week program on April Fool’s Day. I was positive I blew it again, but I lost three pounds. This was one of the busiest weeks of my whole life. I left the house for work at 7:15 a.m. and didn’t return until after 10 p.m. during the week. The weekend was just about as bad. The scale at the doctor’s office from Day 1 until today says I have lost 33 lbs. My home scale says I have lost 37 lbs. I’m not sure why they are different, but I obviously like my home-scale number better. I will continue with the weight-loss effort and I am positive I will reach my goal within the next few months. Now that I am eating more regular food and not relying on the shake packets provided by the doctor, I am a bit afraid of eating too many calories. I know I won’t go back to making the poor food choices I have made in the past because I really do like the way my body feels now that it is getting the right combination of healthy foods. I haven’t had any processed foods in 12 weeks and the truth is, I don’t miss them. I used to think that healthy foods are more expensive, but they aren’t. You may spend more money in the produce aisle and on higher quality meats, but if you eliminate processed foods it can be less expensive. When you feel as good as I do now, getting
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By Michael C. Bingham
A Guilford couple spent a decade designing a home for the rest of their lives — and now it’s for real
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may 2008
The Bishops designed their seaside Nantucket shingle-style home with a lighthouse theme. PHOTOGRAPHS:
new haven
Steve Blazo
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Vaulted ceilings and overlapping “split” levels give the Guilford home of Jonathan and Nancy Bishop a spaciousness that belies its 2,200-square-foot footprint
ATH OME
I
f you were afforded the opportunity to design and build the home in which you knew you would spend the rest of your life, what would you do with it?
Jonathan and Nancy Bishop of Guilford bought a quarter-acre waterfront lot on Guilford’s Joshua Cove in 1997 and lived for a decade in the cozy 850-square-foot cottage on the property (“We were newlyweds,” Nancy Bishop explains) while dreaming about, and gradually designing, the home in which they would spend the remainder of their lives. The two professionals (Jonathan is a member of the fifth generation of a family that has operated B.W. Bishop & Sons, overseers of Bishop’s Orchards, since 1871 and traces its Guilford roots to 1639; Nancy is principal of the Calvin Leete Elementary School in town) had the means to explore different options, but town zoning regulations restricted the footprint of a new structure on its 10,000-square-foot lot. “We wanted to have a home that looked like it fit into the coastal area,” says Jon Bishop, “and Nancy was always fond of a lighthouse theme.” The couple worked with Branford architect Rob Coolidge over a period of years to refine the design. Even before the foundation was laid, “We were able to lay the whole [structure] out with masking tape,” Jon Bishop says. “One Christmas vacation we took our tape measure and masking tape and laid the whole floor plan out.” “We wanted something very contemporary on the inside,” Nancy Bishop explains, “but nautical on the outside.”
different spaces have different themes, such as the “Scottish pub” that dominates the house’s lowest level. “We wanted different spaces to remind us of places we’ve traveled,” Nancy Bishop says.
Nautical on the outside? Check. What they ended up with is a 2,200-square-foot variation on a Nantucket shingle house. “Variation” because the home’s most distinguishing architectural characteristic “We were fortunate that we like the same is its six overlapping levels, which give styles,” notes Jon Bishop. “Building a new the interior a spaciousness that belies its home can be challenging because often the relatively modest footprint. husband and wife like different things. But Contemporary on the inside? Check. The we both had the same kind of vision.” overall theme of the interior is Danish The home, built by Pat Munger contemporary (Nancy Bishop studied in Construction of Branford (“They were Denmark in college and “fell in love” with fabulous,” Nancy says) was completed late the tiny Scandinavian nation) — although
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last spring, and the couple moved into their new digs in July.
Among the Bishops’ many passions is cooking, and their spacious kitchen is dominated by striking maple cabinetry and countertops of black granite from India. The appliances include both a refrigerator and microwave with pull-out drawers, which Nancy says are “perfect” for a notso-tall person such as herself. Although the house is flooded with natural
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The Bishops’ airy living space overlooks Guilford’s Joshua Cove and Leete’s Island beyond.
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we were building — or dreaming, I should say,” says Nancy. “As we traveled we would pick up things knowing they would go in a certain room. Through the years it’s really been our hobby. So when [the house] was completed we had everything in storage, so we just brought it all in.”
A second “themed” room is the groundlevel guest bedroom, which the Bishops Jon Bishop adds that shopping online for designed to resemble a Montana log cabin distinctive and unusual items led them to — its spruce walls and knotty-pine floors the “finds” that would have remained forever setting for a rustic bedroom set (actually undiscovered. Among the most prominent from a Montana company) that could have is the unusual maple spiral staircase that been taken right out of the Wild West. dominates the center of the living space. The matching cowboy lamps enhance the Because the Bishops had so much time to Western mood. think and plan before they started building, “We collected things during the whole time their home features clever themes within
themes. For example, a “sub-theme” is that the living spaces in the northern half of the house are designed to feel more cozy (Nancy Bishop’s word) , while the lighter, southern rooms have more of a summery feel.
Atop the spiral staircase is the ‘lighthouse room’ with its pastel décor.
Another “themed” room is a Dutch-tiled guest bathroom, dubbed “the Oval Office” for its design dominated by oval shapes, including sink, toilet (a Koehler fixture known as a “hatbox” after its shape) and of course tub. This room, like most others, features unusual window “shades” that can be raised or lowered in either direction — a degree of customization allow for light to be managed especially when the sun is low in the sky. Throughout the house are installed pintsized wall-mounted electric “fireplaces.” Operated by remote control, the recessed units indeed give off heat, affording the couple an efficient means of warming specific zones of the house in a (literal) flash. “If you’re sitting here having dinner it gets a little chilly, you just click,” Nancy explains. Manufactured by the UK-based Burley Appliances, the “electric flames” (as they’re known in England) come as small as 24 by 25 inches. Continued on 77
The spacious living area (foreground) is separated by just a few steps from the kitchen (rear).
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By Michael Harvey
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ngus Trumble made the long journey from Australia to New Haven on his expertise in British art. It was not his first career.
Although he was born in Melbourne to artistic parents and grew up surrounded by museums and culture, his first out-ofschool experience was to serve as a civilian aide to the governor of the state of Victoria. He keeps a silver-framed photograph on his desk of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, which the Queen presented to him at the time. Only later, on successive scholarships to Rome and then to New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, did he enter the world of art history. But Trumble’s transformative experience came in 1996 when he joined the staff of the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide. The museum housed an extensive collection of British art complementary to that housed in New Haven. It also had an extremely meager budget, which meant the curators were expected to stretch their resources and creativity to come up with two original exhibitions a year out the material at hand. Something like Scarlett O’Hara making her gown out of the drapes at Tara. The hemispheric change from Adelaide to New Haven in 2003 came with a bit of culture shock, says Trumble. A tall, slender figure in a tan corduroy suit, he gestures, splaying his fingers, explaining 48
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with amiable intensity that Australia is more like Texas. The severe New England winters were a surprise, as was the lack of really fresh fruit. But it was the rigorous intellectual milieu that suddenly made him feel like a small fish in a big pond. The Mellon collection is the foundation of the Yale Center For British Art. It was acquired by Paul Mellon (1907-99) in the 1960s and ‘70s. Mellon’s mother Nora was British and, when his parents divorced, he spent a great deal of his youth with her in England. After World War II Britain’s new socialist government levied such a heavy tax on the super-rich that many families were forced to sell off much of their art to stay afloat. Mellon bought many of the paintings, now valued in the millions, for a few hundred pounds each. Britain got universal health care; Mellon got a treasure trove of artworks. Apart from family ties, Trumble explains, Mellon was drawn to British art as a sportsman and horse fancier. He had established his racehorse breeding farm, Rokeby Stables, in Virginia in the 1940s and had campaigned more than a 1,000 winners during his lifetime. It is not surprising that the first painting Mellon acquired, while still in his 20s, was a George Stubbs, Pumpkin with a Stable Lad (1774) . Stubbs was a renowned horse painter, but more important he was a great artist. Many of the works in the collection reflect Mellon’s predilection for the sporting life.
2007-2008 Season
Student Productions 38th Annual Spring Musical
“No, No, Nanette” May 29–30, 2008, Thursday–Friday, 8:00 pm June 5–7, 2008, Thursday–Saturday, 8:00 pm Main Theater, Tickets $20/Sr. Citizens $18
S
et in the roaring twenties, this is the light-hearted story of Jimmy Smith, a Bible salesman, who gets into and out trouble on a summer weekend in New York and Atlantic City. The 1971 Broadway revival won four Tony Awards for Choreography, Costume Design, Actress and Featured Actress and began a nostalgia craze. Critics acclaimed this “The Happiest Show in Town.” Songs include “Tea for Two” and “I Want to Be Happy.”
Summer Arts Conservatory Grades 7-12. Day And Boarding June 29–Aug 1, 2008 Concentrations in: • Acting & Musical Theater • Visual Arts • Playwriting & Screenwriting For more information, please visit our website at www.choate.edu/artscenter, or contact Randi Brandt at (203) 697-2423 or rbrandt@choate.edu.
PMAC Workshops Monday–Friday, 2 week sessions June 30–July 25, 2008
Summer Theater Workshop (Grades 3-6) Visual Arts Workshop (Grades 3-6) Exploring Theater and the Visual Arts (Grades 1-2) For more information about these programs, please contact Carol Jones at (203) 697-2035.
For tickets, subscriptions, and group sales, call the Box Office at (203) 697-2398 or order online at www.choate.edu/boxoffice. Christian Street, Wallingford, CT Free Parking
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’The Oliver and Ward Families’ by Francis Wheatley, c. 1778. Oil on canvas.
privately commissioned vanities to a more public arena, and in 1768 the Royal Academy of Art was founded with Joshua Reynolds as Joseph Wright of Derby’s ‘The Blacksmith’s Shop,’ 1771. Oil on canvas. its first president. Its mission was to give artists a The subject matter in most periods of public place to display their art comparable art reflect the life and philosophies of to the salons of Paris and, presumably, to those who were paying for that art to be establish some standards which would be created. For many of the lords and ladies controlled (naturally) by the Academy’s of those British stately homes, the primary board. interest was themselves. They filled their grand country houses with imposing full- Living with the collection day to day, length portraits of themselves by artists Trumble finds that his attention regularly like Van Dyck, Reynolds, Gainsborough shifts from painting to painting. Currently and Thomas Lawrence. Portraits of their among his favorites are Francis Wheatley’s families were on a smaller, more intimate The Oliver and Ward Families (1778), Thomas scale, and their animals shared almost Lawrence’s portrait of George James Welbore equal billing. Agar-Ellis, later 1st Lord Dover (1823-24), The Blacksmith’s Shop by Joseph Wright of Derby William Hogarth rebelled against this (1771) with its dramatic changes of light, kind of ostentatious portraiture, calling it and Portrait of a Family (1730s) by William “phizmongering.” He instead introduced Hogarth. small representations of family life in far more natural settings, with characters Trumble points out that the latter, a caught in the midst of some routine action. “conversation piece,” remains something The genre became known as “conversation of a mystery as to Hogarth’s meaning. pieces” and grew in popularity with many In the center of the painting one man is painters. taking a woman’s tea cup while she is busy stealing another man’s handkerchief. The man on the extreme left is distracting a It was the urban noise and grime of the woman next to him while he attempts to Industrial Revolution that sent the British do something to her needlepoint. The cat poets and painters like John Constable and has upset the sewing basket on the floor Cozens into the countryside and Turner and the dog in the boy’s lap is profoundly off to the shore, creating the sublime pregnant. What’s going on? subjectivity of the Romantic movement And, naturally, Trumble feels a great with its lush landscapes and dramatic fondness for the diminutive George Stubbs storms at sea. Art was transitioning from Self-Portrait (1756-1760) , painted on copper 50
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plate, which he acquired for the collection in 2006 with money from the Paul Mellon fund. He thinks Stubbs must have been considering some etching if he had copper plate lying around. For the upcoming fall season Trumble and a team of curators have put together a small but intriguing exhibition entitled Benjamin West and the Venetian Secret. Its subject matter is a hoax that embarrassed a number of prominent British artists in the late 18th century. It was widely believed at the time that the amazing luminosity achieved in the paintings of the Venetian school, specifically Titian, was the result of some secret formula. Sure enough, out of the shadows stepped the nefarious Thomas Provis and daughter Jemima. They persuaded West, an American artist and second president of the Academy, that they had the secret. He was only too eager to learn it, of course, and was more than willing pay the exorbitant price for the information as well use his position to involve friends and colleagues in the scheme. They all greedily paid up — but the only luminosity they got was the redness in their faces. In 2003 Basic Books published A Brief History of the Smile, Trumble’s art historybased exploration of the physical and psychological nuances of the smile. He is currently finishing The Finger, A Handbook which will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2009. For 2012 the energetic Trumble is organizing an exhibition of Edwardian opulence from 1895 to 1914. This was the glittering age of kings, tsars, khans and kaisers that entered the Great War and passed precipitously but permanently into history on the killing fields of the Somme and Paschendaele. v
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George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, Later 1st Lord Dover, by Thomas Lawrence, c.1823-24. Oil on canvas.
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ART BY ELVIRA J. DURAN Visit the Shoreline ArtsTrail Spring Exhibition & Sale to view and purchase exceptional local artwork. Join the artists of the Shoreline ArtsTrail for a spring preview at the Guilford Art Center’s Mill Gallery as
out with a short period of drawing a nude figure in gesture poses followed by approximately two hours of longer poses where the artist can develop a more detailed drawing. Artists must arrive by 11 a.m. 11 a.m.1:30 p.m. (session) and 1:30-2 p.m. (constructive feedback) May 3 & 17 at Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $12 model fee per session ($10 members). Limit 12 artists. 860-685-7871, gsac@wesleyan.edu, greenstreetartscenter.org. Works by students enrolled in Fairfield’s Studio Art Program are
Charles Chu captures the sweep of the Connecticut River from the Vermont mountains to Old Saybrook in the monumental landscape scroll that is the highlight of Little Frog of the Connecticut: Paintings by Charles Chu, an exhibition of his works from the past 25 years. Both Chu’s mastery of Chinese landscape painting and his familiarity with New England are evident in the great luminous washes of his mountains and the delicate quick strokes of his forests and towns, all caught in the richly poetic vocabulary of Chinese painting. One of the most distinguished Chinese painters in the U.S., Chu’s rugged New England landscapes, his charming and simple animals and his stunning flowers are known throughout the world. Through May 25 at the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies Gallery, Wesleyan University, 343 Washington Terr., Middletown. Open noon-4 p.m. Tues.Sun. Free. 860-685-2330, slawrence@ wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/east.
