New Haven magazine October 2012

OCTOBER 2012

www.newhavenmagazine.com www newhavenmagazine com

Queen Ann How ‘really normal’ anchor Nyberg remains on top after a quarter-century at WTNH

FIGHTING BACK New breast cancer therapies

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IN TEL sandwich in America, but it was not to be.

The Chapel Street eatery was featured on the Travel Channel’s The Best Sandwich in America for its “A Tale of Two Turkeys” sandwich, and it’s pretty clear why: the show’s host, Adam Richman, is a Yale School of Drama graduate.

Naked Bandit Charged MILFORD — An accused naked bandit was arraigned in his hospital bed after a heist gone wrong.

Benjamin Prue, 25, of North Carolina, allegedly entered a Point Lookout home in July while nude, and entered into a scuffle with the home’s 67-year-old owner, who shot Prue in the chest in selfdefense.

Prue, an accomplished swimmer with honors from Trumbull High School, Virginia Tech, and Southern Connecticut State universities, was apprehended in Long Island Sound. He was charged with burglary and attempted assault on a person over the age of 60.

Lobster Trumps Turkey NEW HAVEN — The Book Trader Café came close to being the home of the best

New Haven

The sandwich — which is made of turkey, spicy Russian dressing, coleslaw, and Swiss cheese on onion rye bread — faced competition from a Maine lobster roll and a crab grilled cheese from Portsmouth, N.H. A Tale of Two Turkeys lost to the lobster roll.

Rabbit Redux NORTH HAVEN — The town of North Haven found itself the center of two very different spotlights.

A production team from Today in America, a show hosted by former NFL legend Terry Bradshaw, visited North Haven to interview its town officials for the program based on its economic development.

That came right on the heels of a flap over an old zoning law that forbids rabbits on properties smaller than two acres, and the national outcry that the town was presumably telling a young girl she couldn’t keep her pet bunny, Sandy. First Selectman

Michael Freda defended the town as the story went national.

The girl was eventually allowed to keep her pet as the town worked to revise the ordinance. Today in America runs on the Discovery Channel and will air later this year.

No Permit, No Party

lawyer to help grow some heroes.

Karaoke Heroes, in fact, is the name of the karaoke bar he opened in August at 212 Crown Street. It is the state’s first dedicated karaoke bar.

An avid karaoke enthusiast, Lebwohl’s bar features a comic-book hero motif (murals designed by a Marvel

NEW HAVEN — In efforts to keep parties under control, Yale students are now required to register any off-campus parties attended by more than 50 people with the school’s Dean’s Office.

The new rule is to keep offcampus parties in line with the guidelines for those on-campus. Once the “host” registers the party, information is sent to Yale police, who will monitor the area. If alcohol-related incidents occur, the host would be held responsible and likely subject to disciplinary action.

New rules also prohibit fall rush for Greek organizations, and revise the school’s tailgating policies.

A Different Kind of Bar… NEW HAVEN — Attorney Andrew Lebwohl, a former Yale post-grad, traded in his career as a New York City

Comics artist), as well as a main bar and stage area, and three soundproofed rooms, or karaoke “boxes” for private groups.

Lovestruck Getaway NEW HAVEN — An affectionate couple’s intimate evening ended with a bang, all right.

Adam Singletary was in the back seat of a parked car with a woman on Quinnipiac Avenue when Block Watch

| Vol. 6, No. 1 | October 2012

Editor Michael C. Bingham Design Consultant Terry Wells Contributing Writers Brooks Appelbaum, Ashley Chin, Duo Dickinson, Jessica Giannone, Kate Forgach, Mimi Freiman, Eliza Hallabeck, Liese Klein, Nancy Burton, Melissa Nicefaro, Priscilla Searles, Cindy Simoneau, Tom Violante Photographers Steve Blazo, Anthony DeCarlo, Lisa Wilder, Tom Violante

Publisher’s Representatives Mary W. Beard Roberta Harris New Haven is published 8 times annually

by Second Wind Media Ltd., which also publishes Business New Haven, with offices at 20 Grand Avenue, New Haven, CT 06513. 203-781-3480 (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.

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.

OUR COVER WTNH’s Ann Nyberg Photo: Steve Blazo OCTOBER 2012

com zine.com magazine avenmaga w newhaven www www.newh

Queen Ann l’ anchor How ‘really norma on top after Nyberg remains at WTNH a quarter-century

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members reported the car as suspicious. When ofďŹ cers approached the car to check it out, he hopped in the driver’s seat and sped off, precipitating a minor police chase.

The car struck a curbstone, and after a second failed attempt to escape and a dose of pepper spray, Singletary was arrested and charged with misusing a marker plate, second-degree reckless endangerment, interfering with police, and engaging ofďŹ cers in a pursuit.

The woman was not charged.

Singletary reportedly told police he ed after reverting “back to the days when [he] was in trouble.â€?

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Connecticut’s most famous anchor just wants you to know how normal she

’I raised three children in this state, and I want them to be strong women and not be objectified and to stand for lots of things.’

PHOTOGRAPHS:

6 October 2012

STEVE BLAZO

Ann Nyberg of Madison is WTNH-TV’s longest serving anchor/reporter in station history. Following graduation from Purdue with a journalism degree in 1979, Nyberg went to work at local TV stations in Indiana and Oklahoma. She came to New Haven in 1986 and has been a fixture at WTNH ever since, now anchoring the 6 and 10 p.m. nightly newscasts. Nominated for multiple Emmys, Nyberg has interviewed some of the country’s greatest broadcasters, including the late Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings. She and her husband have three daughters and a Lab named Savannah Jane. For relaxation Nyberg knits, she told one interviewer, “like a crazy person,” including hats for chemo patients. She admits to Twittering and Facebooking while she’s on the air, live. NHM Editor Michael C. Bingham interviewed Nyberg for ONE2ONE. What got you interested in journalism in the first place?

As a little kid I always kept a diary. I would document all kinds of things — Campfire Girl meetings, dental appointments. I loved to write, and I loved to read. Back in the day I would read Nancy Drew books. I loved to get things down on paper. That’s where it started.

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When did you first embrace journalism as a potential career?

At Purdue. I wasn’t into math and business and all that, so I switched [my major] to journalism. I had this bright idea that, ‘Well, I’ll just get an undergrad degree in journalism and go right into television. That’ll happen, right?’ It didn’t happen for most of my colleagues, but two weeks after I graduated I was on the air in Elkhart, Ind. [WSJV-TV]. It was an ABC affiliate. I did morning cut-ins on Good Morning America, worked 14 hours a day and made $8,000 a year. We were on film back then [pre-videotape], and manual typewriters. That was 1979.

Growing up who were your role models in this business?

I knew who Barbara Walters was, of course, and I knew Jane Pauley, who was also from Indiana. But I was bound and determined to carve out my own thing.

So I took bits and pieces from all kinds of people I looked up to, including Walter Cronkite, and kind of just decided to be me. And that was either going to work or

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it wasn’t. I aspired to be somebody who could disseminate information and be right and be looked up to.

When you started in television, the most accepted on-air role for women in local TV news was doing the weather.

Being the Weather Bunny.

But you were drawn to news. Why? I never got into this business to be in entertainment. [Now] the business has changed a lot. And I don’t like it. I want to tell stories. I don’t want to become the story. I want you to get angry or sad or mad. I want it to be about the story. I don’t want it to be about me. I am the messenger.

You’re definitely swimming against the tide now…

Totally. But that’s just me. And I’m not changing. I am about telling your story.

It’s not about me.

Where did you come to WTNH from, and how?

I was in Oklahoma City. My husband got a job as a post-doc at Yale. I was nine months’ pregnant. We moved here in March of 1986.

How did you get hired?

I had been sending this station tapes knowing that we were going to be moving here. I was vying for a weekend anchor position here, and it was between myself and Cathy Marshall. They picked her and not me. When I came for my interview I was out to here [gestures to illustrate what nine months’ pregnant looks like]. The general manager at the time was horrified.

So Cathy Marshall got the job. Nine months later that same general manager saw me out to lunch with a friend. The general manager came over to us and we were kind of shooting the breeze. So I said, ‘You don’t remember me, do you?’

And he said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘I’m Ann Nyberg and I was vying for a weekend anchor position here.’ So he said, ‘Oh, of course — we’ll need to do something about that!’

Two weeks later I had a job here. I was brought in as a reporter, and then moved to weekends [anchoring] when Cathy Marshall became the main anchor here. I became the main anchor here after I gave birth to my twins in 1989.

When you were a reporter what was the toughest story you ever had to cover?

It was about a family that had just come back from a funeral, with three little girls in the car. For whatever reason they let

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the little girls sleep in the car, and the little girls all died in the car.

Carbon monoxide? A hole in the floorboard or something?

I guess. Just seeing those three body bags outside of the car was extremely disturbing to me.

Do you think reporters have to be a little bit callous to do their jobs, since they often have to deal with people who are in pain or hurting?

As a reporter you see a lot of things. What they don’t teach you in J- [journalism] school is post-traumatic stress disorder.

When you go out to I-95 and the highway’s shut down and you’re working on a decapitation and you’re the first crew there, you see a lot of things. And there’s no real support system for that. So we sort of deal with it on our own.

I would like to ask about recent trends in TV news. One is about the trends more toward spot news — shootings, plane crashes, car crashes, storms — and away from news that helps people understand the world around them, such as stories about education or local government. If you agree that that is indeed a trend, where does it come from?

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‘I want to get stuff done.

I don’t like nonsense and I love giving back.’

It’s easy [to do]. Television is a visual medium. It’s mind-numbing when you’re throwing numbers are [viewer] or you just have talking heads. But this is important stuff, and the fewer people we have to cover [local governments], that means corruption can boil. We have to cover this stuff.

Another trend is this seemingly unquenchable thirst for news about celebrities — people like the Kardashians, who have no impact on or relevance to the lives of viewers. Is the media supposed to lead, or are we supposed to follow?

We’re following now in a lot ways, to keep our heads above water. I’m not about entertainment — at all. But I am swimming upstream in a lot of ways. The media is the Wild West right now. It’s bloggers writing their own stuff. I have two blogs I write [her personal blog networkconnecticut.com and anniemame. com, for Nyberg’s new clothing boutique in Madison]. They keep saying the economy’s getting better, but I don’t believe it. Back in the day television stations were built on their communities.

And if you can Connecticut with your 10 October 2012

community, isn’t that a win-win for everybody? That’s what I think. I just happen to think it’s about people.