685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Terence Falk: Photography. An exhibition showcasing the art of Terence Falk. May 4-26 at Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library, 146 Thimble Islands Rd., Stony Creek. Free. 203-488-8702, librarystaff@branfordct.gov, wwml.org. Studio Tuesday is an informal, non-instructional “paint-in” that meets on Tuesdays. Come work in a creative environment along with other artists. 9 a.m.-noon May 6, 13, 20 & 27 at Margaret Egan Center, 35 Matthew St., Milford. Free. 203-8786647, milfordarts.org. Art lovers don’t necessarily think of the library as a place to study original works of art, but Art Is Where You Find It is an exhibition that showcases pencil sketches, watercolors, cartoons, caricatures and ephemera from the records of Yale University or from the collections of personal or family papers in Manuscripts and Archives. Filed away with correspondence and diaries or miraculously surviving in attic trunks or basement storerooms, the items on display reflect the daily lives of families, individuals and institutions spanning three centuries. Included are works of art by luminaries in the fields of medicine, government, science, literature and education, as well as early works by a number of well-known artists. Through May 30 at Sterling Memorial Library Memorabilia Room, 120 High St., New Haven. Open 8:30 a.m.-4:45 p.m. weekdays. Free. 203-432-2798, resources.library.yale.edu/online/ smlexhibits.asp.
May 2 marks the 40th anniversary of the student uprising in Paris. Six months later a U.S. Presidential election will take place. Andrea Ray’s three-part installation, Desiré, revisits that historic moment to pose a question, longingly and perhaps romantically, about the present: Could the Paris model of social The Shoreline ArtsTrail Spring Exhibition brings the calming views of and political agency be employed Margaret B. Dean’s Guilford Marshes to the masses. in this country at a time when deepening crisis is coupled with they host a lively opening reception. featured in Salon 2008, a salon-style fear and apathy? It reflects on this May 2-4 (opening reception 5:30-8 exhibition of paintings, drawings, against a backdrop of French writer p.m. May 2) at Guilford Art Center, photographs, sculptures and and activist Marguerite Duras’ plays 411 Church St., Guilford. Open 10 installations. Through May 22 at and the dinners she hosted. The a.m.-6 p.m. daily. Free. 203-481-3505, Walsh Art Gallery, Fairfield University, three components of Desiré include guilfordct.com/artstrail. 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. “Occupied,” a series of photographs Open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon., of now-empty intersections of Stroll through historic Westville Enjoy watercolors by Ronald Grobes noon-4 p.m. Sun. 203-254-4000 ext. Paris streets once blocked by Village this month and enjoy work of and Louis Crescenti Sr. in this 2969, quickcenter.com. students; “The Gift,” a sculptural local artisans during Art Walk. Free exhibition. Grobes is a graduate of installation consisting of a dinner event features art by local, regional Music & Modernism in the the Philadelphia Museum College table, embedded with speakers, and national artists, craft fair, live Graphic Arts, 1860-1910. In the of Art. He has exhibited his work chairs and a “conceptual soup”; and music and entertainment, along with second half of the 19th century, throughout southern Connecticut “Rehearse,” a theatrical space with an events for kids (Mother’s Day and visual artists in Europe looked to audio component of nature crafts) and adults. 5:30-10 p.m. poetry and music as models for an abortive rehearsal May 9 and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. May 10 at modern art, an art of increasing of a play based on Westville Village, Whalley Ave. and ambiguity and abstraction. This Duras’ Hiroshima Fountain St., New Haven. Free. 203exhibition examines the concept Mon Amour. Together 389-9555, westvillect.org/ArtWalk. of synaesthesia (the connections the three pieces among color, sound and other reflect a repetitive Christy Gallagher, a graduate of senses) and the Gesamtkunstwerk search for things Cooper Union College and the (total art work) in British, French seemingly unattainable National Academy of Art, will juror and German art from 1860 to 1910. — a complete Fantasy. Artists explore magical, Drawn from the Davison Art Center understanding of supernatural, mystical or spiritual Collection and Special Collections, war, an experience themes. Ancient myths and legends Olin Library, the exhibition presents of productive social are considered, as well as modern more than 40 works by James change through protest, day fantasy and science fiction. Abbott McNeill Whistler, Max Klinger, and an association Through May 15 at Firehouse Art Odilon Redon, Henri Fantin-Latour with an effective Gallery, 81 Naugatuck Ave., Milford. and other artists. Through May 25 community. Through Open noon-4 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. 203at the Davison Art Center, Wesleyan May 25 at Zilkha Gallery, 306-0016, FHGallery@optonline.net, University, 301 High St., Middletown. Wesleyan University, milfordarts.org. Open noon-4 p.m. Tues.-Sun. Free. 283 Washington Terr., 860-685-2500, lberman@wesleyan. Life Drawing: Studio Sessions. Fernando Da Silva’s Blue City will be one of his Middletown. Open edu, wesleyan.edu/dac. In these uninstructed sessions, many works adorning Westville Gallery’s walls May noon-4 p.m. Tues.-Sun. participants 16 and older will start 9-June 9. (until 8 p.m. Fri.). 860-
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Group Therapy features works by Thaddeus Beal, Charlie Goodwin, Elizabeth Gourlay, Sarah Gustafson, Vaune Hatch, Janet Lage, Willie Little, Mitch Lyons, Pamela Marks, John Matt, Kelly Jean Ohl, Meg Brown Payson, Evelyn Rydz, Thomas Stavovy and Leah Tinari. Through June 1 at EO Art Lab, 69 Main St., Chester. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tue.Wed., 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., noon-6 p.m. Sun. or by appointment. Free. 860-526-4833, chester@ eoartlab.com, eoartlab.com.
CRITIC’S PICK: CHOWin’ Down with a Brushmaster This month Chow will be showcasing works by a Stony Creek artist in Works By Don Ryan Rains. Rains is from the Native American Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe. He has been a member of the military, a Shaman’s apprentice and a self-taught artist. His paintings are colorful and captivating, as well as thought- and emotion-provoking.
St., New Haven. Open 5-10 p.m. Wed., 5-11 p.m. Thurs., 5 p.m.-midnight Fri. & Sat. 203-772-3002, ashleyalosi@comcast. net. — Elvira J. Duran
Works by Don Ryan Rains (like this one) will accompany patrons of CHOW through June 15
Through June 15 at CHOW, 966 Chapel
and has earned numerous awards. May 1-31 (reception 5-7 p.m. May 8) at Case Memorial Library, 176 Tyler City Rd., Orange. Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Thurs., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. Free. 203-389-2044, leaplibraries.org/orange. Kehler Liddell Gallery presents an exhibition of work by artists Jason Buening and Jay Noble. May 1-June 1 (reception 6-9 p.m. May 9) at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley
Ave., New Haven. Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. and by appointment. 203389-9555, kehlerliddell.com. Baptiste Ibar’s installation, Guided Men, is inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote, “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power — we have guided missiles and misguided men.” Placed around the exhibition space are what appear to be wooden planks painted with ghostly soldiers — representing the
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shadows of the men and women, past and present who are misguided into war by corrupt leaders. Gold and red Vietnamese prayer paper decorates the area above some of the soldiers’ heads. And a pale body with a tree sprouting from its chest is also included in this work of social commentary that will speak to many. Through May 31 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. Open noon-5 p.m. Tues., noon-8 p.m. Wed.-Sat. 203772-2709, artspacenh.org.
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Final editions of hand-signed lithographs by Salvador Dali and hand-signed lithographs of Joan Miro will be featured in Dali, Dali, Dali and Miro. The Gallery will also be spotlighting rare Dali lithographs and sculptures. Through June 2 (open house and 4th Anniversary Party all day May 3 & 4) at White Space Gallery, 1020 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily (until 7 p.m. Thurs.; Sun. by appt.). Free. 203-495-1200, whitespacegallery.com. A New World: England’s First View of America. John White, Elizabethan gentleman and artist, was the person most responsible for shaping England’s earliest impressions of America and its inhabitants. White sailed with the earliest expedition to Virginia (the present-day North Carolina) in 1585 and produced a series of extraordinary watercolors
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Compelling images of people and places captured during Asian travels will be featured in the Guilford Art Center’s exhibition Documenting ‘The Other’: Photographs of China, Myanmar and India by Larry Snider. May 9-June 19 (opening reception 5-7 p.m. May 9) at Guilford Art Center, 411 Church St., Guilford. Open noon-6 p.m. daily, noon-5 p.m. Sat. Free. 203453-5947, guilfordartcenter.org.
that documented his travels. Through June 1 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon., noon-5 p.m. Sun. Free. ycba.yale.edu. Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery comprises approximately 85 master drawings from the gallery’s collection, providing a survey of European draftsmanship from the late 15th to the mid-19th centuries. Through June 8 at the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon. (until 8 p.m. Thurs.), 1-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. Art in Focus is an annual academic initiative that introduces the British Art Center’s student guides to every aspect of curatorial practice, from the selection of artworks, to research, label-writing and installation. In this second year of the program, the curatorial challenge for the student guides was to design an exhibition showcasing highlights from the Center’s collection of late-19th through 21st-century paintings and sculpture. The students chose as their theme the image of women in British art, and traced a progression of ideas about their status in British culture as they were portrayed by artists the Victorian period to the present day. The exhibition Figuring Women: The Female in Modern British Art highlights a recent acquisition, the late R.B. Kitajs School of London Diasporists (19882004), which features an image of Kitaj’s wife, the artist Sandra Fisher. Other artists from the 1850s to today include Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Gwen John, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, and Lucian Freud. The exhibition concludes with an equestrian statue of Queen Victoria and Julie Roberts’ provocative 1994 painting “Gynaecology Treatment Couch (Blues).” Through June 8 at the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon. (until 8 p.m. Thurs.), 1-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. Westville Gallery will have new mixed media acrylic work on canvas by Fernando Da Silva and evolved photography through a unique perspective by Nitin Budhiraja on display in this month’s exhibition. May 9-June 9 (reception 6-9 p.m. May 9) at Westville Gallery, 899 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., 10 a.m.5 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Free. 203-387-2539, westvillegallery.com. The concept of Interiors is manifold. Works in this exhibition represent all forms of media and both two- and
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Invisible Face is one of the twelve works that are “The Final Edition of Salvador Dali” included in Dali, Dali, Dali and Miro. three-dimensional forms. Artists were asked to submit works that depict the interior of a building or the décor of a specific room or pieces interpreting interiors in a broader sense — such as the interior of the human body or mind. Debi Pendell, a graduate of CCSU and Wesleyan University, will jury the exhibition. Pendell teaches classes and workshops in mixed media collage, drawing, acrylic painting and papier maché sculpture, masks & vessels. May 22-June 19 (reception 6-8 p.m. May 22) at Firehouse Art Gallery, 81 Naugatuck Ave., Milford. Open noon-4 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. Free. 203-306-0016, FHGallery@optonline. net, milfordarts.org.
Juror William Bailey, Kingman Brewster Professor of Art Emeritus at Yale, introduces Painting as Presence with the words, “In the world of contemporary art the critical establishment often ignores or dismisses painting as being an outmoded form — historically superceded. Yet painting’s audience continues to grow and large numbers of young artists continue to paint. Like poetry, music, dance or drama, it is a form, not just another medium. Through the centuries that form has retained its capacity to express the vision of painters as different as Giotto and de Kooning. This exhibition will reveal some of the richness and diversity of painters working today — seeking to bring life and presence from inert materials.” May 9-June 20 at Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., New Haven. Open 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-noon Sat. Free. 203562-4927, creativeartsworkshop.org. Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797) is one of the most significant and admired British artists of the 18th century. Wright’s success in Liverpool made him the first great British artist to establish a career outside of London. Joseph Wright
of Derby in Liverpool is the first major exhibition to examine Wright’s creative development in Liverpool at the start of the city’s cultural renaissance and growing status as a major world port. May 22-August 30 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.5 p.m. daily except Mon., noon-5 p.m. Sun. Free. ycba.yale.edu. Everyday Monuments: The Photographs of Jerome Liebling. This monographic exhibition features approximately 50 photographs by American artist Jerome Liebling. Active since the 1940s, Liebling has explored a variety of photographic themes including social-documentary photographs of people and places, poetic images of the relics and physical remnants of literary figures, and photographs of mannequins and corpses. May 23-September 7 at the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon. (until 8 p.m. Thurs.), 1-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. More than 150 crosses and crucifixes collected from around the world (where they were used in churches or by individuals) are on loan from the extensive Yvonne Shia Klancko Collection of religious items and displayed for the first time in Crosses & Crucifixes. Exhibition includes an artifact from the Balkans made more than 800 years ago. At Knights of Columbus Museum, 1 State St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-865-0400, museum@kofc.org, www.kofc.org/museum.
CRITIC’S PICK Intimate Moments, Snapped Irving Penn, Harlequin Dress (Lisa Fonssagrives Penn), 1950. Platinumpalladium print, mounted on aluminum. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Doris Bry.
A noted scholar of eminent American photographer Alfred Stieglitz, Doris Bry is perhaps best known as the agent and confidant of Stieglitz’s wife, the painter Georgia O’Keeffe. Her collection includes photographs by renowned masters such as Irving Penn and Berenice Abbott, as well as intriguing works by lesser-known artists, and
includes examples of a wide range of styles and photographic media. From Any Angle: Photographs from the Collection of Doris Bry celebrates the remarkable collection of more than 200 photographs brought together by Bry and currently on loan to the Yale University Art Gallery.
May 23-September 7 at the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon. (until 8 p.m. Thurs.), 1-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-432-0600, artgallery.yale.edu. — Elvira J. Duran
The Color of Envy Long Wharf’s ‘Eye’ has it The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison. Directed by Eric Ting. Produced through April 20 by Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven.
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dapted for the stage by Lydia Diamond and directed by Associate Artistic Director Eric Ting, Long Wharf Theatre’s nearly flawless production of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye reminds us how fully theater and literature can, in the right hands, enrich each other. A faithful and breathtakingly imaginative adaptation like this one brings new life to a novel written nearly 40 years ago: Those who have not read it will run to the nearest library or bookstore, and those who have read it will read it again, and differently. With its fractured narrative perspectives and malleable vision of time, Morrison’s novel suits the stage perfectly, especially under the insightful direction of Ting, aided by the contributions of his remarkable designers.
Leon Addison Brown brings menace to violent husband and father Cholly in The Bluest Eye at LWT.
By Brooks Appelbaum
Wilde Thing Rep’s ‘Woman’ scorned at the end A Woman of No Importance, by Oscar Wilde. Directed by James Bundy. Produced through April 12 by the Yale Repertory Theatre.
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Woman of No Importance can be seen as Oscar Wilde’s problem play. At first, Wilde presents his signature social satire, masked in the sparkling bon mots of the drawing-room comedy. Then the play veers into unexpected melodrama. A director who chooses this script must show the audience that this tone is not a mistake, but rather a new, and fascinating, way for Wilde to display his empathy for the vulnerable human heart.
Scott Bradley’s set — several platforms enclosed by suspended translucent sheets covered with old-fashioned typeface — and Russell H. Champa’s lighting create an immediate sense of claustrophobia and wonder. Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen, who penned the original music, and Miche Braden, who performs many of the production’s hymns, bring a ringing sorrow to the proceedings.
Empathy does not immediately come to mind as we initially watch a group of snobbish Brits throwing barbs in all directions. Lady Caroline (played with marvelous comic command by JudithMarie Bergan) mercilessly orders about her As in the novel, Claudia (Bobbi Baker, who husband, Lord John (the winning Anthony seamlessly shifts between rebellious child Newfield), while Mrs. Allonby (the pitch- and sad-eyed adult) and her older sister perfect René Augesen) and Lady Sutfield Frieda (the skillful Ronica V. Reddick) (the equally expert Felicity Jones) trade tell most of the story, and their narration aphorisms about men’s delicious iniquity. brings to poetic life the terrible tale of And everyone has an unkind word for their the Breedlove family. Mrs. Breedlove, young and naïve American guest, Hester her violent husband Cholly, and their Worsley (Erica Sullivan). vulnerable young daughter, Pecola, all We soon learn that another young guest, believe they are “ugly,” and the adults take Gerald Arbuthnot (a charming Bryce this self-hatred out on each other and on Pinkham) is about to ascend the social their child. Meanwhile, Pecola dreams of ladder at dizzying speed: the wealthy, beautiful blue eyes that will win her the ambitious and — according to the love she craves. Continued on 56
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Wilde Thing
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women — most wicked Lord Illingworth (wickedly rendered by Geordie Johnson) has asked Gerald to be his social secretary. The party’s hostess, Lady Hunstanton (Patricia Kilgarriff in an expansively sweet performance) , invites Gerald’s mother to the gathering to hear the good news, remarking, “I know how difficult it is to get her to go anywhere.” So far, so Wilde. When Gerald’s mother arrives, however, problems come with her — in the plot, in the play and in this production. We learn that Gerald is Lord Illingworth’s and Mrs. Arbuthnot’s illegitimate son, and that for 20 years Mrs. Arbuthnot has hidden this from Gerald, while hiding herself from society, although Lord Illingworth, not she, was to blame. By the end of Act III Gerald too learns Lord Illingworth’s true character, and we very nearly have a fistfight in the drawing room. Suddenly, the play seems to have lost its mooring. Not so, however: Wilde is satirizing the “fallen woman” genre by allowing his fallen woman to win in the end. Director James Bundy is to be
applauded for having brought this complex work to the stage, and for gathering such marvelous artist/designers to create the minimalist sets (Lauren Rockman) , stunning costumes (Anya Klepikov), subtle lighting (Ola Bråten) and evocative sound (Jana Hoglund). The key to the play’s success, though, lies in casting, and directing, a multi-faceted and charismatic Mrs. Arbuthnot. Kate Forbes did strong and subtle work in Long Wharf Theatre’s The Price earlier this season, and there is no reason to think that she could not create a Mrs. Arbuthnot who is at first mysterious, then terribly vulnerable, then vibrant and fully able to conquer an Illingworth who is finally at her mercy. Instead, she is hindered at her moment of triumph, first by a housedress and long braid that obliterate any air of authority. Then Bundy allows Forbes to back down from the strength and wit that Wilde has provided. When, in her last line, Mrs. Arbuthnot labels Illingworth “a man of no importance,” she has won the battle of a lifetime. To fully enjoy Act IV, and its final moment, we must feel her relishing this hard-won victory. v
Color of Envy
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Of course, as in all tragedy — and seeing Morrison’s story on the stage makes its connections with the Greeks clearer than ever — Pecola’s wishes come true in ways that surpass any horrors we could imagine. Yet just as Morrison intended, we are blocked from blaming her wounded mother and father, since the white world has so terribly wounded them. Leon Addison Brown captures Cholly’s violence, sensuality and shame. JoAnna Rhinehart makes us feel Mrs. Breedlove’s fury at white people, especially because — as a domestic in a white home — she must depend on them. And Adepero Oduye creates an unforgettable Pecola. While she is convinced that she is unlovable, we in the audience love her upon sight, and this causes unbearable tension. As one, the audience gasps at the moment of her most terrible betrayal. This feeling of oneness in the face of tragedy is what theater must conjure if it is to change us. Each cast member, Ting, the design team, and especially Oduye, make The Bluest Eye a revelation. v
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Billy attempts to make amends for mistakes he made in life to gain entry into Heaven. Can he do it? Find out in Long Wharf Theater’s production of Carousel.
REVUES/CABARETS Curated by Liz Groth (Design ‘10) The Hot Box: An Evening of Burlesque will have Yale Cabaret goers dancing out of their seats. 8 p.m. May 1-3 & 10:30 p.m. May 2-3 at Yale Cabaret, 217 Park St., New Haven. $15 ($12 seniors, $10 students). 203432-1566, yalecabaret.org. The stars are shining at Lyrics — downtown Waterbury’s newest hot spot. Join fellow Palace Theater goers on Tuesday evenings for music and mingling in the Poli Club after the performance. Light fare and bar service will be available. Lyrics is Waterbury’s community cabaret where anyone can be a star! Attendees are encouraged to bring sheet music (some selections will be available on site); stage and piano accompaniment will be provided by the venue. Seasoned performers and newcomers are all welcome This is not karaoke, it’s better — so don’t miss out on the fun. 9:30 p.m. May 13 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $10 (Poli Club members and premier subscribers free). 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org.
Semina DeLaurentis plays delightfully demented coloratura soprano Florence Foster Jenkins, a real life New York socialite, with a passion and love for opera in Steven Temperly’s Souvenir. With her invincible self-confidence and her passion for opera, she stunned concert audiences with her unique interpretations of the opera repertoire and her legendary propensity for pitch-imperfect warbling. Her cultish American Idol-type fame culminated in a soldout performance at Carnegie Hall. Jenkin’s mantra was “People may say I can’t sing, but no one can ever say I didn’t sing.” Through May 11 at Seven Angels Theatre, Hamilton Park Pavilion, Waterbury. $48-$28. 203-7574676, sevenangelstheatre.org.
Frankly Ben: The Science of Achievement. Meet Benjamin Franklin — not the elder statesman, but Ben, the 15-year-old, who is inquisitive, mischievous and of course inventive. Ben’s first great idea is to form a club called the Junto. But while Ben thinks the club is just about hanging out and having fun, his clubmates have something else in mind. Will Ben reach his potential? Will he fulfill his destiny? Visit a world of scientific invention and individual achievement in this contemporary musical about making history. Best for grades 4-8. 9:30 & 11:30 a.m. May 14 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $8. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org. Hairspray, Broadway’s musical comedy phenomenon that inspired a major motion picture, is coming to New Haven. Winner of eight 2003 Tony Awards including Best Musical, is currently enjoying its fifth year on Broadway. And now, New Haven audiences will be swept away to 1960s Baltimore in this international smash-hit musical, piled bouffanthigh with laughter, romance and deliriously tuneful songs. Join Tracy Turnblad and the whole oldies-butgoodies gang for a guaranteed good time. May 15-18 at the Shubert Performing Arts Center, 247 College St., New Haven. $68-$38. 203-624-1825, shubert.com.
CRITIC’S PICK Only The Lonely Boleros for the Disenchanted is a tale for lovers and fighters. Join Flora as she explores the many levels of different human relationships and topics that are sure to hit home for many.
THEATER Perhaps the Bard’s best-loved early comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is brought to life by the Crescent Players and the SCSU Department of Theatre. 8 p.m. April 29-May 3, 3 p.m. May 4 at Lyman Center for the Performing Arts, Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent St., New Haven. $10 ($5 students, seniors). 203-392-6154, southernct.edu. James and the Giant Peach. Join James on his exciting adventure inside the biggest peach the world has ever seen! Sign-Stage Productions offers a blend of language by performing this play simultaneously in spoken English and American Sign Language. Ideal for grades 1-5. 9:30 & 11:30 a.m. May 1 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $8. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org.
So says Flora’s fiancé, Manuelo, in Boleros for the Disenchanted. But she will have none of it. Nor is she interested in her mother’s idea that a witch’s spell can make him faithful, or her father’s proposal to have Manuelo
killed. Instead, handsome Eusebio sweeps her off her feet, and takes her from Puerto Rico to America on a journey of sacrifice and enduring love. Yale Repertory Theatre presents this world premiere by
José Rivera, OBIE Award-winning author of Cloud Tectonics, Marisol and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, as well as the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of The Motorcycle Diaries. Directed by Henry Godinez. Through May 17 at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel St., New Haven. $58$20. 203-432-1234, yalerep.org. — Elvira J. Duran
ONSTAGE BY ELVIRA J. DURAN Carousel. One of America’s most beloved musical masterpieces by Rodgers and Hammerstein will soar to new heights at Long Wharf Theatre, led by Court Theatre Artistic Director Charles Newell and Music Director Doug Peck. Set in a small New England town in the late 1800s, the story of impulsive, brash carnival barker Billy Bigelow and his bride, mill worker Julie Jordan, spans heaven and earth in its exploration of love, human frailty and redemption. May 7-June 1 on Long Wharf Theatre Mainstage, 222 Sargent Dr., New Haven. $65.75$35.75. 203-787-4282, 800-782-8497, info@longwharf.org, longwharf.org. The quintessential “American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” is of course Hair, which hits the Palace stage for one performance only. Produced by the Performing Arts Collaborative. 8 p.m. May 9 at the Palace Theatre, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $20. 203-7554700, palacetheaterct.org. Evan Goldman has it all — he’s popular, has the “perfect” family and lives in New York. That is, until his parents get divorced and he’s forced to move — to a small town in Indiana. Uprooted from his old life, he has to make new friends and somehow navigate the minefield of high school to become part of the “in-crowd.” With wit and searing honesty, 13 is a hilarious, high-energy musical for all ages. It’s about the lessons one learns throughout life and the discovery that the journey to who you want to be starts with discovering who you are. Featuring an explosive rock score by celebrated composer Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years) and performed by an astonishing cast of young actors. May 9-June 8 at Norma Terris Theatre, 6 North Main St., Chester. $46.50. 860-873-8668, goodspeed.org. 1959 is cool again in Happy Days: A New Musical, based on the longrunning TV hit penned by Garry Marshall, who also wrote the book of the new musical, with music and lyrics by songwriter Paul Williams. Richie, Fonzie, Ralph, Potsie and the whole gang join forces to try to save Arnold’s in a sock-hoppin’, enginesrevvin’ new musical comedy directed by Gordon Greenberg. Through June 29 at Goodspeed Musicals, Rt. 82, East Haddam. $54-$26. 860-873-8668, goodspeed.org.
new haven
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O F NOTES
By Michael C. Bingham
PHOTOGRAPH:
Dolores Neilson. All Rights Reserved.
The Taubls (clockwise from left): Annabelle (with harp), Sam, mom Carol, dad John, Emily, Jack, Gretchen and twins Jeremiah and James.
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F
or most large (as in really large) families, the simple act of not killing one another would be quite a feat.
Then there’s New Haven’s remarkable Taubl family — comprising a mom, dad and seven (count ‘em — seven) children ages 12 to 24, who not only have managed thus far to avoid homicide, but indeed spend much of their precious time together making beautiful music. Literally. Carol and John Taubl preside over an unusual brood of string players and singers who perform, together and separately, both to glorify God — and because they are really very good at it.
At an April 6 afternoon performance at the United Methodist Church in Branford, many in the audience of 80 or so profess amazement not only at the family’s individual and collective talent, but also the evident joy they bring to playing and performing together. In the Taubls’ third appearance at the tidy modern church, mom Carol explains that the theme of this particular performance is “Shedding Some Light” — of the divine and musical varieties. And so they do. The stage is set up for nine performers: two violins, two violas, two cellos and dominated visually by the womanly silhouette of the harp that daughter No. 3 Annabelle plays center stage (she also plays violin and is “ridiculously good” at piano, according to her mother) . Carol Taubl provides accompaniment and musical direction from her stage-right perch. In addition to playing strings and harp, all the family members sing, and very well. John Taubl adds his sturdy baritone to some (not all) of the numbers, but he’s the only family member who doesn’t play an instrument (slacker!).
Although she deprecates her own musical ability (“My musical background is very limited, actually,” she says) , Carol Taubl is the piano accompanist, music director, arranger and the family’s most polished vocalist (as she will demonstrate later in a heartfelt “The Lighthouse”) . Her arrangements (which she says “just come to me; they’re just something I hear”) are fresh and unpredictable — and even surprisingly showbiz-y, with key and tempo changes that reflect a fecund musical imagination. She also writes the family’s original songs (which can be heard on many of the family’s nine CDs — visit thetaublfamily.com).
Speaking of showbiz, it’s clear that all seven children are experienced and comfortable performers. Between numbers each of the children (well, the twins go together) introduces her/himself and talks a bit about their music, education and sources of inspiration (almost all of them cite Irish novelist [The Chronicles of Narnia, among many] and scholar C.S. Lewis. A coincidence? I think not).
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There’s 24-year-old Gretchen, the serious violinist and oldest of the brood (quite the responsibility being the eldest of seven). A graduate of the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, where she is now pursuing her master’s in music, Gretchen teaches Suzuki violin at New Haven’s Neighborhood Music School.
Gretchen is an estimable instrumentalist, but her 22-year-old sister Emily, a cellist, may (to these ears) have the most talent (she is also most accomplished singer of the offspring) . All three girls attended the Julliard School’s pre-college program. At the time, the Taubls lived in New Hampshire (the family moved to New The performance kicks off with a rousing Haven in 2002 when Emily was accepted rendition of the spiritual “I Saw the Light” into Yale and so the others could be closer (remember that theme!) , beginning with to Manhattan) and the sisters had to leave rich a cappella vocal harmonies that segue the Granite State at 3 a.m. each Saturday to into an instrumental section. make classes in New York City. Next up is the old Shaker tune “Simple After finishing high school early (as did Gifts,” opening with string solo parts her sisters; all were home-schooled), Emily over a cello drone and arpeggiated chords earned a certificate in cello performance on Annabelle’s harp. The playing style is from Yale in 2005, but clashed with her somewhere between academic and folk, teacher (she says he told her, “I hope you incorporating some of the feel and freeness have something else to do with your life, of the latter but also the precision of the because this isn’t it”) . Understandably former. The vocal section begins with a discouraged, she stopped studying cello duet by the two youngest Taubls — 12-year- for two years, but resumed when she old twins James and Jeremiah, trading matriculated at Hartt last year. Brashly, verses. It’s a winning combo, and the she entered the school’s annual van Rooy crowd loves it. Continued on 77
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Classical Wei-Jen Yuan, piano (5 p.m. May 1) will perform music by Bartok, Mozart, Ravel and Schumann, while Estelle Choi performs on cello (8 p.m. May 1), Dawn Dongeun Wohn, violin (2 p.m. May 3), Alexander Woods, violin (8 p.m. May 3) and Huili Zhai, cello (8 p.m. May 3 in Sudler Recital Hall, William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St.) perform in the Master of Music Recitals series. At Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. yale. edu/music.