For most of the 20th century, journalists at least pretended to be ‘objective.’ Now they are more partisan than ever, and networks like MSNBC and Fox don’t even pretend to be neutral. Where did that change come from? And don’t viewers demand fairness from those who report the news?

I don’t think so any more. And that’s a problem. In the 1800s newspapers were very one-sided. Nowadays I think the danger is, ‘Well, I’m a Republican, so I’m just going to watch Fox.’ It becomes a closed feedback loop where viewers just reinforce their own prejudices and don’t expose themselves to information that might challenge their beliefs.

look at the 6:30 [p.m.] network news, look at the advertisements: It’s for Viagra and [other products advertised to older audiences]. A certain age is watching that.

The younger audience is not sitting down to watch the 6:30 network news. The local [stations] across the country are trying to figure out in this Wild West what makes sense. And the answer is being everywhere. But it’s impossible. I mean, when I’m on the air live at 6 and 10, I’m also live on Twitter and Facebook. I’m an air traffic-control tower. That’s what anchors are these days. Across the country we are all live on multiple platforms at the same time that we’re live on the air.

I was in the audience at Southern when you interviewed Walter Cronkite there in 2002. What was that like?

But it’s a spoof of the news.

It was as if I was talking to God. That was such an opportunity for me. I mean, this guy had covered wars, he’s been in Vietnam, I liked him. I wanted to go out and have a beer with him. But who is that person [of that stature in the media] now?

But in some ways they’re making more sense than the traditional media. If you

I don’t think that person exists now. The Cronkite interview made me think about

Young people are watching [Stephen] Colbert and Jon Stewart to get their news.

There are 30 writers on those shows. By and large they kind of are doing news.

how the role of news anchor has evolved from Cronkite’s day — when voice and presence and perceived credibility counted for everything — to our current time when someone like Katie Couric, from the entertainment side of the business, got to sit in the same chair once occupied by the Most Trusted Man in America. Do you agree that the most important attribute of anchors has changed from believability to likeability?

I don’t know. When I got into journalism, I wanted to be a journalist. Got a journalism degree, did everything you were supposed to do. Now, I think kids are confused about what is journalism. To me, it all comes down to the story. I will always be a storyteller.

Today we live in a culture obsessed with celebrity for its own sake — reality TV, for example.

Which is crap, by the way.

What would you say to a college student, say, who goes into broadcast journalism not because he or she wants to change the world, but because they want simply to be on TV? Well, good for them if they make it. I’m not from that mold, so I don’t understand it. Employers are and always have been hiring the pretty faces and the goodlooking folks. But they’re hiring them now part-time, and [requiring them to] do it all yourself. It’s a world I don’t understand.

I like to think I’m the real deal. I raised three children in this state, and I want them to be strong women and not be objectified and to stand for lots of things.

I know I’m swimming upstream to an extent. But as I get up n age, I’m still on the air. Imagine that.

You are such a fixture in the Hartford-New Haven market -— the face of Channel 8 — that you must encounter people who feel as though they know you. How do you reconcile your responsibility to be the “face” of the station with the need to set boundaries around your personal and family life?

No, I am very comfortable with that — unless they’re stalkers [laughs]. Because I was born in Texas and raised in the Midwest, I am very folksy. I like the art of conversation — which we’re not doing any more because we’re on our [handheld devices] 24/7. I genuinely like people. I wish I had more time, but I’m living my life with more urgency now.

My baby sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and my first cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer, and they both have

undergone in the last year double mastectomies. I feel like cancer is chasing my family. So I am living now much differently than I used to. I want to get stuff done, I don’t like nonsense and I love giving back. I don’t want to waste time. I don’t watch a lot of television.

On a personal level, do you consider yourself a feminist?

What will

YOUR

story be?

Probably not. I believe in very strong women, but I like chivalry. And if a guy wants to open a door for me, I think that’s terrific. I’m pretty old-fashioned in my values. I think that we have lost our way as a country in many ways, that we’ve forgotten our pleases and thank-yous — and I’m concerned about that. Our society’s messed up right now. I think we need to get back to Sunday dinners with families. And maybe the economy’s going to force that.

Few people doubt that female personalities in broadcast news have a briefer ‘shelf life’ than male personalities? Does this trouble you?

It’s so weird. I see guys in suits on the air and I see women who are sleeveless, in February. And I know they’re freezing. I don’t get that. Women [broadcasters] are dressing down and looking like they’re going to a cocktail party but men have suits on. The double standard? I think if you work really hard and continue to reinvent yourself, you’re a force to be reckoned with. Maybe there is [a double standard] to some degree, but I’ve also seen men lose jobs who shouldn’t have lost them. I don’t want to take on that battle. It’s 2012 — here it is, so reinvent.

Well, I got on that train in 2008 and have never looked back. Social media is where it’s at, and I’m there. And I taught most of the people here the way.

You’ve been interviewed a lot. What’s one question you always wanted to answer that no one has ever asked?

That’s a good one. When you’re on the air, people just want to put stuff on you.

‘You’re this, you’re that. Your life must just be perfect.’ Well, I was born in a Quonset hut in San Angelo, Tex. Your father must have been in the service.

He was a pilot in the Air Force. I just want people to know that I’m just really normal.

And some people just don’t get that. I ended up in a career that I love because I get to tell stories. I’ve met fascinating people, some horrendous people, and it’s been a really interesting life. But I’m just really normal. Y

JESSICA BENTLEY 2013 New London, CT Saint Bernard High School Major: English with Secondary (GXFDWLRQ &HUWL¿FDWLRQ Student teaching at Daniel Hand High School Student Orientation Counselor Student Government Association Follow Jessica’s blog at https://media.albertus.edu/ studentperspective/

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A century ago trolleys were the principal mode (along with railroads) of mass transportation in the Northeast. Today the Shore Line Trolley Museum celebrates that heritage.

Living History Seven lesser known Connecticut attractions that have stood the test of time

By Jessica Giannone

12 October 2012

Clock and Watch Museum

M

ystic Seaport? Been there, done that. Same with Norwalk’s Maritime Center, or Gillette Castle in East Haddam.

Don’t get us wrong — they’re all great attractions with important stories to tell. But chances are you’ve been there — probably multiple times.

As the state’s Office of Tourism rolls out its “Connecticut: Still Revolutionary” tourism campaign, this autumn is a fine time to check out some historic attractions throughout the state that don’t get the publicity of the major destinations but are nevertheless well worth a weekend-day excursion Whether you’ve heard of them or not, the following seven historic sites are true Connecticut treasures right under our noses. We need not go far to see what is so distant in time.

Shore Line Trolley Museum, East Haven Envision a time in America where everything a family needed for survival had to be accessible within walking distance; a time before the ubiquitous family “horseless carriage”; when it was uncommon to venture beyond the boundaries that only feet could permit; when connections were limited.

For the better-off, horses extended the effective range of personal activities. But horses were (and remain) expensive to acquire and maintain.

But then, at the dawn of the 20th century, came the first means of mass transit — the electric trolley car. With this new mode of transportation, a larger world opened up to city dwellers than ever before. By the end of the first decade of the new century urban trolley lines linked virtually the entire northeastern United States seaboard. A more extended, close-knit

community emerged with a new means of communication.

and “Slack’s Fresh Mushrooms.” It is a true ride back in time.

At the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, the yesterday of industrialization becomes clear with a quick ride down the country’s oldest, continually operated trolley line (which operated from 1900 to 1945), and a tour of the machines that made America move.

Though old, the “cars” are repainted every 15 to 20 years by museum volunteers. The museum opened in 1945 after the commuter tracks shut down — a victim of the private automobile and the post-World War II urban exodus.

“That’s what made it possible for a city to become a whole,” says museum volunteer Mike Schreiber.

When visitors step inside the museum, the first thing they see are miniature replicas of trolley cars, a Frank J. Sprague exhibit, old subway signs or vintage motors from moving machines long ago (and nothing else short of a history lesson). However, the real treat awaits visitors down the cement stairs and over near a marsh, settled on old wooden tracks with steel rails.

A 1.5-mile mile trolley ride from the center of East Haven over to Short Beach in Branford is what visitors really have in store, embracing the opportunity to travel on some of the oldest mass-transit vehicles in North America. Most are from the Northeast, while others come from as far as Canada and New Orleans.

The original line would bring passengers to Stony Creek in Branford, where various connecting lines would be available to take riders as far north as Maine.

From street rails, horse cars, electric street cars, steam engines and 1950s New York City subway cars, to 1892 cable cars, a number of moving machines await visitors along with a little narrated history-to-go. Twenty of the 100 devices remain in operation for the delight of visitors.

In one shop, an 1899 electric car from the Bronx sits not far from a Manhattan cable car. In a vintage 1929 car from Montreal, riders will see advertisements adorning the walls touting Philip Morris cigarettes (“Call for Philip Morris!), Wrigley’s gum

Now a place to witness (and of course ride) firsthand some of the very first vehicles that transformed American travel, the museum continues to upkeep its treasured trolleys with the help of approximately 70 to 80 loyal volunteers. Having preserved the first means of travel thus far, I’d say they’re on the right track.

Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Hartford Harriet Beecher Stowe penned perhaps the most influential work of fiction in 19thcentury America — the 1852 anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. (During the Civil War President Lincoln upon meeting her is said to have exclaimed, ‘So you’re the little lady who caused this big war.”) But you may not realize that she lived only about 45 minutes from New Haven, where her house remains.

Reflecting the life and impact of her work, Stowe’s 1871 Gothic Revival home sits in Hartford’s gracious Nook Farm neighborhood right next to what was once Mark Twain’s residence. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House serves not only as a museum, but a reminder of one woman’s impact on the world, one page at a time.

The 14-room home is decorated as Stowe had left it when she lived with her husband, adult twin daughters and son with his family.

Passing through the kitchen, parlors, halls and bedrooms, visitors hear piano music and see Stowe’s own paintings line the house walls.

Family pictures and painted portraits adorn tables and walls; Stowe’s books, sculptures and plates placed along shelves and tables, along with her other furniture. Stowe’s own

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Harriett Beecher Stowe lived in her Hartford house until she died in 1896. Today it is a museum and tribute to one of the most influential authors of the 19th century. Harriett Beecher Stowe lived in her Hartford house until she died in 1896. Today it is a museum and tribute to one of the most influential authors of the 19th century.

medicine kit sits in what is thought to have been her bedroom. Museum Executive Director Katherine Kane says 80 to 85 percent of the items in the house belonged to Stowe.

The interior research is based on diaries, letters and photographs describing the old Victorian setting; some are Stowe’s own descriptions of her interior preferences. The house still has its original shutters and is bordered by the very same Dogwood tree that was alive when Stowe lived in her house until she died in 1896. Since then, the house was owned by various owners until Stowe’s grandniece purchased the home in 1924 and made it a museum about 40 years later.