Audubon St, New Haven. Free. 203624-5189, info@nmsmusicschool. org, nmsmusicschool.org. A quintessential component of Javanese performing arts, the shadow-puppet play (wayang kulit) combines theater, dance, music and storytelling. The Javanese Wayang Puppet Play performance is important to the Javanese people as
drumming genre that originated in Japan, in a variety of traditional and contemporary contexts. 8 p.m. May 4 at World Music Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.
engaging array of works for winds and percussion in its WesWinds Spring Concert. 8 p.m. May 6 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.
Come out and enjoy an evening of soul-stirring Gospel music with Wesleyan University’s Ebony
Solo performance by Rupert Boyd, guitar. 8 p.m. May 7 at Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St., New
For its Symphony Series at Woolsey Hall the New Haven Symphony Orchestra joins forces with the New Haven Choral and chorus from the Hartt School of music to perform MOZART Symphony No. 31 (“Paris”); BRAHMS Ein Deutsches Requiem. Edward Bolkovac will guest-conduct. 7:30 p.m. May 1 at Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. $65$10. 203-562-5666 or 888-736-2663, scollins@newhavensymphony.org, newhavensymphony.org. Yale Philharmonia performs in Carnegie Hall Preview, an evening dedicated to the orchestral music of Sergei Prokofief. Boris Berman is soloist for Piano Concerto No. 4, and the orchestra performs two orchestral favorites, Symphony No. 1, (“Classical”) and selections from the ballet Romeo and Juliet. 8 p.m. May 2 at Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. Free. 203 432-4158, yale. edu/music. Winners of the Wesleyan Orchestra Concerto Competition and the Wesleyan Concert Choir. Winners perform a concerto accompanied by the Wesleyan University Orchestra conducted by Angel Gil-Ordonez. The Wesleyan Concert Choir joins the celebration. 8 p.m. May 2 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. America: A Celebration. Zach Fried performs in a Senior Recital. 9 p.m. May 2 at Eclectic House, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Winners of the Renee B. Fisher Competition for Young Pianists (held April 13) will perform in concert and receive their awards. Reception to follow concert. 7:30 p.m. May 3 at Neighborhood Music School, 100
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Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra will bring inspiring color and tunes to Arena at Harbor Yard goers.
a ceremony, but it is also wonderful entertainment. Gamelan, an orchestra consisting predominantly of gongs and metallophones, accompanies the play. Dhalang (puppet master) Sumarsam will present the story in Javanese and English, accompanied by the Wesleyan Gamelan Ensemble and guest musicians under the direction of I.M. Harjito. 8 p.m. May 3 at World Music Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $5-$3. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa.
Singers under the direction of Pastor Marichal Monts. You will clap, you will sing, but most of all, you will be uplifted. 8 p.m. May 5 at Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $7-$5. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa. Under the direction of Peter Hadley, the Wesleyan University Wind Ensemble performs an eclectic and
Spring Taiko Concert. This concert by student performers will present Taiko (literally, “big drum”), a
Saxophonist, composer and professor Anthony Braxton, known for his groundbreaking jazz and experimental music, performs in an intimate, Small Ensemble setting (8 p.m. May 7). Braxton’s student ensemble performs his music the following evening in a Large Ensemble performance (8 p.m. May 8). At Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Annual Organ Romp. This popular annual event features faculty, student and guest performers and premieres of new works together with wacky pieces not usually performed on the organ. 10 p.m. May 8 at Memorial Chapel, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa.
The Collegium Musicum is a student performance ensemble dedicated to exploring and performing the diverse vocal and instrumental repertoires of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods of European music history. 7 p.m. May 4 at Memorial Chapel, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $3-$2. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa. Organist Jessica French will delight listeners during her student recital. 8 p.m. May 4 at Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. Free. yale. edu/music.
Haven. Free. yale.edu/music.
Fiery-haired siren Cassandra Kubinski will woe audiences at the Milford Center for the Arts Coffee House on May 30.
Experience authentic music and dance of West Africa in its social, religious and historical context in this West African Drumming & Dance Concert. This invigorating outdoor performance, filled with the rhythms of West Africa, will feature Master Drummer Abraham K. Adzenyah and visiting instructor in dance, choreographer and drummer
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Samuel Elikem Nyamuame. 3 p.m. May 9 at CFA Courtyard (rain site: Crowell Concert Hall), Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. In Orchestra New England’s Music for the Theater, Act I opens with movements from Aaron Copland’s Music for the Theatre. The show features a new Violin Concerto by Mark Kuss, a music professor at Southern Connecticut State University. Act II presents Richard Strauss’ suite for Moliere’s comedy Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. 8 p.m. May 9 at Battell Chapel, 400 College St., New Haven. $40-$20. 203-777-4690 or 888-736-2663, orchestranewengland.org. For over a decade, this dazzling ensemble has enchanted audiences and critics worldwide with their exotic blend of musical virtuosity, artistic passion and charismatic presence. Classical in intent, eclectic by design, Quartetto Gelato not only thrills its audiences with the mastery of six instruments, but offers the wonderfully unexpected bonus of a brilliant operatic tenor. With a performance repertoire that travels imaginatively between classical masterworks, operatic arias and the sizzling energy of tangos, gypsy and folk songs, the group’s relaxed stage presence and delightful humor establishes an immediate rapport with traditional and nontraditional classical audiences alike. 8 p.m. May 10 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield. $40-$30. 203254-4010, quickcenter.com. Ives Vocal Marathon: Songs of Peace and War. Enjoy the complete songs of Charles Ives: Round Ten, featuring Johana Arnold, soprano; David Barron, baritone; Elizabeth Saunders, mezzo soprano; and Neely Bruce, pianist and organist, with other assisting singers and instrumentalists. 8 p.m. May 10 at Memorial Chapel, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $5-$4. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa. Renowned for sparking an international revival in waltz music, Dutch violinist and conductor .Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra perform live in concert. 7:30 p.m. May 23 at Arena at Harbor Yard, 600 Main St., Bridgeport. $75.25$50.25. 203-368-1000 or 203-624-033. The Yale Glee Club, under the direction of Jeffrey Douma, perform its annual Commencement Concert. 8 p.m. May 24 at Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. $12 ($10 students). 203-432-4136, yale. edu/music.
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CRITIC’S PICK: Three’s Company The three amigos, Mark Helias, Gerry Hemingway and Ray Anderson, of BassDrumBone will make some (fun and enjoyable) noise at Firehouse 12 this May.
BassDrumBone is a trio with an unusual instrumentation and a
unique sound. A true collective, the group’s music combines three
The Yale School of Music’s annual Commencement Concert features outstanding performers from the Class of 2008. 4 p.m. May 25 at Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. yale.edu/music. The Yale Band performs a Twilight Commencement Concert on Old Campus. 7 p.m. May 25 at Old Campus, 344 College St., New Haven. Free. yale.edu/music.
Popular Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez. The Beehive is back for spring! Come down and get buzzed by her awesome R&B. 10 p.m. May 3 at Café Nine, 250 State St., New Haven. $8. 203-789-8281, cafenine. com. Guitar Town CT Productions presents a bluegrass concert by the Tony Rice Unit. 3 p.m. May 4 at the Little Theater, One Lincoln St., New Haven. Free. 203-4306020, info@nmsmusicschool.org, nmsmusicschool.org. A very special solo performance by Bryan Adams. A concert for those 21 and older. 9 p.m. (doors open 7:30 p.m.) May 5 at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. 203-624-8623, toadsplac@aol.com, toadsplace. com.
distinct compositional and improvisational approaches and an exceptional musical rapport. Over the 30 years they have played together they have developed an uncanny
Shotgun Party; with Avi and Celia. New Haven native Jen Parrot returns with her Austin-based old-time music project. She has taken the Lone Star State by storm with her killer new band. Fresh from a residency at the legendary Continental Club, they never forget their hometown roots and always hit the Nine when they are in the area. Come see what all the fuss is about. May 8 at Café Nine, 250 State St., New Haven. $6. 203-789-8281, cafenine.com. The Roberta Piket Trio, featuring gifted pianist and composer Roberta Piket, virtuoso bassist Tony Marino and extraordinary drummer Billy Mintz, sets a new standard for modern piano-trio jazz. 8 p.m. May 9 at Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. $12. 203-878-6647, milfordarts.org. Henry Cole, Luis Perdomo, Miguel Zenon and Ricky Rodriguez comprise the Miguel Zenón Quartet. The jazz world got to know Zenón quite well in 2004. The young alto saxophonist/composer expanded his already impressive sideman résumé with featured roles in the SF
Michael Amante. From songs sung in Italian to pop love standards to original songs that melt the hearts of fans, Amante redefines an evening of romance with his live and passionate performances. 7:30 p.m. May 6 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $45. 203-7554700, palacetheaterct.org. Third Eye Blind and Takota. A concert for all ages. 8:30 p.m. (doors open 7:30 p.m.) May 7 at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $30. 203-624-8623, toadsplac@aol.com, toadsplace.com.
Steve Davis rounds out Long Wharf Theatre’s Jazz on the Wharf series. Join him on Stage II May 16.
sense of communication that allows for very free and disciplined collectivity regardless of the compositional form being explored. Join Mark Helias, Gerry Hemingway and Ray Anderson for “exceptionally good music.” 8:30 & 10 p.m. May 2 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. $15-$10. 203-785-0468, firehouse12.com. — Elvira J. Duran
Jazz Collective and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra. He also captivated numerous listeners with his heralded Marsalis Music debut, Ceremonial. 8:30 & 10 p.m. May 9 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. $15-$10. 203-785-0468, firehouse12.com. The long-awaited return of the Master of Hillbilly Rock ‘n’ Roll, Sasquatch and the Sickabillies. 10 p.m. May 9 at Café Nine, 250 State St., New Haven. $5. 203-789-8281, cafenine.com. The Branford Folk Music Society caps off its 2007-08 concert season in grand fashion with a special performance featuring the worldrenowned Inca Son, a Peruvian ensemble that performs music and dance of the Andes. Inca Son (meaning “sound of the Incas”), dressed in authentic and colorful Inca costumes and Andean attire, introduces and educates audiences to the traditional dances; beautiful melodies and rhythms of Andean and Latin American music; and the riches of their Peruvian Andes culture. They are one of the few bearers of the Inca musical legacy. The ensemble has 12 CDs to its credit and is now recognized as one of the globe’s best World Traditional Music groups. 8 p.m. May 10 at First Congregational Church, 1009 Main St., Branford. $16 ($14 members, $3 children 12 and under). 203-488-7715, branfordfolk@yahoo.com, folknotes. org/branfordfolk. Darrett Adkins, cello, performs in the Robbie Collomore music series where attendees can enjoy extraordinary music, informal receptions for the artists following the concerts and the simple pleasure of sharing musical camaraderie. Performances are held at the charming, intimate Chester Meeting House. 5 p.m. May 11 at Chester Meeting House, 4 Liberty St.,
Chester. 860-526-4029, chesterhistoricalsociety. org/rc.htm Eight-time Grammy Award-winning songstress Natalie Cole brings an extension of her Leavin’ Tour to Waterbury, performing her hits, This Will Be (An Everlasting Love), I’ve Got Love On My Mind, Pink Cadillac and more. 7:30 p.m. May 13 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $70$40. 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org. The Waterbury Symphony Orchestra hosts the community celebration of the legendary pops composer and Connecticut native, Leroy Anderson.
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Center Podiatry Natalie Cole performs her hits at the Palace Theater on May 13.
The Leroy Anderson Centennial Pops Celebration concert features Simon Tedeschi performing Anderson’s Piano Concerto and other favorites such as Sandpaper Ballet, Blue Tango and Buglar’s Holiday. 9:30 & 11:30 a.m. May 14 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $75-$20 ($10 students). 203-755-4700, palacetheaterct.org.
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American rock indie duo, Mates of State, along with the groups Phillistines, Jr., MT Bearington and Monitor and the Merrimac will perform in a concert for all ages. 8 p.m. (doors open 7 p.m.) May 16 at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $15. 203-624-8623, toadsplac@aol.com, toadsplace. com. Nashville-based songwriter David Olney has had songs recorded by everyone from Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt to Steve Earle and Del McCoury. This is a don’t-miss show by an underthe-radar songwriting genius. 8 p.m. May 16 at Café Nine, 250 State St., New Haven. $8. 203-7898281, cafenine.com. The Jazz on the Wharf series presents Steve Davis for its final performer of the season. 9 p.m. May 16 on Long Wharf Theatre Stage II, 222 Sargent Dr., New Haven. $17 ($15 subscriber/member). 203-787-
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4282, 800-782-8497, info@longwharf. org, longwharf.org. Ralph Alessi & This Against That. Since 1991, trumpeter/composer/ educator Ralph Alessi has been an active member of the New York jazz and improvised music scene as both sideman and leader. Alessi has performed and recorded with the likes of Steve Coleman, Uri Caine, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, Sam Rivers, Drew Gress, Fred Hersch and many others of the great innovators in improvised music. Alessi & This Against That organically toe the line between jazz, pop and contemporary classical music. 8:30 & 10 p.m. May 16 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. $15-$10. 203785-0468, firehouse12.com. Milford Fine Arts Council and the New England Guitar Society present a concert by the Mannes School of Music Guitar Department. Mannes was the first college in America to offer a major in guitar (1956), and the first college to introduce a guitar ensemble-in-residence (1987), the guitar department has trained internationally successful guitarists. Their Milford concert will feature solo and ensemble performances by their current students in top form right before entering the professional guitar world. This is a perfect occasion to see the
jazz-like ensemble playing, and multi-layered sound textures. 8:30 & 10 p.m. May 30 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. $15-$10. 203785-0468, firehouse12.com. Cassandra Kubinski and the Elwoods will share the performance coffeehouse stage. Kubinski is an NYC-based singer and songwriter. Her music straddles the sophisticated storytelling of writers like Billy Joel and the searing, powerhouse vocals of rockers like Sheryl Crow and Fiona Apple. 8 p.m. May 30 at Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. $10. 203-8786647, milfordarts.org.