Now the museum offers varied exhibits, programs and themed tours that change every season, along with the house décor. Visitors can learn about women’s rights, abolition, and the Emancipation Proclamation as they tour the 19th-century scene.

Kane says the goal of the museum is to “use Stowe’s life and impact to inspire positive change.”

“We’re trying,” says Kane, “to make this as a house that’s alive as possible.”

14 October 2012

American Clock & Watch Museum, Bristol Before its name became inextricably linked with cable-television titan ESPN, the city of Bristol was renowned as the clockmanufacturing center of the world.

Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, even as it houses treasures as ancient as four centuries old, the American Clock & Watch Museum in Bristol is home to more than 5,500 clocks and watches — 1,500 of them on display for visitors to behold.

Through its eight diverse galleries and varying exhibits, visitors can learn about the history of timepieces as they stroll through different galleries and observe the ticking time-tellers.

The collection is considered to be the largest of American-made clocks in the world, according to museum Executive Director Jennifer Carroll.

When it first opened its doors as the Bristol Clock Museum in 1954 there were but 300 clocks on view, along with 50 books in a modest library. Now, nearly six decades later, the museum has grown significantly, principally through the generosity of its patrons and benefactors.

Though it houses some foreign clocks and watches, the majority of items are native to America and date from 1800 to about 1940, with pride of place awarded to timepieces from the Nutmeg State, as Connecticut during this heyday was renowned as “the world’s great clock manufacturing area of the 19th century,” as a museum page explains.

“Each has its own story,” says Carroll.

The museum groups the clocks by type, ranging from railroad clocks, alarm, TV, shelf, tower and church clocks, to novelty, wall, grandfather and “hickory dickory dock” clocks. Visitors can learn about Connecticut Clockmaking and the Industrial Revolution, a continuing exhibit, or the impact of clocks from 1950s trends through the TV, War & Cinderella exhibition on view through December 2.

Seventy-five clocks are normally running at any one time, and once a week staff members traipse through the galleries to hand-wind all of the clocks. On the hour one can hear multiple clocks go off in a cosmic harmony of chimes.

Aside from weekly tours, the museum also provides contextual information for each exhibit, where tourists can dial a number on their phones and hear an exhibit’s summary during self-guided tours.

Underground Railroad

This site, along with the other 28 identiďŹ ed sites in Connecticut, cannot be deďŹ nitively proven as Underground Railroad stops, as museum Director Karin Peterson of the State Historic Preservation OďŹƒce and Department of Economic & Community Development explains. But research conducted in recent years deems the locations as likely refuges.

Since the dawn of European settlement in the New World, the lure of freedom — religious, political and economic — was the driving motive for civilization in America. However, the promise of freedom rang hollow for an entire group of recent arrivals to these shores.

It is diďŹƒcult more than a century and a half later to determine when and where Underground Railroad stops were, as the people involved were secretive about harboring escaped slaves and likely kept no records.

Whether visiting to hear the synchronized chime of grandfather clocks, or to learn about the long history of some manmade masterpieces, the museum ensures the experience is a “step back in time.�

Until 1865, slaves had no refuge other than the homes that secretly aided them in their ight to independence; homes along what became known as the “Underground Railroad.â€? Many of those structures remain, including many in Connecticut.

Right on Goose Lane in Guilford lies an Underground Railroad site, according to local legend. According to the Connecticut Freedom Trail website, a Guilford resident named George Bartlett was an abolitionist and anti-slavery society member during the mid-1800s, and it is said that he harbored escaped slaves in his Goose Lane home. Bartlett ďŹ gures in author Horatio Strother’s book The Underground Railroad in Connecticut.

“You had to have guts, and very strong beliefs that what you were doing was right,� says Peterson.

A home on Elm Street in Stratford is said to have housed runaway slaves under the guidance of Asa Seymour Curtis, a farmer and active abolitionist who was mentioned in the Bridgeport Standard in 1895 as having assisted slaves in their quest to reach safety in Canada.

Washburn Tavern in Oxford, built in the early 1700s, supposedly contains cellar hiding places which may have been refuges on the Underground Railroad as well.

Many more Connecticut sites are listed as potential locations along runaway slave route

to freedom. Although most are private homes, it is instructive to recall that they one time provided life-giving succor to thousands seeking simple freedom from involuntary servitude.

Henry WhitďŹ eld House, Guilford Though Connecticut is rich in historical treasures, home to many prominent ďŹ rsts (the Polaroid, the cotton gin, the color TV), most of the buildings that shaped important moments in history are long gone. Today it’s unusual to come across many still standing that were erected before the 18th century.

However, one special building left standing dates to 1639. This building happens to be in Guilford, and it was a community “fort� and home to a religious leader of English Puritans who traveled across the Atlantic not long after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1621.

That home, now part of the Henry WhitďŹ eld State Museum (organized in 1899), is Connecticut’s oldest house, as well as New England’s oldest stone house. It was named after Guilford’s ďŹ rst minister, Henry WhitďŹ eld.

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“How we got to the Revolution is what took place during that [period],” says museum Curator Michael McBride. “[The house] is one of the few spots that you know you’re standing where people lived that long ago.”

Showcasing artifacts from as early as the 16th century and furniture representative of the first Puritan settlers, the six-room home is open for visitors to tour the three floors including the attic, which houses the colonies’ first powered clock. Viewers may view a 1582 wheel lock musket, as well as a chair that once belonged to colonial Gov. William Leete.

McBride says few personal items have survived from that time, and though the Whitfield settlement has been documented, it is the lives of the people that are difficult to trace. He says the owners of the house over the years rarely lived there; they were landlords. Aside from the earliest images dating from the 1830s and occasional newspaper clippings or travel guides, archeology has been the dominating factor in helping researchers better understand what took place there some 370 years ago.

“You really don’t see much of 17th-century New England,” says McBride. “[The homes] weren’t meant to last.”

Though much of the Whitfield house has been restored in recent years, the original stone and particular areas of the walls and chimney remain untouched, forever harboring the past inside its old stone walls.

Ghosts of New Haven New Haven’s history is of course grounded in the past, but many of the prominent sites that shaped old Elm City still dot the streets of New Haven, along with some other prominent entities.

At Ghosts of New Haven Walking Tours (ghostsofnewhaven.com), those who embark on the historic byways of New Haven get a glimpse into the lives of those who lived before them as they explore numerous Elm City (possibly haunted) sites and learn about the history behind them.

After “tourists” meet at the Starbucks on Chapel Street, each 90-minute tour can be personalized to fit the crowd, starting and ending where they choose. The entire tour route is less than a mile long, narrated by tour guides, including some with a background in the paranormal.

Stops include Sherman’s Alley, with discussion of Roger Sherman, Vanderbilt Hall at Yale and the Shubert Theater, involving the tale of a deceased actress who supposedly haunts the theater. In addition there is the New Haven Green, where the story of its original function as a burying ground (the headstones were moved in the 1820s) is told, and the Amistad Memorial in front of City Hall (captured African slave site). Walkers proceed to Wells Fargo Bank (which used to be the old Union & New Haven Trust Company), the New Haven Free Public Library, and the corner of Temple and Wall streets, where the ghost of the California Winchester Mansion has been said to linger in her home town. Yale’s Woolsey Hall, Grove Street Cemetery, the Sterling Memorial Library and the Skull & Bones “tomb” may conclude the tour.

Each site is accompanied with a description if its history and relevance to the paranormal world. Tour guide Jessie Simpson says the cable TV show Ghost Hunters has paid a visit to some of the featured sites.

A skeptic himself, president and founder of the ghost tour, Phil Shoneburg, started it in 2011 (then relaunched this April) after

branching from his Ghosts of New York, Ghosts of Palm Beach and “Scary D.C.” tours, having acquired an interest in the paranormal after an experience of his own. A professor of American technology at Vaughn College of Aeronautics & Technology with a doctorate in history from New York University, Shoneburg says he applied his doctorate skills to his ghost research.

Tours take place every Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., as well as Fridays at 8 p.m., and can be booked privately as well. The cost is $25 per person.

Scoville Memorial Library, Salisbury Inside an old, grey stone building ringed by sugar maples and open grass lies an older space filled with hundreds of books — some with an even older past.

Eighteenth century books of English origin and treasured American literary possessions passed down over decades can be found at the Scoville Memorial Library in Salisbury, the first publicly funded library in the United States.

In 1771, a man named Richard Smith agreed to deliver 200 books from London with the financial support of Salisbury citizens to create what then was known as the Smith Library. One hundred years later, a book collection began to grow in the town hall as numerous collections from various local benefactors were added to this collection. It wasn’t until the 1890s that Salisbury resident Jonathan Scoville left $12,000 in his will for a library to be built. Supported by Scoville family contributions, the Scoville Memorial Library opened in 1895.

Through its aged granite walls and centuries of history, the library holds a collection of 30,000 items, not limited to original collection books, fiction and nonfiction, videos, reference material, newspapers, large-print books and artworks such as Scoville family portraits.

Library Director Claudia Cayne says the books from the original Smith Library collection are tucked away on shelves in an old room above her office, but may one day be placed on display. The building once houses a stage area where community members would present theatrical shows or hold oyster dinners, and the china from those meals can still be found in the library, which was ultimately intended to be not only a home for books, but also a community center.

The library currently has a reading room that houses a 15th-century stone carving set displayed over a fireplace, donated by Salisbury Cathedral in England — a nice touch to remind library users preoccupied by more modern research tools (electronic databases, Internet workstations) that the past remains richly, vividly present. Y

Salisbury’s Scoville Library houses one of the most distinguished collections of antiquities in Connecticut.

16 October 2012

Fighting Back Against Breat Cancer New weapons, and new hope, in the war against a muchfeared killer

By ALIX BOYLE

Journalist and cancer patient DeMatteo during the height of her treatment in 2008. Today she believes her purpose in life is to educate others about cancer.

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Y

ou can’t help but be moved by the handiwork of 13-year-old Caroline Beach — regardless of your politics Anyone who pays attention to the media in New Haven knows Ann DeMatteo.

The veteran New Haven Register reporter was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2008, endured multiple surgeries, chronicled her treatment in numerous columns in the newspaper and even allowed herself to be photographed with her five-year-old niece patting her bald head.

“Yes, I was at home watching the finale of Desperate Housewives,” DeMatteo recalls.

“I grabbed a glass of wine and noticed the area under my right arm was itchy. Then, I felt the lump — it was in the upper part of my chest. It turned out to be a tumor the size of a lime.”