Roberta Piket will tickle the ivories to bring modern jazz melodies to listeners’ ears. At the Milford Center for the Arts May 9. talented players of the future while supporting the NEGS and MFAC in this annual fundraising event. 8 p.m. May 17 at Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Ave., Milford. $15. 203-8786647, milfordarts.org. Pipa player, vocalist and composer Min Xiao-Fen is a new music pioneer who grew up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. A virtuoso with a long list of uptown and downtown credits, Min joins forces with Okkyung Lee and Satoshi Tekeishi, two great musicians, to form Min Xiao-Fen’s Asian Trio. 8:30 & 10 p.m.
May 23 at Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St., New Haven. $15-$10. 203-785-0468, firehouse12.com. Described by BBC World as “harrowing to absorb; full of as much beauty as pain,” Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers is a powerful emotional journey through Iraq’s glorious and tragic past and present. The compositions of this suite invoke Iraqi Maqam melodies, each of which is believed to have a unique spiritual essence and to contain an aspect of Iraq’s history and society, and set them to heavy grooves, free
The New York Times ranks Gateway Community College among Connecticut’s TOP FIVE public colleges & universities for incoming freshmen.
Wear your favorite pajamas and come early for the PJ party activities at Raven-Symoné’s Pajama Party Concert with special guests Mitchel Musso, B5 and Clique Girlz. May 24 at Arena at Harbor Yard, 600 Main St., Bridgeport. $49.50-$29.50. 203368-1000 or 203-624-033. Boasting complex harmonies and chart-topping ballads, Air Supply will perform their greatest hits “All Out of Love,” “Lost in Love,” “Here I Am” and many more in this onenight-only event. 7:30 p.m. May 31 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. $60-$40. 203-755-4700, www.palacetheaterct.org.
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BY ELVIRA J. DURAN
BELLES LETTRES From May 1 to June 28, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, in partnership with the Connecticut Library Consortium, will engage the greater New Haven region in reading and celebrating Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. The Big Read will launch on May 1 in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day. The next six weeks will feature events hosted by partner libraries and community organizations and will include read-alouds, book discussions, theatrical presentations, film screenings and more. The Big Read will culminate in June during the festival itself, with presentations by world-class artists and thinkers that reflect themes of Fahrenheit 451. The Big Read — Greater New Haven launches with a bang! Scholar Mark Schenker moderates an exciting talk inspired by the text. Come with an open mind and leave with a copy of the book and a rekindled desire to read. Reception follows talk. 7 p.m. May 1 at the Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-4983723, neabigread.org/events.php?mo de=detailEvent&EventID=11343.
Silent Sounds. 7 p.m. May 7 at World Music Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa.
Come have A Conversation with Christopher Collier. Former Connecticut state historian Collier has, with his brother James Lincoln Collier, written a history of the
Constitutional Convention as well as historical fiction for young people. Among those novels are My Brother Sam Is Dead (a Newbery Honor Book) and Jump Ship to Freedom,
Greater New Haven’s Big ReadAloud — Wallingford. Wallingford Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr., community leaders and the public read Ray Bradbury’s futuristic novel Fahrenheit 451 aloud (see above). Drawing for DVDs and refreshments to follow. 10 a.m.-noon May 3 at Wallingford Public Library, 200 North Main St., Wallingford. 203-265-6754, wallingford.lioninc.org or neabigread. org/events.php?mode=detailEvent& EventID=16284. Excerpts of Fahrenheit 451 will be read by Amity Middle School students and books will be distributed at the Case Memorial Library’s Gala Read-Aloud Kickoff Reception. Refreshments provided; no registration necessary. 1 p.m. May 3 at Case Memorial Library, 176 Tyler City Rd., Orange. 203-389-2044, leaplibraries.org/orange. A Celebration of Silent Sounds. Celebrate the writing excellence of students in Middletown public schools, grades 6-12, as they read their winning submissions of oneact plays, short stories and poetry from the annual literary magazine,
Enjoy a pony ride at the Spring Fair put on by the country’s 2nd oldest nursery school, Leila Day.
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Professor Leonard Engel, Chair of Quinnipiac University’s English Department will lead a discussion on Reading Fahrenheit 451 in the 21st Century. 7-8:30 p.m. May 13 at Hamden Public Library, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden Fahrenheit 451 Book Discussion and Activity. For parents and students in grades 6-12, with School Media Specialist Jeanne Laurence. Pre-registration. 1 p.m. May 31 at Case Memorial Library, 176 Tyler City Rd., Orange. 203-891-2170, leaplibraries.org/orange.
BENEFITS New Haven’s premier non-profit contemporary art gallery and project space, Artspace holds its principal annual fundraiser, the Spectacular! Benefit Auction. Proceeds support award-winning visual arts-based community and education programs, innovative exhibitions and public art. The multi-venue event begins at 5:30 p.m. with a Silent Auction at Artspace showcasing multimedia work of more than 90 area and national artists. At 6:45 p.m., the event will move to 868 Chapel Street for a live auction. Up for bid are unusual art experiences including a full-color custom portrait by artist Tim Nikiforuk, original artworks by Clint Jukkala, Christopher Mir and Kammy Roulner accompanied by a case of top-shelf wines from Nicholls Wine and a private tour of the Yale Center for British Art. All artwork available in the silent and live auctions will be on view at Artspace through May 2, for viewing and placement of early bids, with no ticket required. 5:30 p.m. May 3 at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. $75 advance, $100 at door. 203-7722709, artspacenh.org/auction. Milford Hospital employees, medical staff, family and friends of the hospital will perform in Needles & Splints Encore: Through the Years, a variety show to raise funds for capital equipment. 7 p.m. May 3 at the Parsons Auditorium, 70 West River St., Milford. 203-876-4000, milfordhospital.com. This spring, you can “go red” while helping to combat heart disease and stroke in women and learning how to love your own heart. The American Heart Association teams up with Richard Penna Salon in Hamden for A Cause to Dye For, a
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hair dying/manicure event to help raise funds for and awareness of women and cardiovascular disease. “Go Red for Women” is the American Heart Association’s national movement to make women aware of their risk for heart disease, the leading cause of death among women, and take action to reduce that risk. Yale-New Haven Stroke Center Stamp Out Stroke program will offer free bloodpressure screenings and stroke risk assessments. La Moda Fashions and Shoe & She will showcase red fashions with informal modeling throughout the day. Healthy treats will be served, and the first 100 people to have a service will receive a Go Red for Women gift bag. The American Heart Association will be on hand to sign women up for the Go Red for Women movement and everyone who signs up will be entered into a raffle for red-themed
prizes. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. May 4 at Richard Penna Salon, 2456 Whitney Ave., Hamden. $25 one-process color, cut and style (each additional process $25); $10 red manicures. 203-281-4345. americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?i dentifier=3054539. Benefit Concert for Amity Cares Build 3 (a Habitat for Humanity project) featuring Amanda Kaletsky, the Bethwood Suzuki School Performance Team and the Amity High School cast of Grease. 3:00 p.m. May 4 at Amity High School Auditorium, 25 Newton Rd., Woodbridge. $10 ($8 students, $5 Amity students, free under five). 203397-9433, r.miller98@comcast.net, amitycares.org. The Children’s Home in Cromwell will host its annual Golf for Kids Tournament in Wallingford. Play 18 holes, enjoy a barbeque lunch, lobster bake dinner, free neck and
CRITIC’S PICK Burnin’ To Be Green PHOTOGRAPH: ANN CARLSON
which, along with two other titles, have been challenged and removed from the shelves of schools and libraries in various states. Collier will discuss his books and the issues of censorship and civil liberties raised by their suppression. 2-3:30 p.m. May 10 at the Yale Bookstore, 77 Broadway, New Haven. Free.
Each of us has an impact on the world around us — everyone leaves footprints that are currently changing the planet. Become more aware of your environmental impact and attempt to imagine a sustainable future using the arts as your muse to explore the possibilities at the Feet to the Fire Festival at Middletown’s Veterans Park. Feet to the Fire is an eco-arts festival for the whole family featuring music, dance and theater performances,
a sculpture garden, labyrinth, interactive exhibits and a farmers market with food from Connecticut vendors. Exhibits coordinated by the Jonah Center for Earth and Art will highlight energy conservation, sustainability and resilient communities. Come find out what you can do to fight climate change. In the spirit of the festival, the organizers encourage you to consider your environmental footprint as you plan your trip to
Wesleyan knows how to do “Green” right. Inform yourself how to help heal the planet while enjoying arts and entertainment. Photo by Ann Carlson. the festival. For travel alternatives, more information and directions visit wesleyan.edu/ feetttothefire or call 860-685-3355. Noon-5 p.m. May 10 at Veterans Memorial Park (just off Newfield St. -- Route 3), Middletown. Free. — Elvira J. Duran
shoulder massages, as well as a silent auction and raffle along with other contests and prizes. All proceeds will benefit the children being cared for at the home. 10 a.m. May 7 at the Farms Country Club, Wallingford. 860-635-6010 ext.327, sgraves@childhome.org, childhome. org. Join the Sisters in Strength of the Village of POWER. Honor the artists, poets and visionaries who have graced the program. Retrospective exhibition includes ethnic masks, creative apparel, jewelry, teddy bears, wreathes, quilts, poems, photos and life-sized mannequins. Delta blues musician Rocky Lawrence and the Village of POWER Gospel Choir will provide mood music. All guests will receive a complimentary T-shirt created by the Village of POWER. Light refreshments. 5-8 p.m. May 15 at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. $25. 203503-3484, kehlerliddell.com. Leila Day Nursery School mounts an old-fashioned family Spring Fair complete with a performance by award-winning musician Les Julian, pony rides, a zip line, crafts, games and food. All proceeds will help the nursery school continue providing tuition assistance to enrolled families. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. May 17 (rain date May 18) at Leila Day Nursery School, 100 Cold Spring St., New Haven. Free (tickets to play games, do activities and purchase food 50 cents). 203-624-1374, leiladay.com. The Friends of the Davison Art Center Auction returns. Vast and varied auction of works of art from all different genres and for all different tastes and ages. May 17 at the Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, 301 High St., Middletown. 860-685-2500, lberman@wesleyan. edu, wesleyan.edu/dac.
CINEMA Future Possibilities: Is Time Travel for Real? UConn physics professor Ronald Mallet hosts screening of the BBC documentary in which he is featured, The World’s First Time Machine (UK, 2003, 44 min.), directed by Ben Bowie. Following the film, Mallet will field questions from the audience and discuss the realities of time travel. Earlier this year, Mallet was featured on the History Channel program, The Universe, where he discussed the possibility of time travel and whether Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity supports it. Mallet’s book, Time Traveler: A Scientist’s Personal Mission To Make Time Travel a Reality, will be available for purchase. 7-8:30 p.m. May 15 at Wallingford Public Library, 200 North Main St., Wallingford. Free. neabigread.org/events.php?mode=d
etailEvent&EventID=16299. In Fahrenheit 451 (UK, 1966, 112 min.) director Francois Truffaut takes Bradbury’s fascinating premise and makes it his own. Starring Oskar Werner and Julie Christie. Part of the Greater New Haven Big Read Project (see above). 1-3 p.m. May 7 at Cheshire Public Library, 104 Main St., Cheshire; 1-3 p.m. May 14 at Hamden Public Library, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden; 7 p.m. May 21 at Case Memorial Library, 176 Tyler City Rd., Orange. 203-389-2044, leaplibraries. org/orange. The Lives of Others (Germany, 2006, 137 min.). Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Hosted by Wes O’Brien of the SCSU Media Studies department. 7:35 p.m. May 7 in Engleman Hall A120, Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent St., New Haven. Free. 203392-6778, southernct.edu/events/ cinemadumondebl_5985.
CULINARY Chef and co-owner Denise Appel of Zinc and Chow restaurants will discuss technique and ingredients while leading guests through a light dinner and wine selection at her monthly Chef’s Table Dinner. 6 p.m. May 7 at Zinc, 964 Chapel St., New Haven. $55 inclusive. 203-624-0507,
practice parties. Teaching artist David Polon spins some of the hottest salsa tunes and teaches the latest moves from the dance floor. Parties not limited to former Green Street students; everyone (18 and older) is welcome. 7:30-9:30 p.m. May 9, June 13 at Green Street Arts Center, 51 Green St., Middletown. $8 ($5 members, seniors & students). (860) 685-7871, gsac@wesleyan.edu, greenstreetartscenter.org.
elizabethciarlelli@zincfood.com, zincfood.com. Learn to spice up your food with John Bencivengo Jr.’s Cooking Demonstration: Barbecue. Space is limited. 7 p.m. May 7 at Case Memorial Library, 176 Tyler City Rd., Orange. $5. 203-891-2170, leaplibraries.org/orange.
DANCE Beginning dance students perform works of various styles including jazz, Javanese, bharata natyam (south Indian classical dance), AfroBrazilian and group works from the Introduction to Dance courses in the Worlds of Dance Concert. 2 p.m. May 2 at the World Music Hall and Crowell Concert Hall, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Spring Dance Concert. Student choreographers present works created following a full year of dance composition studies. 8 p.m. May 2-3 at the Patricelli ‘92 Theater, Wesleyan University, Middletown. $5-$4. 860685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan.edu/cfa. Salsa Practice Parties. Hone your moves or find a practice partner at Green Street’s new monthly salsa
Find It All Here!
Experience authentic music and dance of West Africa in its social, religious and historical context in West African Drumming & Dance. This invigorating outdoor performance, filled with the rhythms of West Africa, will feature master drummer Abraham K. Adzenyah and visiting dance instructor, choreographer and drummer Samuel Elikem Nyamuame. 3 p.m. May 9 at the Center for the Arts Courtyard, Wesleyan University, Middletown. Free. 860-685-3355, boxoffice@wesleyan.edu, wesleyan. edu/cfa. Shen Wei Dance Arts is dedicated to the creation of new dance in the 21st century. The company was founded upon the fusion of art forms: dance, theater, Chinese opera, painting and sculpture. The multilayered works are based upon research in original movement, spiritual beliefs and
203.387.CAMP (2267)
development of a unique hybridism between Western and Eastern cultures. 8 p.m. May 3 at Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Rd., Fairfield. $40$30. 203-254-4010, quickcenter.com. Neighborhood Music School dance students of all ages will perform ballet, hip-hop and modern dance moves in the Dance Department Spring Concert. 11 a.m., 1 & 3 p.m. May 31 at Educational Center for the Arts, 55 Audubon Street, New Haven, $5 (under 12 free). 203-6245189, info@nmsmusicschool.org, nmsmusicschool.org.