Just ten months earlier, in July 2007, DeMatteo had had her routine

mammogram, which showed no signs of cancer. But she points out that she has dense breast tissue, which makes it difficult to identify cancer on a mammogram.

In a matter of days, DeMatteo underwent a lumpectomy with Hamden surgeon John Bonadies. A biopsy and analysis showed the tumor to be aggressive, invasive and estrogen receptor-positive. Stage 3 breast cancer.

“I had never felt a lump before, but six months prior to my diagnosis I felt tingling in my breast and my right arm was tired,” she says.

DeMatteo began the mental and physical process of dealing with breast cancer: chemotherapy, radiation and a total of eight surgeries — first to remove the lump then the entire breast and some lymph nodes, followed by multiple attempts at reconstruction — which ultimately caused surgical wounds that would not heal.

When her hair fell out, DeMatteo donned colorful scarves and long pretty earrings while she continued reporting the news ten to 12 hours a day in Hamden and North Haven for the Register where she has worked for 34 years. In addition to paid employment, DeMatteo has long served on the board of the Miss Connecticut pageant, and recruits mentors contestants in between work, family responsibilities and medical appointments.

(DeMatteo was recently promoted to managing editor of Register sibling the Middletown Press.)

Four years later, DeMatteo says she’s happy with her prosthetic breast and is taking the drug Arimidex (anastrozole), an estrogen blocker, to keep the cancer at bay.

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Know thine enemy: ‘Cancer is the most fascinating biology there is to study,’ says Yale’s DiGiovanna, who is developing new therapies to treat the deadly disease.

18 October 2012

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development of drugs that keep it from recurring. But this year, the good news is even better.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has green-lighted two major drugs for treating breast cancer with a third likely to be approved later this year, says Michael DiGiovanna, a medical oncologist and breast cancer researcher at the Yale University School of Medicine who holds both MD and Ph.D. degrees.

“The first new drug is called Everolimus, and it’s for the treatment of advanced breast cancer,” DiGiovanna explains. “It is designed to work with anti-estrogen medication to make it work better and to reverse the cancer’s resistance to anti-estrogen therapy. This is a targeted therapy; this is where the whole field of cancer is going.”

The second drug is called Pertuzumab, which targets the aggressive HER2-type breast cancer. When added to traditional chemotherapy along with the drug Herceptin for patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, it improved the patient outcome by 50 percent.

The third drug, known as T-DM1, is also used to treat advanced HER2-positive cancer and is expected to be approved by the FDA by the end of the year. It is a combination of Herceptin linked to a powerful chemotherapy drug called emtansine, which is too toxic to be introduced directly into the bloodstream.

The Herceptin targets the cancer cells and delivers the DM1 (emtansine) chemo drug.

“It’s like a guided missile that attacks only the cancerous cells,” DiGiovanna says.

“We call it a magic bullet.”

For the past several years, DiGiovanna has received funding from the Connecticut Breast Health Initiative for his research on developing targeted treatments for breast cancer tumors.

His most recent research centers on a protein called IGF1R (Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 Receptor). IGF1R interacts with both estrogen and HER2 and can function to make cancer resistant to both Herceptin and anti-estrogen treatments. DiGiovanna’s lab set out to test a drug that neutralizes IGF1R in combination with Herceptin and antiestrogens.

The researchers initially found that when Herceptin is combined with an IGF1R neutralizing drug, the combination not only stops the cancer growth, but it also kills the cancer cells. This treatment worked whether the breast cancer made too much HER2 (HER2-positive) or even if it contained a normal amount of HER2.

The lab has begun testing these combinations of drugs in mice that have human breast tumors implanted under their skin.

So far, the results show that the combination of Herceptin with IGF1R neutralizing drugs slows the tumor growth more than either drug alone, both in HER2-positive and HER2-normal breast cancer models.

DiGiovanna’s lab has also begun to explore, in test-tube experiments, the potential of a triple-drug therapy: Herceptin plus anti-estrogen plus an IGF1R-neutralizing drug. So far, it seems that a triple drug combination slows the growth of cancer cells more than any single drug or double-drug combination, and may have the best cancer-killing effect as well.

About one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Breast cancer also occurs in men, rarely, accounting for about one percent of all breast cancer cases.

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For many women, the breast cancer journey starts with a simple lump. What should a woman do if she finds a lump?

“She should see her doctor, and then likely be referred to a breast specialist; either a general surgeon in the community or a specialized breast surgeon,” DiGiovanna says.

After some type of imaging — a mammogram or possibly an ultrasound or an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) — the surgeon will typically order a biopsy.

“That’s the only way to definitively know what the lump is,” DiGiovanna says.

However, a lump is not the only sign of breast cancer. Women should call their physician if they notice any change in their breast including pain, skin changes like dimpling, nipple discharge, or a change in the size of the breast.

Following a diagnosis of breast cancer, women generally will undergo surgical intervention, including a removal of the lump — lumpectomy — or removal of the whole breast, and lymph nodes around it. In the old days, surgeons removed the lymph nodes from the armpit to make sure that cancer hadn’t spread there.

A procedure known as sentinel lymph node biopsy was developed — the surgeon can now remove the first lymph node, have it tested for cancer and, if that test is negative, the patient would not have any more lymph nodes removed, lessening the chances of infection and lymphedema.

Very recently, doctors have learned that even if the sentinel lymph node is positive, the patient may not need the rest of the lymph nodes removed because chemotherapy drugs and radiation will often eradicate small amounts of remaining cancer, explains DiGiovanna.

For women who need mastectomy, reconstruction is improving all the time.

For example, surgeons are now performing a nipple-sparing mastectomy and taking fat from the stomach area and using it to reconstruct the breast instead of using an implant.

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“Nipple-sparing mastectomy is new in the last three to five years, but needs to be used in only in highly selected patients,” explains Nina Horowitz, MD, a general surgeon who practices at Yale Medical Group. “It offers a wonderful cosmetic result but after this procedure the nipple will be permanently numb and non-erectile. There are also a group Continued on 37

Types of Breast Cancer HER2 Positive Breast Cancer

Breast cancer tumors are typically grouped into the following types:

HER2 positive breast cancer accounts for about 20 percent of breast cancers and is an aggressive type of breast cancer.

It gets its name from the fact that the cancer cells make an excess of a protein called HER2 that stimulates the cancer cells to grow more aggressively.

• Endocrine receptor-positive; the tumor grows in response to either estrogen or progesterone • HER2 positive • Triple negative; not positive to receptors for progesterone, estrogen, or HER2

The drug Herceptin neutralizes HER2 and reduces the risk of HER2 positive cancer recurring.

• Triple positive; the tumor grows in response to estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors

Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Estrogen Receptor-Positive Cancers About 75 percent of all breast cancers are estrogen receptor-positive. They grow in response to the hormone estrogen. Of these, 65 percent are also progesteronepositive.

If a particular breast cancer tumor’s cells have a large number of receptors for estrogen or progesterone, this cancer is hormone-receptor positive and will

probably respond to endocrine-based therapies like tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors. These treatments are generally given after surgery and radiation.

Tamoxifen and other drugs help prevent recurrence by blocking the estrogen receptors on the breast cancer cells and preventing the estrogen from stimulating them so the tumor will not return.

Triple Negative breast cancer, so-called because it lacks both estrogen and progesterone receptors and does not produce excess HER2, responds well to chemotherapy and other post-surgical treatments. However, no targeted therapies have been developed to prevent recurrence. The triple negative type accounts for about 10 to 17 percent of all breast cancer. – A.B.

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A Shore Bet

By Duo Dickinson

Simple access to a second story becomes a celebration of craft at the rear of the home’s new garage.

22 October 2012

AT H O M E

A Milford family spends nearly two decades transforming their seaside home into something to last a lifetime

By DUO DICKINSON

Do we nurture our students minds, bodies, or souls?

Photographs: Anthony DeCarlo

Yes. Kindergarten-Grade 8 Jill Schaefer, Admissions (203) 389-5500 ext. 17

Woodbridge, CT

W

hen Frank and Nancy Ianna thought about where they’d like to spend their free time, it soon became clear that coastal Connecticut would a safe harbor for their family. Nancy had spent summers in Milford as a teenager, and as their two daughters entered their teenage years, it seemed like a natural reconnection for the family to spend time on a sandy beach during the warm-weather months.

What they found in 1995 was a cottage and a detached garage on an extraordinary beach in the Silver Sands section of Milford. Over the last 17 years they executed a series of ongoing upgrades and fine tunings to those buildings that have, as of this summer, become a completely rejuvenated, renovated and personalized place for this family.

With Ron D’Aurelio as the designer and Clay Markham of High Caliber Construction as the builder, this long-term labor of love has defied the conventional wisdom for the last two decades. Rather than do a “tear-down” during the go-go first decade of the 21st century or hunker down and do nothing during the late ‘90s and most-recent recessions, this compact 2.5-story home facing the water was carefully renovated in phases spanning the economy’s ups and downs. Rather than try

to salvage the existing garage that faced the street, the Iannas rebuilt it, complete with a guest suite above the garage.

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But the biggest temptation the Iannas rethought and avoided was the building of a connection between the home and the garage. They rejected this “obvious” upgrade for one very simple reason: the charm of the outdoor space between the two structures and the light that space allows into the rear of the house. As you enter the now completely new gardens and entry path of Trex decking as designed by Lloyd Hill of See Level Landscape Design, the distant focus is on the side-facing front door, drawing attention away from the garage-facing back door so it doesn’t draw you into the “back” of the house.

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The “front” (actually, side) entry door itself is a real indication that something special awaits visitors within the house, for this door (as well as the entry gate and the door to the guest suite above the garage) were all designed by Nancy and built by YesterYear’s Vintage Doors. The doors entering the home and the garage guest suite are Dutch doors, with the front door to the main entrance having a speakeasy’s uniquely evocative peek-a-boo visitor viewer.

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View thru the kitchen over the dining area out to the water — a salvaged slate school blackboard is caressed by distinctive lighting and trim (at left).

into the kitchen or a larger open portal to the living room and the water beyond. Between those two points of access is a built-in bench with overhead hooks that embodies an easy, comfortable way to receive guests with a soft informality.

In the multiple renovations that have occurred over the years, walls have been taken down so the first floor is quite open, with one half of the house given over to cooking and eating, and the other to living room and entry. The kitchen cabinets, beautifully rendered by Gail Bolling of the Kitchen Company, are a classic fusion of kitchen cabinetry crafted at the level of detail and care of furniture.

The family’s personal investment in this home is embodied in the maple dining room table that was built by family members. The living room’s large-screen television is completely integrated with a new fireplace front, and a variety of trimwork and millwork pieces (including a salvaged school slate blackboard in the kitchen) were lovingly caressed by the craftsmanship of Terry Broderick, all smoothly painted in gloss white trim.

24 October 2012

Throughout the house, wainscoting and gently traditional millwork make small-scale spaces personal and make every aspect have a “hands-on” feel of a personalized home.

To complement the living spaces on the first floor, a large covered patio extends the living and dining spaces to the beach. This outdoor “room” is covered by a large water-shedding porch off the second floor above and allows for a protected refuge from the bright light of the huge sandy beach the house addresses. The “back” of the first floor that faces the detached garage has a highly finished mudroom space where laundry, half-bath, back door and pantry accommodate the “business end” of the home away from public view.

On the second floor, family bedrooms and baths open up to the aforementioned large second-floor porch addressing the water. The entire third floor is given over to a tightly designed master bedroom suite that fits neatly underneath the rafters of the existing home’s attic roof.

The second structure of this two-part reconstruction, the garage, allows for two

cars to be stored away from the salt air of the beach while a nicely-crafted open stair leads guests to their own private suite, complete with a cozy living space.

When you take time to think about every move, and you invest the energy and thought into a renovation over the better part of two decades, the sensibility is timeless. The best words to describe this home are “fully finished” — no detail has gone unloved and every appurtenance has been lovingly featured.

But it is perhaps the custom-crafted entry gate and the front doors to each building that best reflect this family’s thoughtful creativity. These entry ways embrace guests with a graceful welcome that reflect the joy the owners have in creating a place for a lifelong family relationship with the water and their visitors.

Just like the family’s beloved beach plum tree that has survived so many hurricanes, and was carefully preserved amid all the ongoing renovations, this Milford home embodies both a sense of the past, a celebration of the present and an eye toward the future — the best ambience any home can afford its owners.

The custom crafted mahogany front door was designed by the owner, and is surrounded by the carefully detailed millwork and trim that distinguishes this Milford home..

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The entry to the guest suite above the garage also features a custom built door of the owner’s design, and its space also tightly follows the lines of the roof above — just as the main home’s master suite.

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must admit making the decision to leave my lovely home and move to Tower One was a big one. There were many hours of thought and discussions with my family. After visiting my new home we all came to the conclusion, that it was the “right move— to the right place—at the right time.�

It has turned out to be one of the wisest decisions I have ever made. Tower One has served as an excellent supportive, warm and gracious environment.

Sometimes I just don’t know where the time goes during the day. Between the activities and life enriching programs one can attend I find myself with a full schedule. Life is good.

Ruth Blum Resident Tower One/Tower East

Tower One / Tower East 18 Tower Lane • New Haven, CT 06519 203.772.1816 www.towerone.org A distinctive non-profit apartment and assisted living retirement community Fostering Independence and Community It’s all Right Here

As the existing home (left) was renovated, a new garage (right) maintains its predecessor’s separation from the house. The space between allows for a pleasing access stair to the garage’s guest suite, while the back door to the home’s mudroom is bathed in natural light. This space is one of the owners’ favorite features from the 17-year reinvention of their home.

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Agents of Change

Mercado Global artisan Isabella (left) with her siblings. Her earnings are helping to send them to school.

By MAKAYLA SILVA

W

hen 21-year-old Ruth DeGolia set out for Guatemala to conduct research for her senior thesis in international relations at Yale during the summer of 2003, she planned to stay for only a couple of weeks. That is, until she met the women living in the highlands in a town called Panajachel, about 90 miles west of Guatemala City.

She visited their huts made of adobe. She saw that they had no running water, and very little food for their families. She learned that most of the women didn’t go to school, that their fathers never encouraged it. School was for the boys in the village. Not the girls.

The plight of these indigenous people in Guatemala intrigued DeGolia.

In school DeGolia had read about the Guatemalan civil war and the genocide.

More than 200,000 Guatemalans were killed or disappeared during the 1960-96 internal conflict. According to the UNsponsored Commission on Historical 28 October 2012

How a recent Yale grad founded a unique crafts retail business that helps indigenous South American women break the cycle of poverty

Clarification, the Guatemalan military and paramilitaries targeted indigenous communities, labor leaders, students, clergy and other civilians because they believed that the indigenous people formed a rebellious “internal enemy.”

no escape, but knew that she could help them.

“I didn’t initially intend to do this,” she says. “It was so important to me. It was so not possible to walk away when you know you can actually help the situation.”

A systematic campaign of genocide against the Mayan people was launched at the peak of the violence, in 1982-83.

The state justified the extermination of an estimated 440 Mayan communities by claiming that they were part of a communist plot against the government, according to the Center for Justice and Accountability.

DeGolia initially went to Guatemala intending to work with a local nonprofit and met some women who were working with refugees.

The military would round up the inhabitants of a village, separate men from women and then kill them one by one.

Anyone lucky enough to escape would be hunted down by helicopters.

Because half of the population is indigenous, there is little to no market for the artisan products within the village.

And tourists, who in the highlands are far and few between, do not want to pay very much for Guatemalan crafts.

The Mayan people endured torture, mutilation and sexual violence including violence against children.

This two-year period became known as the “Silent Holocaust.”

When DeGolia arrived in the highlands, she was moved by the strength of the Guatemalan women. She saw the violence they had endured. She saw that they had

She says many of those women live in the highlands and possess artisan skills that have been handed down from generation to generation.

DeGolia learned that many of the women desired to use the money earned from selling their crafts to send their children to school.

She realized that if she could take the products back to the United States, she could sell them for at least three times as much as they would be command in the

highlands — and in some cases much more.

in Guatemala send their daughters to school.

“I was amazed at how strong these women were,” she recalls. “They couldn’t read or write, but they could take care of their families and overcome obstacles.”

“All of the studies say the best way to help a community is to help the women first,” she says.

DeGolia says she emptied out her suitcase and filled it with artisan products to take back to Yale campus where she would then sell out of everything within the first week of the semester.

She quickly decided to form a business allowing her to sell Guatemalan goods in the United States. She called it Mercado Global.

“There are very few people who start companies who fully realize how hard it is going to be,” she says. “It’s like jumping off a cliff into mist, and you don’t know what’s beyond the mist.”

DeGolia says the initial challenge for Mercado Global was figuring out how to connect these women artisans in rural communities to eager buyers in the U.S. market.

“My initial view was that globalization is bad,” she says.

“What I ended up realizing was that globalization is neither good nor bad, but rather a tool that rural people do not have access to.”

YYY The original model of Mercado Global involved working with existing nonprofits, and engaging students, DeGolia says, but then, she says, “We kind of plateaued.”

“In the beginning we were all about educating students about fair trade products, because when most people think of fair trade, especially outside of coffee, they think of hippielooking products sold by church groups,” she says.

DeGolia says they soon decided that Mercado Global was foremost about helping the indigenous women

She says they figured if it could get major companies on board with their mission, they could grow exponentially.

And, in order to do that, they opened an operation center in Guatemala, which, DeGolia says, wasn’t easy.

“Seventy five percent of the women in Guatemala can’t read and write,” she says.

“How do you teach them how to develop new products constantly, how do you teach them about budgeting?”

In spite of obstacles such as tropical storms completely knocking out roads, DeGolia says Mercado Global established an “amazing” business platform during 2005 and 2006.

Today there are 31 cooperatives throughout the highlands in Guatemala that are trained by Mercado Global staff. They are taught how to do technical training, how to create qualitycontrol systems.

Because the majority of the women cannot read or write, Mercado Global uses picturebased training.

DeGolia says each cooperative member must take a two-year course starting with selfesteem and basic financial literacy.

Explaining that there is a very high rate of domestic violence in Guatemala, DeGolia says most of the women are afraid and completely dependent on the men in the communities.

Throughout the Mercado Global cooperative program, DeGolia says, women have gained self-esteem and independence.

“You can see visually how different the women hold themselves,” she explains.

“It’s so easy to forget the importance of the ability to earn your own money. The

Mercado Global founder Ruth DeGolia with one of the Guatemalan artisans who creates the distinctive jewelry, fiber arts and other goods Mercado sells.

women felt so limited, so dependent on their husbands.

Being able to send their kids to school, themselves, you know, it really changes people.”

Mercado Global’s business model was working.

Guatemalan women were making money and sending their children to school. But then, in 2007 the recession hit.

“The recession was actually one of the best things to ever happen to us. It forced us to get really smart,” DeGolia recalls. “People didn’t want to buy another piece of crap from China. If they could only afford one necklace, it had to be a great necklace.”

DeGolia says Mercado Global devoted 2009 to building a design program as a way to promote the business.

Mercado Global designers travel to the highlands and work with the cooperatives through the “Design a Difference” program, to help inspire new designs and further develop the Mercado Global line.

“Our collections are inspired with the Guatemalan culture and tradition and then combined with modern fashion design,” DeGolia says.

“And it teaches the designers

about socially responsible fashion and they can go back to their companies and teach them, like ambassadors.”

DeGolia says Mercado Global has brought a designer from Ralph Lauren and the Gap, and currently they have the creative director from American Eagle.

Mercado Global products, sold in boutiques, online, in catalogues and in stores like Levi Strauss, have helped to put 2,700 kids in school.

“We’re increasing nutrition and decreasing health problems and disease,” DeGolia says.

“There is a 40-percent increase in the women who participate in financial decision making in the household.”

In addition, food security has more than doubled in the communities Mercado Global works with and Mercado Global’s partners in the fashion industry are showing that they can make profits through principles.

“We want to change the reality of life for women in rural Guatemala,” DeGolia says. “We want the women in Guatemala to be seen as the most amazing entrepreneurs in the country.” Y

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Cycling through History

The New Haven Museum celebrates its 150th anniversary

One of the best-known 19th century images of New Haven is George Henry Durrie’s 1983 painting of East Rock, in the New Haven Museum collection.

By Liese Klein

Y

ou can’t help but be moved by the handiwork of 13-year-old Caroline Beach — regardless of your political persuasion. A distant forebear of George H.W. and George W. Bush, Caroline painstakingly stitched her “family record” in needlepoint in 1836, with the names and birthdates of her seven siblings limned in silk thread. There’s also one date of death, of her infant sister Martha. Here is her verse on the baby’s passing:

Vain was the fond parental prayer Affection’s warmest tears were vain And fruitless was the tenderest care Her gentle spirit to retain.