FAMILY EVENTS The Yale Astronomy Department hosts a Public Stargazing Session. 9 p.m. May 1 at the Leitner Family Observatory, 355 Prospect St., New Haven. Free. cobb@astro.yale.edu, astro.yale.edu. City Farmers’ Year-Round Market at Wooster Square. Enjoy local food from local farms including seafood, meat, milk, cheese, organic greens, root vegetables, handcrafted bread and baked goods, honey and more. CitySeed holds a market every Saturday starting this month. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. May 3, 10, 17, 24 & 31 at Russo Park, corner of Chapel St. and DePalma Ct., New Haven. 203-773-
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3736, cityseed.org. Charles Island Exploration. Discover the natural history and folklore that make this island the treasure of Milford. Wear comfortable sneakers or boots that can get wet for a half-mile hike out to the island. Bring water, a snack, hat and sunscreen. 3:15-5:15 p.m. May 3, 3:30-5:30 p.m. May 17 at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford. $12 adult ($6 child) member, $16/$10 non-members ($7 seniors). Registration. 203-878-7440, ctaudubon.org/visit/milford.htm. Learn about different kinds of spiders and the Wonderful Webs they spin. Come catch some bugs with a web of your own. Moms, dads, grandparents and guardians, bring your youngster (three- to fiveyear-olds) to the Coastal Center for a hands-on introduction to nature. Each one-hour program features an outdoor discovery walk or live animal presentation, plus stories, songs and crafts. Parents and guardians will learn tips on sharing nature with children. 10:30-11:30 a.m. May 7 at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford. $10 (includes one adult and one child) member, $15 nonmembers. 203-878-7440, ctaudubon. org/visit/milford.htm. Join in some friendly competition and fun for all ages in The Future of Entertainment: The “Wii” Experience. The library debuts its own Nintendo Wii video game. The Wii gaming experience is a phenomenon not just for gamers. Employing a virtual-reality concept, Nintendo’s Wii video game uses infrared technology to track participant’s movements. From kids to seniors, all are welcome to join in a fun evening of what was once just a futuristic concept and is now today’s entertainment. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451’s “Parlor Wall” is just about here! 6-8:30 p.m. May 8 at the Wallingford Public Library, 200 North Main St., Wallingford. 203-265-6754, wallingford. lioninc.org. Know how to tell a girl squid from a boy squid? Explore a real squid from head to tentacle and find out just why their eyes are so big and where their heart is. Got Ink? will have an experienced instructor guide you, step-by-step through a hands-on dissection. By the end, you too will be able to answer the question, “Is it a boy or a girl?” Family program appropriate for children eight and older; advance registration required. 1-2 p.m. May 10 at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford.
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$10 members, $14 others. 203-8787440, ctaudubon.org/visit/milford. htm. The fun continues! Advanced Birding 201 Intermediate Level picks up where Birding 201 left off, offering new identification challenges to intermediate-level birding students. Frank Gallo will review important principles before presenting students progressively more interesting identification challenges. Participants will continue to identify birds themselves using field guides and observational skills. Study skins and mounts will also be used to give students first-hand experience with difficult-to-identify species. The class will culminate with a study of birds in the field at a local birding hot spot. Bring the Sibley Guide to Eastern Birds. 7-9 p.m. May 15 & 22 (class), 9 a.m.-noon May 24 (field trip) at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford. $85 members, $115 non-members. 203-8787440, ctaudubon.org/visit/milford. htm. Share your passion birds and learn identification tips from others while hanging out with old friends and making new ones. Get your bird identification questions answered on The Early Bird Walk. Walkers concentrate on the basics and learn from one another as they search for migrants with Coastal Center Director Frank Gallo on the productive beaches, marshes, mudflats and forests of Milford Point. 8-9 a.m. May 17 & 24 at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford. $5 members, $7 non-members. 203-878-7440, ctaudubon.org/visit/ milford.htm. April showers have brought May flowers. At Sprouting Seeds, parents/guardians and their threeto five-year olds will read about The Tiny Seed and make a mosaic seed picture, as well as plant flower seeds. 10:30-11:30 a.m. May 21 at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford. $10 (includes one adult and one child) member, $15 non-members. 203-878-7440, ctaudubon.org/visit/ milford.htm. Aliens in a Drop of Water. Attention: Something small and alive is floating in the waters of Long Island Sound; in fact, there are millions of them! They’re plankton! The Coastal Center breaks out its microscopes to scrutinize the world of these tiny plants and animals. Discover a crab’s secret identity, witness one of the fastest animals alive in action and all before you can say “dinoflagellate.” Attendees will
Men and women will have A Cause to Dye For at Richard Renna Salon of Hamden on May 4 when they dye their hair red (other colors will also be available) in support of women’s heart health. collect their own water samples from the Sound, so come ready to get wet. You may even get to sneak a peak at these amazing critters on the Center’s large-screen plasma TV. Appropriate for all ages. 1-2 p.m. May 24 at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford. $5 member, $7 nonmembers. 203-878-7440, ctaudubon. org/visit/milford.htm.
LECTURES/ DISCUSSIONS The Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies sponsors a Tea Ceremony Demonstration and a guided tour of the Freeman Family Japanese Garden at Wesleyan University. Stephen Morrell will explain the history and ritual of tea ceremony and answer questions. Guests will be seated comfortably in chairs placed around tatami mats centered in the Center Seminar Room for this talk. At the close of this program guests will quietly observe the tea ceremony
presentation. Morrell is the designer of the Freeman Family Japanese Garden. This Japanese-style viewing garden is inspired by the “dry landscape” aesthetic; its raked gravel riverbed evokes the prominent bend in the Connecticut River as it flows through wooded hills near Middletown. 4:30 p.m. May 5 at the Center for East Asian Studies Seminar Room, Wesleyan University, 343 Washington Terr., Middletown. Free. 860-685-2330, slawrence@wesleyan. edu, wesleyan.edu/east. Are you happy? Come find out how to be. The New Haven Happiness Club meets this month to discuss The Good Life and The Art of Living with Anne Fasanella, RN, BSN and owner of Annie’s Creative Arts of Westport. Fasanella’s talk will cover secret techniques for lovin’ life 24/7 and simple and practical solutions for how to cope with adversities, illness, pain and depression. Allison Aboud Holzer, CPCC, MAT, MFA will act as group facilitator. 7-8:30 p.m. May 1 at City Hall, 165 Church St., Meeting Room 1, New Haven. Free.
703-864-2770, newhavenhappiness@ gmail.com.
NATURAL HISTORY The Peabody Museum’s latest traveling exhibition celebrates the rich and diverse artistic traditions of Mexico. Developed by the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Okla., Las Artes de Mexico examines more than 3,500 years of art and culture and of tradition and change across the broad spectrum of Mexican life, from the ancient worlds of the Mayans and Aztecs to the 20th century works of Miguel Covarrubias and Diego Rivera. Included are artifacts from more than a dozen pre-Columbian cultures that reveal a world of ceremony and celebration, of ritual warfare and the veneration of the dead, along with a selection of material from the Peabody’s own collections. Through July 19 at Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, 170 Whitney Ave., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, noon-5 p.m. Sun. $7 ($6 seniors, $5 ages 3-18). 203-432-5050, yale.edu/peabody. Small Things Considered. From a nutmeg to a strand of George Washington’s hair to the classic Wiffle Ball, discover the big impact small objects have made on history and our lives. Through November 29 at the Connecticut Historical Society, 1 Elizabeth St., Hartford. Open noon-5 p.m. Tues-Sat. $6 ($3 seniors, students). 860-236-5621, CHS.org.
SPORTS/RECREATION Aquatics The first spring tour is here! Join a Guided Canoe Tour of the 840acre Charles Wheeler Salt Marsh. Steeped in local history, the marsh offers an abundance of birds and other wildlife, beautiful vistas and a chance to paddle and relax. Sign-up early, these are popular tours. Bring drinking water and wear shoes that can get wet. Trip routes subject to change due to weather. Advance registration required. 1:30-4 p.m.
May 24 & June 7 at Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford, 1 Milford Point Rd., Milford. With canoe rental: $25/person, $65/canoe members; $35/person, $95/canoe non-members. Without rental: $19 member, $29 non-member. Advance registration only. 203-8787440, ctaudubon.org/visit/milford. htm.
Cycling Night Ride on the Canal. Enjoy the newborn spring and get those base miles up with a weekly two- to three-hour ride up the Farmington Canal Trail. Riders maintain a very moderate (15-17 mph) pace. Participants should bring lights (some may be available for loan) and helmets. 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays May 6, 13, 20 & 27 at the Devil’s Gear Bike Shop, 433 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. 203773-9288, thedevilsgear.com. Elm City Cycling organizes Lulu’s Ride, weekly two- to four-hour rides for all levels (17-19 mph average). Cyclists leave 10 a.m. from Lulu’s European Café as a single group; no one is dropped. 10 a.m. Sundays May 4, 11, 18 & 25 at Lulu’s European Café, 49 Cottage St., New Haven. Free. 203773-9288, elmcitycycling.org/. Critical Mass. The ride you shouldn’t miss! Participants meet at the flagpole on the New Haven Green at 5:30 p.m. on the last Friday of each month for a slow-paced ride through New Haven streets. The ride ranges from 30 minutes to over an hour depending on weather. Critical Mass is not an organization; it’s an “unorganized coincidence” — a movement of bicycles in the streets as traffic. After the event, everyone is invited to a potluck dinner at the Devil’s Gear Bike Shop. 5:30 p.m. May 30 at Temple and Chapel streets, New Haven. Free. elmcitycycling.org/.
Hikes Join the New Haven Hiking Club for an A+ hike. Trek 13 miles along the Mattabasset Trail. Bring lunch,
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liquids, rain gear. Hike will be lead by Larry Hoyt. 9 a.m. May 18, meet at parking lot of Middlesex Community College, 100 Training Hill Rd., Middletown. 860-767-0180, nhhc.info. This Class B hike will lead hikers through four miles of the Stony Creek Trolley Trail and Young Pond. Heavy rain cancels. Lois Phillips will serve as hike leader for this outing. 12:30 p.m. May 24, meet at Exit 56 commuter lot off Route 95. 203-4819024, nhhc.info. Rugged 3.5 Mile Hike. Hikers will do a loop up the very steep yellow trail, along the Regicides Trail and down the red trail from the overlook. Wear sturdy boots. Pizza afterwards at Ernie’s in Westville. Gordon Daniell leads the excursion. Rain cancels. 6 p.m. May 30, meet at Thomas Darling House, 1907 Litchfield Turnpike, Woodbridge. 203-288-7878, nhhc.info.
Road Races Book For Books! Participate in a 5K run, a mile walk and/or a kids fun run. Proceeds support the Cross Street School Library and Media Center. Post-race raffle, bagels, fruit and water available, plus awards ceremony. 9 a.m. May 3 at Cross Street School, 120 Cross St., Naugatuck. $18-$3. naugy.net/CSES/ funrun.htm. This 2.5-mile walk will take place along the sidewalks of historic downtown Wallingford. The tenth installation of the ASRC Walk/Run for Autism will begin at a new location this year, Choate-Rosemary Hall. Enjoy a picnic after the walk with music by Lawson Brothers Band. Other post-walk activities include caricatures, face painting, sensory fun and the Walk of Art awards ceremony. 10:30 a.m. (registration 9:30 a.m.) May 4 at Choate-Rosemary Hall, 333 Christian St., Wallingford. ct-asrc.org/fund/ spnwlk.html. On Mother’s Day, Milford Hospital hosts the Live Well 5K Run. Proceeds from the run support
education/prevention programs and educational materials in Milford schools, cancer and prevention screenings and community wellness programs. Awards will be given to top three in each age group along with others. Bagels and spreads, fruit, yogurt and juice available post-race. 9 a.m. (registration 7:30 a.m.) May 11 at Milford Hospital, 300 Seaside Ave., Milford. Advanced $15 ($10 under 12), $20 Day of race. msrunningproductions@yahoo.com, www.hitekracing.com/livewell. WTNH-TV’s Desiree Fontaine is mistress of Ceremonies for the fifth annual Bob Cooke Memorial Trek Against Skin Cancer, where road racers can choose to participate in a competitive 5K run, noncompetitive fun walk or bike ride. Activities for kids will be plentiful. Every participant will receive a gift bag filled with sun-care and skin-care products. 2 p.m. May 18 at Bob Cooke Skin Cancer Foundation, 6 Anchorage Dr., Milford. 203-878-8648, rncwalk.com/events/milford_body. php.
Spectator Sports The University of New Haven baseball team hosts Queens College. Noon May 3 at Frank Vieira Field, University of New Haven, New Haven. 203-932-7468, rcerrato@newhaven. edu, estrada2.newhaven.edu/ athletics/teams/baseball/schedule/. Southern Connecticut State University’s men’s baseball squad faces Stonehill College. 3:30 p.m. May 1 at the Ballpark at Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven. 203-392-6000, southernctowls.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.
We’ve Been Waiting For You
Just one mile from 1-95 • Exit 59 575 Clapboard Hill Road
All Ages, All Levels, All Year
www.grsriding.com (203) 453-8768 new haven
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W O RD S of MOUT H By Liese Klein PHOTOGRAPH:
NEW EATS:
Anthony DeCarlo
Five Guys Burgers & Fries
J
im O’Malley isn’t afraid to brag about his burgers in New Haven, the birthplace of the fried beef patty. And with the opening of his latest Five Guys Burgers & Fries franchise on Amity Road, he’s already making his mark.
“We opened the doors and it went bananas,” O’Malley says of his new eatery, in the Amity Wine & Spirits plaza. Five Guys, a national chain based in Virginia, has made its name with a stripped-down dining experience with high-quality ingredients. You’ll pay a bit more for your burger than at a typical fast-food joint, but portions are ample, the meat is fresh and patties are cooked to order. Best all, all toppings are free, including fried onions, sautéed mushrooms and jalapenos. The fries are also a revelation — crisp, clean-tasting and positively addictive. What’s notable about the Five Guys fry is what you don’t taste: stale grease. O’Malley says he uses fresh peanut oil and changes it after each rush. A single small portion of fries can also feed a small family, so those watching their diets should order conservatively. O’Malley, a former oil (as in petroleum) man, says he loves the Louis Lunch burger and is honored to offer his product in birthplace of the patty. “I’m bringing a good burger to a place that appreciates good burgers,” O’Malley says. Five Guys Burgers & Fries, 75 Amity Road, New Haven (203-285-3016). Jim O’Malley, owner of Five Guys Burger and Fries, with one of the eatery’s supersized meals.
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Anthony DeCarlo PHOTOGRAPH:
Just what Hamden ordered!
Sushi Palace owners Helen Xaiao (left) and Sai Xiuen with one of the restaurant’s signature all-you-can-eat sushi platters.