Caroline’s handwork is one of the dozens of treasures on view at the New Haven Museum. Celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, the museum and its dynamic director are redoubling efforts to attract a new generation of history buffs to the institution’s Colonial Revival manse on Whitney Avenue.

“It’s interesting to see people come into the museum for the first time and see what great things we have here,” says Executive Director Margaret Anne Tockarshewsky, who began her tenure on February 1. Her favorites include a powerful portrait of Cinque, the African leader of the famous 30 October 2012

1839 captive uprising, and a 1748 map that shows every house in New Haven with each owner’s occupation — from mariner to hatter to clockmaker. On the job less than a year, Tockarshewsky is trying to meet a new person every day and extend the museum’s appeal.

Typical of the museum’s revitalized energy is the Cycle New Haven exhibit, which debuted August 31 to a crowd of more than d 300 bicycle enthusiasts and supporters. Bikes stuffed the racks outside the d museum for the event and families frolicked on the building’s entrance stairs. or Visitors to the second-floor exhibit discovered that thee man considered one of thee inventors of the bicycle filed his first patent for a “pedal-driven velocipede” in, of all places, New Haven. New Executive Director Tockarshewsky standing in from of Joseph Rickety-looking, chest-high Blackburn’s 1762 portrait, ‘The Four Children of General Gurdon Saltonstall’ at the New Haven Museum. “velocipedes” fill a spacious

gallery, along with artifacts of presentday Elm City cycling like insignia from Devil’s Gear bike shop. (The Cycle New Haven exhibit is on view until spring “It was great to see such a cross-section of New Haven at that event,” says Tockarshewsky of the Cycle New Haven opening. The museum has also brought in groups such as the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce to see the collections and expanded outreach to schools and community groups. Tockarshewsky and her staff also regularly offer interactive activities that relate to the collection at events like the Connecticut Green Expo and East Rock street festival.

“We do these events to make people more aware of what we’re doing,” explains museum Education Director Michelle Cheng. “The idea is also to make them aware of what our resources are.”

The New Haven Museum’s resources are unique in the state and include hundreds of thousands of precious documents, photos and artifacts dating from the Colonial period, says James W. Campbell, librarian and curator of manuscripts. He pulls out a minutely detailed map of the

city from the early 1800s depicting all of the city’s major buildings in a full-front view. There are the spires of the three churches on the Green, along with the structures a much-smaller-scale Yale campus.

“We have been doing this a long time,” Campbell says, remarking on the museum’s early start and dedicated core of supporters over the decades. Those supporters raised funds to erect the spacious museum building in 1929, a structure that houses both the exhibits, collection storage, offices and the Whitney Library, home of a manuscript collections that ranges from early New Haven Jewish temple records to the sermons of Great Awakening firebrand Jonathan Edwards.

The museum’s collections were born in 1862 out of the upheaval around the Civil War, when residents formed the New Haven Colony Historical Society to preserve early historical documents and artifacts. New Haven native Eli Whitney’s cotton gin played a key role in setting in motion events that led the Civil War — and you can see one of the devices on the first floor. The society’s other

early treasures include the sign that hung outside of the shop of Benedict Arnold, the famously traitorous Revolutionary War general. (Arnold was a pharmacist and bookseller in New Haven before the original tea party rebellion.)

The New Haven area’s role in many major historical events is the focus of 150th anniversary celebrations, including a fall lecture series entitled “Heroes & Villains.”

Edward Whalley and William Goffe, the judges who condemned King Charles I to death and fled to New Haven, are the topic of the first talk, on September 27. Lectures with book signings will also take place on October 9, November 7 and December 6, all at 6:30 p.m. at the New Haven Museum, 114 Whitney Avenue, New Haven.

Ten Interesting Items from the New Haven Museum’s Whitney Library 1. The New Haven Town Records, beginning 1649.

2. John Davenport, letter to John Cotton, 1650.

3. Jared Ingersoll, Letters from London regarding the Stamp Act, 1764.

4. Benedict Arnold, Statement of Assets and Liabilities, also signed by Roger Sherman, 1767.

5. Hannah Heaton Diary, “Spiritual Exercises” late18th century.

6. Samson Occom, Ordination Sermons, late 18th century.

7. Amos Doolittle, Maps of New Haven, early 19th century.

8. Kale, Amistad Captive, letter to Miss Chamberlain, 1841.

9. Henry Austin, Architectural Drawing of New Haven City Hall, 1861.

Detail of the New Haven Green from the 1748 Wadsworth Map of New Haven.

10. The Dana Scrapbook Collection.

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B IB L IO F I LE S

A lighthearted look at Connecticut’s dark side

Part of P.T. Barnum’s jerkiness may stem from his observation that ‘The public appears disposed to be amused even when they are conscious of being deceived.’

So Many Jerks; So Little Time Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in Connecticut History, by Ray Bendici. 2012, Globe Pequot Press, 236 pps., $14.95 (soft).

By MICHAEL C. BINGHAM

W

hen it came to our attention that someone — in this case Connecticut magazine Associate Editor Ray Bendici of Shelton — had penned a volume devoted to “jerks” in our home state, it was tempting to pose the rhetorical question: What took you so long?

Speaking Ill of the Dead features 15 short biographies of “notorious” Connecticut

32 October 2012

There was the Rev. Samuel E. Peters of Hebron whose 1781 General History of Connecticut codified a number of what came to be memorialized as “blue” laws — e.g., “No woman may kiss her child on the Sabbath,” “Fornication shall be punished by compelling the marriage” and “Adultery shall be punished by death.”

(Given the state of “family values” in 21st-century America, perhaps it’s time to revisit a few of those ideals.)

P.T. Barnum is hailed as the spiritual avatar of his Bridgeport home, the city the “greatest showman on Earth” served as Bendici’s “jerks” range from the worldmayor in 1875. His jerkiness, according to renowned (legendary impresario P.T. Bendici, derived from his gift for getting Barnum, Samuel Colt, creator of the members of the public to pay for such .44-caliber six-shooter that “won the West,” utterly fraudulent attractions as “General” renowned traitor Benedict Arnold) to the Tom Thumb or the Feejee Mermaid, obscure or mainly forgotten (“Brother” which was created by sewing together the Julius Schacknow, who styled himself the upper body of a desiccated monkey and son of God while sexually abusing his the lower half of a fish. stepdaughters). personalities — some truly evil, others merely controversial.

Barnum observed that, “The public appears disposed to be amused even when they are conscious of being deceived.”

Then there was Hannah Hovey (a/k/a Hannah Cranna, for whom a 1980s Connecticut rock band took its name), the “Wicked Witch of Monroe,” who appears to have done nothing more witchlike than to be an old, cranky widow who lived alone and always dressed in widow’s black. Hovey, whose ramshackle Stepney home was said to be guarded by an army of snakes, owned a rooster named Old Boreas that, “like any proper minion of evil, only crowed exactly at midnight.”

Speaking of widows and black, there was Lydia Sherman, “Connecticut’s own black widow.” The 19th-century woman seduced, married and murdered three husbands, and also “extinguished the lives” of no fewer than eight children — six of them her own offspring. Her weapon of mass destruction was arsenic, a

slow-acting toxin that results in excruciating death throes.

The grim tale of Sherman, who eventually was tried, convicted and died in a Wethersfield prison in 1878, lives on in verse: Lydia Sherman is plagued with rats Lydia has no faith in cats So Lydia buys some arsenic And then her husband gets sick; And then her husband, he does die And Lydia’s neighbors wonder why.

Of her crimes, Bendici observes (in sometimes cringeworthy prose), “Now that’s a level of jerkdom very few ever reach.”

Thankfully.

Celebrating 150 years of being New Haven’s museum.

New Haven Museum 114 Whitney Avenue New Haven, CT 06510 (203) 562-4183 www.newhavenmuseum.org /NewHavenMuseum @NewHavenMuseum

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ART Opening A selection of new black-and-white images and color photographs by David Ottenstein is on view at the exhibition Almost Nowhere. October 1-November 9 at the Grove, 71 Orange St., New Haven. Open 5-8 p.m. weekdays.

Free. 203-645-1039, grovenewhaven.com.

Sensing the Thread showcases new works by artist Jennifer Davies.

Works combine weaving and sewing techniques with different paper pulps such as cotton, flax or abaca. The resulting lacy webs are integrated with collage, drawing & Japanese papers to create long, narrow wall hangings.

October 4-28 (artist’s talk 2 p.m. 10/28) at City Galley, 994 State St., New Haven.

Open noon-4 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. Free. 203782-2489, city-gallery.org.

The English Prize: The Capture of the Westmorland, an Episode of the Grand Tour tells the story of the capture of the Westmorland, a British merchant ship laden with works of art acquired by young British travelers on the Grand Tour, and the subsequent disposition of its contents. Organized by the Yale Center for British Art; the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford; and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London; in association with the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid. October 4-January 13 at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun. Free.

203-432-2800, britishart.yale.edu.

City-Wide Open Studios Festival Exhibition is the main exhibition for the City-Wide Open Studios Festival.

Show features one work from each of the artists participating in the festival.

October 5-21 (opening reception 5-8 p.m.

10/5) at Artspace, 50 Orange St., New Haven. Open noon-6 p.m. Tues.–Thurs., noon-8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., noon-6 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-772-2709, artspacenh.org.

Food is the theme (duh) of the art exhibition Five Course Meal on view through November 2 at Katalina’s cupcake shop on Whitney Avenue. Pictured: ‘Solace: Cherry Pancakes 1’ (oil on canvas, 12” X 12”) by Alexis Neider.

The Art of First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson: American Impressionist illuminates the artistic career of First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson (1860–1914), wife of President Woodrow Wilson. It is the first major retrospective of her work in 20 years. October 5-January 27 at Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $9 ($8 seniors, $7 students, free 12 & under). 860-434-5542, flogris.com.

The exhibition White on White: Churches of Rural New England

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Works by Elizabeth Gourlay and Susan Carr. October 12-November 10 at Giampietro Gallery, 315 Peck St., New Haven. Free. Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tues.-

A group exhibition of Artists from Gallery RIVAA, Roosevelt Island, New York. October 13-November 16 at the New Haven Public Library Art Gallery, 133 Elm St. (lower level), New Haven.

Open noon-8 p.m. Mon., 10 a.m-8 p.m.

Tues.-Thurs., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Free.

203-387-4933, azothgallery.com.

The exhibition Caro: Close Up showcases more than 60 works by Sir Anthony Caro (b. 1924), Britain’s

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presents more than 40 photographs by renowned architectural photographer Steve Rosenthal depicting iconic New England meetinghouses and churches.

October 5-January 27 at Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. $9 ($8 seniors, $7 students, 12 & under free). 860-434-5542, flogris.com.

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most acclaimed living sculptor. October 18-December 30 at Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat., noon-5 p.m.

Sun. Free. 203-432-2800, britishart.yale. edu.

New paintings by Kathy Anderson, Stephanie Birdsall, Grace M. DeVito and Michael Naples. November 9-December 2 at Susan Powell Fine Art, 679 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Open 11 a.m-5 p.m. Wed.-Fri., noon-6 p.m. Sat., noon-3 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-3180626, susanpowellfineart.com.

Journeys, works by Rosemary Benivegna and Lisa Carlin. Media include watercolor, sculpture and jewelry. November 4-28 at Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library, 146 Thimble Island Rd., Stony Creek. Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Thurs., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri.Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-488-8702, wwml.org.

Deck the Walls is the Lyme Art Association’s annual show and sale featuring more than 200 works of art in all sizes and media by member artists.

November 16-January 5 at Lyme Art Association, 90 Lyme St., Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Fri., 1-5 p.m. Sun. Free.

860-434-7802, lymeartassociation.org.

Continuing Still-life paintings of Dean Fisher and sculptures by Marcia Spivak. Through October 14 at Art Essex Gallery, 10 Main St., Essex. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wed.-Sun. Free. 860-581-8553, artessex.com.

Art in the Hallway features work by glass artists Jayne Crowley and Pat Miller, as well as that of painters Margaret Dean, Lorraine Lewin and Marjorie Sopkin. Through October 18 at the Hallway at 300 George St., New Haven. Open 7 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays.

203-671-4403, shorelineartstrail.com.

Hard Works: The Art of Gordon Skinner. Through October 19 at Da Silva Gallery, 897-899 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat. Free. 203-387-2539, westvillegallery.com.

Second Anniversary Exhibition features more than 220 new works by the 33 artists and three guest artists of the Maple & Main Gallery. Through October 26 at Maple and Main Gallery of Fine Art, 1 Maple St., Chester. Open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wed. & Sat., 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

Thurs.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. Free. 860526-6065, mapleandmaingallery.com.

Collage/mixed media, watercolor, oil, pastel and ceramics, including monoprints, etchings, and newly designed pit fired bowls, by five Connecticut resident artists: Regina M. Thomas, Ralph R. Schwartz, Sharon R. Morgio, Laurie Marchessault and Margaret Ulecka-Wilson. Through October 27 at Elm City Artists Gallery, 55 Whitney Ave., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily except Sun. Free. 203922-2359, elmcityartists.com.

Robert Adams: The Place We Live — A Retrospective Selection of Photographs. Exhibition traces Adams’

engagement with the geography of the American West. Through October 28 at Yale University Art Gallery, 111 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, artgalleryinfo@yale.edu.

A collection of recent works by nature photographer Denise Saldaña. Through October 31 at Case Memorial Library, 176 Tyler City Rd., 2nd Fl., Orange. Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon. & Thurs., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues., Wed. & Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Sat. Free. 203-891-2170, orange.lioninc. org.

Drawings and watercolors by Lily Kok-Forbush and sculptures by Iván Tirado. Through October 31 at Case Memorial Library, 176 Tyler City Rd. (2nd Fl.), Orange. Open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon. & Thurs., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Wed. & Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. Free. 203-891-2170, orange.lioninc.org.

Sosse Baker and Anne Graham, an exhibition of fiber work. Through November 2 at Wesleyan Potters Gallery, 350 South Main St., Middletown. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Sat., noon-4 p.m. Sun. Free. 860-347-5925, wesleyanpotters.com.

The Five-Course Meal exhibit features food-themed artwork by Joan Fitzsimmons, Laura Barr, Alexis Neider, Barbara Marks and Lisa Hess Hesselgrave. Through November 2 at Katalina’s, 74 Whitney Ave., New Haven. Open 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. Free. 203-772-2788, newhavenarts.org.

The annual New England Landscape Invitational & Society of Connecticut Sculptors Show celebrates artwork by Lyme Art Association member artists and select invited artists. Through November 10 at Lyme Art Association, 90 Lyme St., Lyme. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Mon., 1-5 p.m. Sun. Free.

860-434-7802, lymeartassociation.org.

Performance Now illustrates how performance has come to be at the center of the discussion on the latest developments in contemporary art and culture. Bringing together some of the most significant artists working today, this exhibition surveys the most critical and experimental currents in performance over the last ten years from around the globe. Segments of the exhibition featuring video, film and photography by artists including Marina Abramovic, William Kentridge, Clifford Owens and Laurie Simmons.

Through December 9 at Ezra and Cecile Zilhka Gallery, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. Open noon-5 p.m. daily except Mon. Free. 860-685-2695, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Andrew Raftery: Open House offers a detailed commentary on contemporary definitions of home, family, and interpersonal relations. With swelling lines and precise flecks, Raftery uses the age-old technique of copperplate engraving to create thoroughly contemporary scenes. In his series of five prints, the artist depicts a range of couples and families viewing a

Wearable fiber art from Andrea Geer Designs is one of hundreds of works in virtually every craft medium represented in the 44th annual Celebration of American Crafts exhibition and sale, from October 27 through Christmas Eve (hint, hint) at the Creative Arts Workshop.

house for sale. Exhibition includes architectural models, figure models, and more than 50 working drawings.

Through December 9 at Davison Art Center, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown.

Open noon-4 p.m. daily except Mon. Free.

860-685-2695, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

The Technical Examination of Early English Panel Painting explores Tudor painting techniques and analyzes the condition of key panel paintings of oil on wood. It also represents the first stage of an international research project devoted to the study of early English panel paintings conducted by the Yale Center for British Art in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, London. Through December 9 at Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Tues.-Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun. Free. 203432-2800, britishart.yale.edu.

Works by SoBoBo Gallery artists/ artisans in an eclectic variety of media in contemporary, modern, impressionism, realism, surrealism, and metal, terracotta and plaster

sculpture art. Through December 31 at SoBoBo Gallery, 42 Naugatuck Ave., Milford. Open noon-6 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. Free. 203-876-9829, soboboartgallery. blogspot.com.

The Art & History of the American Steel-String Guitar, curated by John Thomas. Through January 11 at River Street Gallery, 72 Blatchley Ave., New Haven. Open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon., Thurs.-Fri.,10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat., noon- 4 p.m. Sun. Free. 203-776-3099, fairhavenfurniture.com.

Art for Everyone: The Federal Art Project in Connecticut. Paintings, murals and sculptures by Connecticut artists who from the early 1930s to the outbreak of World War II participated in the federal government’s back-towork programs which included work projects in the arts. Through February 5 at Mattatuck Museum, 144 W. Main St., Waterbury. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.Sat., noon-5 p.m. Sun. $5 ($4 seniors, children under 16 free). 203-753-0381, mattatuckmuseum.org.

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ONSTAGE John Douglas Thompson stars in Satchmo at the Waldorf, a one-man tour de force celebrating the life of jazz legend Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, opening October 3 at Long Wharf Theatre.

PHOTOGRAPH: Courtesy of Shakespeare & Co. Photos by Kevin Sprague/Studio Two, Lenox, Mass.

Opening Neil Simon’s comedy classic Barefoot in the Park is the story about newlyweds Corie and Paul, their eccentric neighbors and meddling mother. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. September 28-October 20 at Center Stage Theatre, 54 Grove St., Shelton. $25. 203225-6079, centerstageshelton.com.

Satchmo at the Waldorf is a one-man tour de force celebrating the life of jazz legend Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong.

Starring John Douglas Thompson.

Gordon Edelstein directs. October 3-November 4 at Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Dr., New Haven. $72-$52. 203787-4282, longwharf.org.

A satirical spoof of Agatha Christie mysteries, Something’s Afoot, A Musical Whodunit takes place in an old English mansion during a raging thunderstorm (natch). Murder, mystery, music and comedy abound when the guests disappear one by one. October 5-December 9 at Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main St., Chester. $75-$31. 860873-8668, goodspeed.org.

The Big Knife, Clifford Odet’s classic play about keeping your integrity in the face of success. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. October 6-21 at Eastbound Theatre, 40 Railroad Ave. S., Milford. $17. 203-882-0969, milfordarts.org.

36 October 2012

In the Agatha Christie mystery comedy And Then There Were None, statuettes of little soldier boys on the mantel of a house on an island off the coast of Devon fall to the floor and break one by one as those in the house succumb to a diabolical avenger. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. October 12-27 at Almira F. Stephan Memorial Playhouse, 59 W. Main St., Meriden. $15. 203-634-6922, castlecraig.org.

A Bad Year for Tomatoes by John Patrick. Fed up with the pressures and demands of her successful acting career, Myra Marlowe decides to quit Hollywood and move to tiny Beaver Haven, Vt. to embark on two lifelong dreams: to write her autobiography and to grow the perfect tomato. Her aspirations are short-lived as she is subjected to two eccentric, nosy neighbors. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m.

Sun. October 13-27 at Phoenix Stage Company, 686 Rubber Ave., Naugatuck. $22 ($18 seniors). 203-632-8546, phoenixstagecompany.com.

The Last Romance, a romantic comedy about the transformative power of love, is a tale of how a crush can make anyone feel young again — even a widower named Ralph. 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sun. October 18-November 11 at Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank

Rd., Waterbury. $35-$29. 203-757-4676, sevenangelstheatre.org.

Marcia P. Samuels’ hit gospel/comedy Tell Hell I Ain’t Coming tells the story of Pastor Allgood, a godly man who finds himself (much to his surprise) in hell. 8 p.m. October 19 at Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. $42.50-$38.50.

203-562-5666, shubert.com.

Earth is a mess and Mother Nature has come to clean things up in Patty’s Green. Disguised as Patty Pockets, Mother Nature opens a B&B and sets out to spread her simple message, “Take care of Earth.” Target age Pre-K through second grade. 3 p.m. October 21 at Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $10.

860-510-0473, katharinehepburntheater. org.

In David Adjmi’s humorous but haunting Marie Antoinette, the young queen of the title delights and inspires her French subjects with her three-foothigh wigs and extravagant haute couture.

But times change and even the most fashionable queens go out of style.

Idle gossip turns more insidious as the country revolts, demanding liberté, égalité, fraternité! Rebecca Taichman directs. 8 p.m. October 26-November 17 at Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel St., New Haven. $91-$20. 203-432-1234, yalerep.org.

The Velveteen Rabbit, a theatrical performance based on the classic children’s book by Margery Williams. 1 p.m. October 28 at Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $15 ($10 children). 860-5100473, katharinehepburntheater.org.