JUST A TASTE:
Sushi Palace
“All-you-can-eat” is not a phrase you usually want to associate with sushi, but at Hamden’s Sushi Palace on Dixwell Avenue, freshness and quality come along with the endless platters of raw fish. With the all-you-can-eat option, Sushi Palace offers a sizeable selection of cooked dishes, sushi rolls and sashimi for $16.95, $18.95 on weekends. With higher food costs, those prices may rise soon, but even at twice the price it would a bargain for a big eater. Skeptics will be won over by the generous and impeccably fresh slabs of salmon, white tuna and mackerel that come with a sashimi plate. The crack team of sushi chefs, led by owner Xiu-En Sai, also takes the time to garnish and arrange platters and brandish their knives with real skill. The Palace special rolls will appeal to less adventurous diners, with winning combinations like cooked lobster tail, tempura flakes and avocado topped with
a sweet mango glaze. Crunchy tempura flakes also liven up the above-average vegetarian options, like a tempura sweet potato roll still hot from the fryer. Of course, some of the niceties of JapaneseAmerican dining are sacrificed to fit the business model: You won’t get hot hand towels before your meal, despite the ubiquitous plates of peel-your-own edamame. Some side dishes like fried tofu also seem like afterthoughts. The sushi chefs are likewise far too busy to banter with patrons, but do provide a form of entertainment in their machinelike efficiency at turning out rolls. Plan to wait a bit on busy nights and plan your order well. But if you stick to the rolls and sashimi, Sushi Palace will sate your yen for quality raw fish with barely a dent to your pocketbook. Sushi Palace, 1473 Dixwell Ave., Hamden (230-8875).
An elegant & comfortable Mediterranean Restaurant & Bar with a Neighborhood Feel & Authentic Homemade Taste
Entire Lunch Menu Under
$10 Appetizers 1/2 PRICE during Happy Hour Monday – Friday: 4 – 6pm
Catering On & Off Premise Available LIVE Music In the Lounge Every Weekend Lunch Mon – Fri: 11:30 – 4:00 Dinner Mon thru Thurs: 4 – 9:30 Fri & Sat: 5 – 10:30 (at the corner of Dixwell and Whitney)
2323 Whitney Ave Hamden
203.288.4700 www.mickeysgroup.com
new haven
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“Amid elegance, a variety of Indian dishes”
CHEF ON THE GRILL
Anthony DeCarlo
– Hartford Courant
PHOTOGRAPHS:
“A treat for the Senses”
Claire Criscuolo of Claire’s Corner Copia and her stuffed peppers, a“comfort food” favorite.
– New York Times
Fine Indian Cuisine 148 York Street, New Haven, CT 203.776.8644 www.zaroka.com
northern italian cuisine
Michael’s Trattoria Lunch & Dinner reservations recommended on weekends
— excellent wine list — Zagat Rated
Claire Criscuolo
F
or more than 30 years Claire Criscuolo has been a New Haven culinary institution, opening her restaurant in a blighted section of downtown long before the renaissance. Claire’s Corner Copia is still going strong on Chapel Street along with Basta, the family’s Italian bistro next door. Criscuolo’s new passion is nurturing a local chapter of the Growing Connection, an effort to get low-income children and families to grow their own food. It’s finally warmed up — what ingredients do you look forward to in the spring?
We just got our first green peas, which are so sweet and so amazing. We were shelling all last night and we’ll be shelling again tonight. We’ll be getting rhubarb, our first Vidalia onions. We’re going to have ramps [wild leeks] soon and local asparagus. Do you buy a lot of local produce?
203 269-5303 Close to Chevrolet Theatre 344 Center St, Wallingford 72
may 2008
We’ve been doing that for years. For the items that are high in pesticides we’ll only use organic, like apples, greens, spinach, peaches, strawberries. Our first choice is always to buy local and organic. Sometimes we go begging because farmers will go to
the farmers’ markets where they can sell retail. But it’s getting better; more people are growing organic food. It’s just going to take a little time. What are your most popular items? Our customers tell us what they want with their buying habits. Macaroni and cheese won’t go away; they love mac and cheese. It’s comfort food. Stuffed peppers. We make these things every day. I feel guilty sometimes because I don’t want them to eat so much dairy, but we do use organic cheese. What is your favorite restaurant other than Claire’s? Ibiza [on High Street]. I love Ibiza. It’s exquisite, everything is well prepared, the service is good. The quality is wonderful. There’s also the neatest little restaurant in East Haven called Aniello’s that’s run by a family. I take my mom there every single week. I like their cavatelli in marinara sauce with a scoop of ricotta. Your husband Frank runs Basta next door. What’s it like having a second restaurant? Continued on 77
RESTAURANTS
Featuring Cuisine by Chef Luis
483-9995
LaLuna
776-4825
Join us every Sunday
127 Wooster St • New Haven AnastasiosRestaurant.com
for the largest Buffet Brunch on the Shoreline 168 North Main St Branford
YellowFin’s
Something Fresh is Cooking!
Seafood Grille
Introducing our new spring/summer menu designed by
Pierce Regnier, Executive Chef yellowfinsseafoodgrille.com
203-250-9999
1027 South Main Street • Cheshire
Claire’s Stuffed Peppers One of the most popular dishes at Claire’s Corner Copia, these hearty vegetarian stuffed peppers make for an attractive entrée or can be cut in thirds and served hot or cold as an appetizer. One 8-ounce loaf of Italian or French bread 4 large cloves of garlic, minced 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
6 ounces of fontina or mozzarella cheese, diced Salt and black pepper to taste 4 bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise and seeded 1 cup of water
1 pound of white mushrooms, chopped Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Tear the bread into pieces. Place in a colander and run under hot water for 30 seconds. Let stand until the bread is cool enough to handle and squeeze out as much excess water as you can with your hands. Turn into a mixing bowl. Add garlic, olive oil, parsley, mushrooms, cheese, salt and pepper. Mix well and taste for seasoning. Divide the stuffing among the pepper halves in a singe layer in a rectangular glass baking dish. Pour in water. Cover with foil and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until the peppers are tender when tested with a fork. Serves 4.
The Best of New Haven’s Restaurants For Advertising Call Laura WhinÀeld, Ad Director 203-781-3480 x 106
The BEST RIBS and Much More.... Barbecued Chicken, Our Famous Onion Ring Loaf, Burgers, Seafood & New York Strip Steaks. Let Us Cater Your Next Party
16 MAIN ST. EAST HAVEN (203) 468-6695 new haven
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PHOTOGRAPH:
EDITOR’S PICK
Anthony DeCarlo
Tempeh Reuben at the Publick Cup
M
ay is the month to make your way to the Broadway district — the weather’s fine and student crush has abated. Broadway will also get new cachet as a dining destination this month when Thali II, star chef Prasad Chirnomula’s vegetarian eatery, opens next to the Yale Bookstore.
But the street also has plenty of lower-key food attractions, like the Publick Cup’s Tempeh Reuben sandwich. A gut-busting traditional Reuben combines pastrami or corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing, and can supply a full day’s worth of saturated fat. Publick Cup’s version substitutes healthy tempeh, a marinated soybean and grain patty, for the meat to slim down the sandwich without sacrificing much of the satisfaction. Publick Cup owner Tracy Jackson says her staff suggested adding the sandwich
BEST OF THE REST SUSHI Wasabi, 280 Branford Rd., North Branford (203-4887711). Good quality rolls and sashimi at reasonable prices, along with Korean specialties like mandu dumplings and bibimbap rice bowls. The sake flows freely on Monday nights, a favorite with students. Akasaka, 1450 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-3874898). Unusual specials like baby octopus and blowfish make this veteran eatery worth a visit. Live sea urchin roe and scallops are also a best bet, along with tasty pickled vegetables. Sono Bana, 1206 Dixwell Ave., Hamden (203-2819922). Fresh fish, inventive rolls and extensive combo options make this a neighborhood favorite. Try a fruity saketini with your sashimi “boat” and ask the chef to load up on the catch of the day. Miya’s Sushi, 68 Howe St., New Haven (203-7779760). Unusual combinations like rolls with cheese and Ethiopian spices are the draw at this Elm City institution. Let go of your preconceptions about sushi with help from some of the beguiling infused-sake cocktails. Number 1 Fish Market, 2239 State St., Hamden (203-624-6171). Make your own sushi with fresh seafood from this market, which supplies many restaurants. Staff will steer you toward the best quality tuna, salmon, scallops and red snapper; items like sea urchin roe are available to order. 74
may 2008
Chris Burdette (left), cook at the Publick Cup, with owner Tracy Jackson and her daughter Alyssa. The café’s Tempeh Rueben offers hearty satisfaction without the meat.
to the menu when the eatery, formerly known as Koffee Too?, changed its name and food offerings earlier this year. Enjoy your sandwich with one of the café’s coffee drinks or teas, like the subtle and herbal Jasmine Pearl green. Chocolate-chip cookies and croissants are also top-notch.
Squeezed in a panini press, this vegetarian Reuben offers a perfect blend of spicy, sweet and sour and is plenty filling for lunch. Enjoy it in one of the café’s leather armchairs by the window and watch the parade go by. The Publick Cup, 276 York Street, New Haven (787-9929).
AMERICAN
INDIAN
Bespoke, 266 College St., New Haven (203 5624644). Cutting-edge presentation and flavor combinations take center stage at this successor to Roomba. Latin flavors are featured in the upstairs lounge, called Sabor. Open for lunch.
Thali, 4 Orange St., New Haven (203-777-1177) . Downtown’s best Sunday buffet, with ample meat and vegetarian selections as well as fresh masala dosa crepes and unusual treats like goat curry and carrot pudding.
Foe, 576 Main St., Branford (203-483-5896) . The perfect setting for a romantic evening, Foe shines with sublime beef and pasta dishes. A black fig and cherry-glazed duck breast also showcases the chef’s sure hand with poultry. Lunch and bar menu.
Zaroka Bar & Restaurant, 148 York St., New Haven (203-776-8644) . Opulent setting for one of the city’s most popular Indian buffets. Enjoy the birayani pilafs, crunchy pappadum crackers and fluffy desserts. Buffet is $7.95 daily ($9.95 on Sunday).
Sage American Grill & Oyster Bar, 100 S. Water St., New Haven (203-787-3466) . The tranquil harborfront view sets off skilled seafood and raw bar selections. Excellent seasonal specials and a full bar add to the attractions of this veteran favorite.
Royal India, 140 Howe St., New Haven (203-7879493). Tasty North Indian fare in an intimate setting on Howe’s mini-restaurant row. Nice variety at lunch buffet with fresh bread. Weekday buffet is $7.95, Friday-Saturday is $8.95 and Sunday $9.95.
Foster’s, 56-62 Orange St., New Haven (203-8596666). The chef himself is likely to bring over your meal at this acclaimed newcomer in Ninth Square. Comfort food with cutting-edge flair like llama burgers on toasted brioche.
Darbar India, 1070 Main St., Branford (203-4818994). Award-winning shoreline favorite with excellent atmosphere and north Indian classics, run by Royal India owner. Spicy vindaloos and tandooris are a good bet. Friday-Sunday lunch buffet is $9.95.
Zinc, 964 Chapel St., New Haven (203-624-0507) . Consistently excellent food, drinks and service in a central location. Innovative seafood like tamaricured tuna with wasabi oil is a good choice, along with the drink specials and seasonal desserts.
Coromandel, 185 Boston Post Rd., Orange (203-7959055). Great breads and regional specialties from the local outpost of a celebrated Fairfield chain. Try the shrimp in coconut sauce and unusual lentil dessert. Weekday lunch buffet $9.95 ($11.95 on weekends).
Swagat, 215 Boston Post Rd. West Haven (203-9310108). A tiny outpost of south Indian favorites near the University of New Haven. Best bets are the masala dosa and many vegetarian dishes, plus the friendly service. No buffet, but open all day and very affordable.
ITALIAN Skappo Italian Wine Bar, 59 Crown St., New Haven (203-773-1394 ) . White truffles and chestnuts are two of the compelling flavors you’ll encounter at this cozy eatery in Ninth Square. A great place to sample wines and small plates in an unpretentious setting. Tre Scalini Ristorante, 100 Wooster St., New Haven (203-777-3373) . Acclaimed pasta, seafood and antipasti in an opulent Wooster Square setting. Also open for lunch. L’Orcio, 806 State St., New Haven (203-777-6670) . Outstanding modern Italian in an intimate setting. You can’t go wrong with the pasta specials and perfectly cooked and seasoned steaks. Roseland Apizza, 350 Hawthorne Ave., Derby (203735-0494). Don’t let the casual pizzeria decor fool you — this Valley favorite makes some serious Italian food. Look for the daily specials and enjoy. Adriana’s Restaurant, 771 Grand Ave., New Haven (203-865-6474). Meat is the thing at this Grand Avenue favorite, especially veal and sausages. Fresh pasta and classics in a formal setting.
MEXICAN Baja, 63 Boston Post Rd., Orange (203-799-2252). An expansive salsa bar and fish taco entrée appeal to homesick Californians and big eaters. Guadalupe la Poblanita, 136 Chapel St., New Haven (203-752-1017) . Simple, authentic cuisine from Puebla in a down-home atmosphere. Jalapeno Heaven, 40 N. Main St., Branford (203481-6759). Tasty Americanized fare in a cozy setting with excellent margaritas. Long Wharf Taco Trucks, Long Wharf Drive near Veteran’s Memorial Park, weekdays at lunch. Tacos as they’re served in Mexico — just corn tortillas, meat, cilantro and a spicy sauce — eaten al fresco by New Haven Harbor. Mezcal, 14 Mechanic St., New Haven (203-782-4828). Big portions and wide-ranging menu with lots of surprises. No liquor license. Taqueria Mexico No. 1, 850 S. Colony Rd. Wallingford (203-265-0567) . The best tortas — or small sandwiches — in the area, filled with spiced meat and accompanied on the weekends by a lip-smacking posole hominy soup. Viva Zapata, 161 Park St., New Haven (203-5622499). Toothsome classics and a killer sangria in a festive pub atmosphere. Open for lunch.
MIDDLE EASTERN Mamoun’s, 85 Howe St., New Haven (203-5628444). Cheap plates of falafel and Syrian-style specialties like stuffed eggplant keep this student
Open Seven Days
Gusto Trattoria ITALIAN RESTAURANT
favorite hopping late into the night. Make sure the fryer’s fired up and stick with the classics, like the silky baklava. Istanbul Café, 245 Crown St., New Haven (203787-3881). With its airy yet opulent interior, this critics’ favorite has the best ambience in town and consistently flavorful food. A grilled octopus salad and red lentil soup are standouts, along with lamb dishes. Turkish Kebab House, 1157 Campbell Ave., West Haven (203-933-0002) . Every kind of kebab imaginable, from doner to minced chicken to cubes of lamb, is on tap at this neighborhood eatery. Also vegetarian and seafood options. King Falafel, 240 College St., New Haven (203-8483076). Follow a trip to the Shubert with a tasty falafel sandwich across the street at this latenight favorite. Large portions of the freshest fried chickpea patties in town, with all the trimmings. Kasbah Garden Café, 105 Howe St., New Haven (203-777-5053) . Moroccan-style lamb and vegetable dishes prevail on the limited but tasty menu. Savor mint tea and baklava outside on the idiosyncratically landscaped patio.
SEAFOOD Lenny’s Indian Head Inn, 205 S. Montowese St., Branford (203-488-1500) . Fried clams praised by national critics and the freshest steamers around make Lenny’s a local favorite. The Shore Dinner covers all the bases with cherrystones, corn on the cob, lobster and steamers.
Lunches $5 & Up
Hibachi • Sushi • Pan-Asian Catering & Parties Welcome Happy Hour! M–TH, 3-6: All Beer 1/2 price, Premium Drinks $5
OPEN 7 DAYS: Mon – Fri: lunch & dinner Sat: 4 – 10 Sun: 4 – 8:30 Thurs: Guitar Player Fri & Sat: Piano Player
Private Room Available
255 Boston Post Road Milford • I-95 Exit 36 gustotrattoria.com
514 Bridgeport Avenue, Shelton • 929-8666 451 Kings Highway, East Fairfield • 610-6888
www.KobisRestaurant.com new haven
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FÊ TE S Miami Dolphins Head Coach and UNH grad Anthony J. Sparano with UNH President Steven Kaplan. Proceeds from the ball go toward scholarships for students in need. Over the years alumni and friends of UNH have raised nearly $1.6 million for scholarships.
The United Way’s ‘Creating Change Award’ was presented to the Experience Corps of Greater New Haven. Pictured are Neysa Stallman Guerino (left), executive director of the Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut, and Sheila Greenstein, Experience Corps program manager.
The United Way of Greater New Haven celebrated the contributions of community United Way volunteers at an April 3 reception at Anthony’s Ocean View in New Haven. ‘Champion for Advancing the Common Good’ awards were presented to Diane Turner (left), Yale University librarian, and Janet Lindner, Yale’s associate vice president for administration and United Way campaign coordinator.
The University of New Haven hosted its 25th annual Scholarship Ball April 12 at its gleaming new David A. Beckerman Recreation Center on the West Haven campus. Picture (l-r): UNH President Dr. Steven Kaplan; J. David Scheiner (UNH Class of ‘71), president and chief operating officer of of Macy’s Florida; Anthony J. Sparano III (UNH ‘84), head coach, Miami Dolphins; Martin J. O’Connor (UNH ‘76), UNH fire science professor and campus minister; and Samual S. Bergami, chairman of the UNH Board of Governors.
Lenny & Joe’s Fish Tale, 1301 Boston Post Rd., Madison (203-245-7289). What it lacks in formality it makes up for in taste — the freshest, crispest fried seafood around. The perfect spot for quick eats after beach or a coastal drive, with an ice cream stand onsite. Guilford Mooring, 505 Whitfield St., Guilford (203458-2921). Pasta dishes, a stellar chowder and a full range of grilled fish set this Shoreline favorite apart. And where else can you savor Lazy Man’s Stuffed Lobster as you watch lobstermen at work on the Sound? YellowFin’s Seafood Grille, 1027 South Main St., Cheshire (203-250-9999) . New spring menu is in affect. Flavors are light and bright at this fusion eatery, with a menu that ranges from cioppino to Asian scallop salad to Tilapia St. Tropez. A raw bar and beer round out the offerings.
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Jimmie’s of Savin Rock, 5 Rock St., West Haven. 9343212. Take the family out and enjoy the boardwalk view at this West Haven institution, known for its moderate prices and casual atmosphere. All the fried favorites, a full menu of broiled fish and lobster and the famous split hot dog.
VEGETARIAN Claire’s Corner Copia, 1000 Chapel St., New Haven (203-562-3888). This veggie veteran has updated its menu with lots of vegan options, of-the-moment meat substitutes and superfoods like acai berry juice. Edge of the Woods, 379 Whalley Ave., New Haven (203-787-1055). The natural market offers a superb selection of vegetarian products in addition to a lunchtime buffet with salad bar, hot entrées like and a colorful array of main-dish salads.
Shoreline Diner & Vegetarian Enclave, 345 Boston Post Rd., Guilford (203-458-7380) . Non-veg diner fare along with vegan favorites like a tempeh Reuben with sauerkraut on grilled rye and “Twin Towers” of vegetable strudel. Great place for groups with different dining preferences. It’s Only Natural Restaurant, 386 Main St., Middletown (860-346-9210) . Worth the ride up I91 for award-winning entrées like sweet potato enchiladas, tempeh “crab cakes”. Full slate of vegan desserts including chocolate mousse couscous cake. Ahimsa, 1227 Chapel St., New Haven (203-786-4774). South Wide-ranging vegan fare is featured at this (kosher) eatery that uses no animal products. South Indian-style dals and curries star at the daily $10 lunch buffet, with more extensive offerings at Sunday brunch.
Of Notes
“Not at all,” says Carol. “We thought for sure we’d have a basketball team or baseball team. We thought the kids would all be Competition in November (as a teenager super-athletic. But as they came along, it she had won all three competitions she had was clear from early on that they could sing, entered) and, accompanied on piano by her and we thought it would be fun to explore mother, took home the $10,000 first prize. that side of their abilities.” After Annabelle, the senior Taubls turned Although Carol had never played violin, she their attention to the production of male says she always loved that most expressive babies. “The only rule we had with the of instruments, so when oldest daughter children’s music education was that no two Gretchen turned five, the string lessons children who were close in age could play began. “The rest,” Carol says, “is history.” the same instrument,” Carol explains. So when oldest son Jack (now 17) came along, Today the family gigs three or four times it was obvious he would need to take up a month as a family, in addition to the viola, which he did at age three — the better children’s busy recital, orchestra and to play string trios with his sisters (and competition schedules. (In deference to quartets, if you count Annabelle on violin). the boys’ baseball schedules, the Taubls perform less in the summertime.) With so By the time Sam, now 14, arrived, the Taubls many children, so much talent and so many had just about run out of untried stringed interests, it’s remarkable that they perform instruments so, on the principle that there’s tout ensemble as often as they do. always room for cello, he was allowed to follow in the footsteps of eight-years-older Part of the reason is the family’s shared faith Emily. He started lessons at three, and by and unusual closeness. (A New York Times age eight was auditioning for Julliard. story last December 9 on Emily’s victory in the van Rooy competition observed Twins Jeremiah and James, who play violin that “the family is together so often that it and viola, respectively, follow in similar is sometimes intimidating to Ms. Taubl’s footsteps to their older brothers — both in friends. And, she admits, to suitors.”) their school (Trumbull’s Christian Heritage Academy), New York conservatory (in their Equally remarkable is the range of music case Mannes, not Julliard) as well as on the the family performs — from classical to folk baseball diamond. Last fall James was on to pop (an evanescent “Over the Rainbow,” the mound (striking out 16 in five innings) sung by Emily, was a highlight of the 4/6 and Jeremiah behind the plate as the twins’ show) . The repertoire resists pigeonholing Westville team won the Branford Little — “and that has been a challenge for us for League fall ball championship. as long as I can remember,” says Carol, “because there really is no genre that What’s surprising about the Taubl children describes what we do. is that they are descended not from pale aesthetes, but red-blooded jocks. Both their “I tend to tell people performances are a pop/ parents were varsity athletes in college classical event with a spiritual dimension (Carol, basketball; John, baseball), the boys to it,” she adds. “Because I want people to are serious baseball players. come and just enjoy the music. Continued from 59
Did the parents start their family with the intention of recreating the von Trapps?
Chef on the Grill
Continued from 72
It’s like having a second child. My brother said having a second child isn’t twice as much work — it’s tenfold. If it was anywhere but right next door I’d be miserable. But it’s wonderful having a second restaurant because Frank gets to have his dream and I can have fabulous wine after work. Tell us about the Growing Connection? After years of donating to food banks and homeless shelters I am convinced that we need to teach people how to grow for themselves — [to] reconnect them with
“That’s the whole idea.”
where the food comes from. There’s a need for better food, and people just can’t afford it. I found out about the Growing Connection and I thought, ‘My God, this is the answer.’ They teach kids how to grow indoors during the school year and link them up through the Internet with kids in places like Ghana and El Salvador. What do you think of the changes in our food culture, with the growth of farmers’ markets and things like Slow Food? Americans are getting it this time. All the groundwork has been laid over the past 20 years. It’s a great time to eat.
At Home
Continued from 47
At the home’s highest level is the “Lighthouse Room,” a cozy, light-filled space used (by Nancy) for sewing and otherwise just hanging out. Its pastel décor complements the space’s summery feel — and one imagines that spending quality time here would make it difficult to avoid having a sunny disposition indeed. Having years to plan their dream home, and knowing that they would spend all the rest of their years there the Bishops, who have no children, had the foresight to install an elevator for (much) later years of diminishing mobility. For now. however, it’s just a conversation piece (although its occasionally employed as a dumb waiter to bring large loads of groceries upstairs), but the couple offer a visitor a ride downstairs, just for fun. “We designed it almost as an upsidedown house,” Jon explains, “so that the master bedroom and master bath were on the lower level.” On the wall facing the couple’s king bed are two giant flatscreen TVs, with separate headphone sets, so that either can indulge in latenight viewing without keeping the other awake. (“You need that,” says Nancy.) The expansive master bath (“It’s probably a little bigger than it needs to be,” Jon allows) is dominated by a roomy elevated Jacuzzi next to a picture window with a sweeping view of Joshua Cove and Leete’s Island beyond — the perfect place to soak away a late afternoon. Because the Bishop’s home is “upside down,” the logical house tours ends (of course) at the bottom, with a cozy room furnished as a Scottish pub (“We love Scotland and we love pubs,” Nancy says). The dark, inviting space has a bar and three barstools — “a great space to have a pint and a game of skittles,” she adds. The “pub” is the lowest of the house’s six levels (there’s no hellish seventh) and a place to reflect on a house, and home, ten years in the making. “We really had fun with it,” Nancy Bishop says. “We married later in life and really enjoy each other and decided, ‘Let’s build a house as a hobby.’ “And finally it’s finished.” v
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PHOTOGRAPH:
Steve Blazo
To Bee Or Not To Bee By Joyce L. Faiola
A
t age five I discovered bees. Actually, bees discovered me. While sitting on a stone wall in my bathing suit on a hot summer’s day eating an ice cream cone, I suddenly felt hundreds of pin pricks on my…Well, let’s just say that I couldn’t sit down for three days.
Honey is nature’s alchemy. Its cycle begins with the warming daylight of spring, when bees shift into overdrive. You’d bee amazed at what goes on in a hive of about 50,000 honeybees. Bees “do it” — yet with only one queen per hive, her only job is to lay up to 2,000 eggs per day. Worker bees are multi-taskers extraordinaire — tending the eggs, raise and feed the young, collecting nectar and making honey by continuously regurgitating the nectar and reducing it to its correct texture. A bee will give its life to protect the hive — its world is one of self-sacrifice, community above all and working hard to produce something sweet. Its lifespan is about 45 days. In the past two years hives around the globe and in Connecticut have been devastated by “Colony Collapse Disorder,” a disease, likely carried or caused by mites, that infests hives and kills bees. Locally, more than 30 percent of honeybees have died and the state’s Department of Agriculture has been working to treat this disorder. Money may have been honey for Max Bialystock in The Producers, but honey doesn’t generate that much money for local beekeepers who tend their hives as well as collect, bottle and then find a market for the combined labors of both the keepers and these “creatures of light.” Connecticut relies almost exclusively on “hobbyist” beekeepers to sustain the pollination cycle. 78
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Farm River’s Jim Clinton drew his beekeeping inspiration from a 1904 photograph of his grandfather.
Nevertheless, honey made in Connecticut is exquisite. Branford’s Farm River Honey made by Jim Clinton’s bees, is golden, light and delicate. Stonewall Apiary’s honey, made by Stuart Woronecki’s bees, is dark, rich, complex and spread on fresh cornbread, it reminded me of my childhood and my first taste of honey. Farm River Honey (203-483-6648) has about 100 hives in various towns and has been keeping bees for two decades. Clinton’s influence came from a 1904 photo of his grandfather (whose surname was Flower) dressed in beekeeper’s regalia surrounded by bee paraphernalia. Jim processes about 7,000 pounds of raw honey a year and in 2005 won the Connecticut Specialty Food Association’s award for best honey. Farm River Honey is sold at Food Works markets, health food stores, farmer’s markets and some New Haven food markets. Stonewall Apiary’s (860-822-1645) Woronecki is a music teacher who first discovered bees growing up with a beekeeping neighbor. He processes some 4,000 pounds of honey yearly but is increasing his production with a recent grant. This apiary is an 1875 time capsule: a stately Victorian home with three acres surrounded by stone walls, two
rabbits, two horses, two kids (human) and one wife who helps with the honey. David Blocher (DBlocher@optonline.net) blocks out the stress from his job in NYC as a “disaster readiness specialist” by beekeeping in and around Redding. “It sensitizes you to what’s going on out there,” he explains. “My uncle kept bees when I was 12 and I loved it then and love it now.” In addition to keeping hives throughout Connecticut, Blocker maintains the glassenclosed hive inside the Connecticut Children’s Museum in New Haven, which last year produced 12 pounds of honey. His hives produced a bit less than 5,000 pounds last year and his honey, Dave’s Honey Farm, is sold at farm markets like the Apple Barn and Silverman’s in Easton. Bee-lieve it or not, bees pollinate onethird of this country’s food supply and are responsible for $15 billion worth of crops. Without bees we wouldn’t have fruit, flowers, many vegetables or a nice hoppy beer. To make one pound of honey, bees must visit one million flowers and travel more than twice around the earth. To learn more visit CTbees.com, backyardbeekeepers.com, ct.gov/doag/cwp/ view.asp?a=1368&q=258812. v
THEY HEAL, THEY HELP, THEY CARE, THEY SAVE LIVES... ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TIME TO SAY THANKS! JOIN BUSINESS NEW HAVEN IN RECOGNIZING THE EFFORTS OF, THE GREATER NEW HAVEN HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY. Nominate an outstanding health professional for recognition; info at www.conntact.com. Selected honorees will be featured in a magazine distributed May 26 in Business New Haven and at locations in greater New Haven. A special section will also run in June in New Haven featuring the honorees. For information on nominations, sponsorships or the Healthcare Heroes 2008 event, visit: www.conntact.com or call 203-781-3480.
FOR INFORMATION AND NOMINATIONS: VISIT WWW.CONNTACT.COM CORPORATE ACHIEVEMENT COMMUNITY SERVICE PHYSICIAN OF THE YEAR HEALTHCARE EDUCATION
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