In the comedy The Kitchen Witches, Isobel Lomax and Dolly Biddle, two diva TV cooking show hostesses who have hated each other for 30 years, are tricked into appearing together on the same cooking show. The dueling divas stir up a main course of fun with a side dish of drama as family secrets are aired and insults are flung. 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Wed. & Sun. October 31-November 18 at Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main St., Ivoryton. $40 ($35 seniors, $20 students, $15 12 & under). 860-767-7318, ivorytonplayhouse.com.

Deadly Murder, by David Foley, tells the story of beautiful Camille Dargus who has clawed her way to a glittering lifestyle in Manhattan. One night she meets Billy, a handsome waiter, and brings him back to her apartment. But there is more to Billy than meets the eye. An intricate thriller full of twists, turns and bluffs. 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. November 2-17 at Square One

Theatre Company, 2422 Main St., Stratford. $20. 203-3758778, squareonetheatre.com.

Continuing Jersey Boys is the Tony Award-winning musical tale about Rock & Roll Hall of Famers the Four Seasons, and their story of how four blue-collar kids became one of the greatest successes in pop music history.

Includes hits “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Oh What a Night.” 7:30 p.m. Tues.-Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri., 2 & 8 p.m. Sat., 2 & 7 p.m. Sun. through October 7 at Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. $107-$47. 800-2286622, shubert.com.

American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose is a new play by writer and performer Richard Montoya. With Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza, he co-founded Culture Clash, the country’s most popular Chicano/ Latino performance troupe. As Juan José feverishly studies for his citizenship exam, his desperation to pass takes him on an odyssey through U.S. history guided by a handful of unsung citizens who made courageous choices in some of our nation’s most trying times. Shana Copper directs. Through October 13 at University Theatre, 222 York St., New Haven. $88$22. 203-432-1234. yalerep@yale.edu.

Set at a Catskills resort in 1960, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: Featuring Songs of Neil Sedaka is the comic story of Lois and Marge, two friends from Brooklyn in search of good times and romance over one wild Labor Day weekend. The score includes Neil Sedaka classics “Where the Boys Are,” “Sweet Sixteen,” “Calendar Girl” and of course the title song. 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Wed. & Sun. through October 14 at Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main St., Ivoryton. $40 ($35 seniors, $20 students, $15 12 & under).

860-767-7318, ivorytonplayhouse.com.

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CANCER

and have a physician perform a breast exam once a year.

Continued from 20

of procedures that allow women with larger tumors breast preservation with the use of plastic surgical approaches called oncoplastic surgery, which helps prevent large, cosmetic deformities. Again, these are only for a minority of patients appropriately selected.”

After surgery, women typically undergo so-called adjuvant therapies: chemotherapy and/or radiation.

Both DiGiovanna and Horowitz work at Smilow Cancer Hospital at YaleNew Haven Hospital, which opened in 2009 and offers comprehensive cancer treatment for children and adults in 12 disease areas including breast cancer, brain tumors, melanoma, sarcoma and others.

YYY

Who gets breast cancer?

Caucasian women have the highest incidence of breast cancer, 125 new cases per 100,000 women per year. AfricanAmerican females have a lower overall incidence of breast cancer compared with white women (116 cases per 100,000), but black women have a higher mortality rate from breast cancer (33 per 100,000) than white women (23.9 per 100,000), according to the American Cancer Society.

Poverty and other barriers to health care contribute to the higher breast cancer mortality rate for black women, but this group also tends to contract the more aggressive, triple-negative type of breast cancer, DiGiovanna says.

The rate of breast cancer for Hispanic women is 89 cases per 100,000 women per year and for Asian women the rate is 85 cases per 100,000 women per year.

It’s difficult to “prevent” breast cancer because the primary risk factor is simply being female. The older a woman is, the higher her risk of breast cancer. Other risk factors are obesity, being childless or waiting until age 35 or later to have a child. Only about five to ten percent of breast cancer is genetically inherited.

Doctors recommend catching breast cancer early so it is more curable. To do this, every woman should have a screening mammogram by age 40, should examine her own breasts once a month

There’s some evidence to suggest that exercising, keeping weight down to a reasonable level and eating a low-fat diet all help keep breast cancer at bay.

Also, DiGiovanna recommends moderation when consuming alcohol. As little as one drink a day increases the risk of breast cancer. What does moderate mean? Don’t drink every day, and if you do drink have only one.

Breastfeeding lowers the risk of breast cancer and the longer a woman breastfeeds, the stronger the effect seems to be.

Breast cancer is not one disease; it is many. With tumor profiling, scientists can now analyze the DNA of each individual patient’s tumor, to make a prediction of best drugs to use for each person. Although experimental, it’s on the horizon, that each patient will get her own treatment based on her DNA, DiGiovanna says.

“Cancer is the most fascinating biology that there is to study,” he says. “Cancer starts out as a normal, single cell that somehow becomes deranged and acts in a harmful way. It does that by abnormally using biological processes to promote the uncontrolled growth of itself. For example, HER 2 is present in low amounts normally in parts of the body.

Somehow, it makes 100 times the normal amount of HER 2 and makes itself grow.

Once we discover how that happens, we can make a drug to block that HER 2 and then you have a highly effective treatment for that cancer.”

In the meantime, women like Ann DeMatteo are continuing to thrive, despite breast cancer. She believes her purpose in life is to educate people about cancer through her column, “Inspirations.”

“I think I give people hope,” she says.

“We’re lucky to live in the Northeast with a great medical system. Before I got cancer, I was always a reporter on the outside looking in. Now, I’m part of humanity, I’m just like everybody else. I have more compassion and it’s made me a better writer. I’ve gotten to interview a lot of great people as a result of my cancer.” Y

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MUSIC Classical The Yale Collection Concert Series kicks off the new academic year with Kuijken, Legene and Haas, a recital by Wieland Kuijken, viola da gamba, Eva Legene, recorder, and harpsichordist Arthur Haas. 3 p.m. September 23 at Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, 15 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven. Tickets TBA. 203-432-4158, music.yale.edu.

The Tokyo String Quartet, which has been in residence at Yale since 1976, celebrates its last season together before retiring from the international concert stage. WEBERN Five Pieces; MOZART Quintet in C Major (Ettore Causa, viola); MENDELSSOHN Octet for Strings (with the Jasper String Quartet). 8 p.m. October 2 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. $40$20. 203-432-4158, music.yale.edu.

“Kavafians Play Mozart” is the theme of this New Haven Symphony Orchestra performance. NHSO Concertmaster Ani Kavafian’s annual Mozart Project turns into a family affair when sister Ida Kavafian joins her on viola for the Sinfonia Concertante. Ida switches to violin as the Kavafian sisters perform the world premiere of David Stock’s

Concerto for Two Violins. 7:30 p.m.

October 4 at Woolsey Hall, 400 College St., New Haven. (Repeated 3 p.m.

October 7 at Shelton Intermediate School, 675 Constitution Blvd., Shelton.) $69-$15.

203-865-0831, newhavensymphony.org.

New Music New Haven. Featured composer Christopher Theofanidis, whose Allegory of the Cave for string quartet and piano receives its world premiere performance here. Plus new works by graduate composers. 8 p.m.

October 4 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, music.yale.edu.

The Salt Marsh Opera Co. stages a new production of Verdi’s haunting and tragic masterpiece Rigoletto.

Simon Holt, artistic director and Nate Merchant, stage director. 7 p.m.

October 5, 3 p.m. October 7 at Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $65-$55. 877-503-1286, katharinehepburntheater.org.

The undergrad Yale Symphony Orchestra performs its first concert of the new academic year. BRAHMS Academic Festival Overture; JONGEN Symphonie Concertante for organ and orchestra (Thomas Murray, organ); SHAW Clarinet Concerto (soloist Matthew Griffith); MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition. YSO Music Director Toshiyuki Shimada conducts.

8 p.m. October 6 at Woolsey Hall, 400 College St., New Haven. $15-$10 ($5-$2 students). 203-562-5666, shubert.com.

Yale’s Horowitz Piano Series presents a recital by pianist Wei-Yi Yang. Featuring Granados’s art-inspired piano suite Goyescas: Los major enamorados, with projections of Goya’s art. Also on the program are works by Debussy and Ravel inspired by Spain. 8 p.m. October 10 at Sprague Hall, 470 College St., New Haven. $22-$12. 203-432-4158, music. yale.edu.

The Haven String Quartet kicks off its 2012-13 concert series with a recital whose theme is “Immigrant Voices: South of the Border.” PAQUITO d’RIVERA Wapango; CONLON NANCARROW String Quartet No. 3; GABRIELA LENA FRANK Layendas: An Andean Walkabout; OSVALDO GOLIJOV Tenebrae. 7:30 p.m. (preconcert talk 6:30) October 13 at Unitarian Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Tpke., Hamden. $20 ($10 students, seniors). 203-745-9030, musichaven.org.

Under the baton of guest conductor Nicholas McGegan, Schola Cantorum, Yale’s premier graduate choral ensemble, perform Handel’s sweeping oratorio Samson. 5 p.m. October 14 at Woolsey Hall, 400 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, music.yale. edu.

Led by guest conductor Peter Oundjian, the graduate Yale Philharmonia performs. VERDI Overture to La Forza del Destino; BARTOK Piano Concerto No. 3 (soloist Suzana Bartal); SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 12 in D minor (“The Year 1917”). 8 p.m. October

19 at Woolsey Hall, 400 College St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-4158, music.yale. edu.

Enjoy a performance of early music by the Yale Baroque Ensemble in a matchless setting. 5:30 p.m. October 24 at Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, 15 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven. Free. 203432-4158, music.yale.edu.

The New Haven Symphony Orchestra performs a concert with the theme “Sibelius Dreams” — music inspired by love. THEOFANIDIS This dream, strange and moving; DELIUS Summer Evening; MACDOWELL Piano Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 23; SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43.

7:30 p.m. (pre-concert lecture 6:30) October 25 at Woolsey Hall, 400 College St., New Haven. $69-$15. 203-865-0831, newhavensymphony.org.

Yves Henry, piano, performs music of Chopin and Schumann on two of the Collection’s historical grand pianos. 3 p.m. October 28 at Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, 15 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven. $20 ($10 students). 203-4324158, music.yale.edu.

In all the world, there’s no spectacle quite like the Yale Symphony Orchestra’s Annual Halloween Show.

Trust us on this one. 11:59 p.m. October 31 at Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. Free, but advance tickets only.

203-432-4140.

Caravan of Thieves has been described as the result of a party between Django Reinhardt, the cast of Stomp, and the Beatles at Tim Burton’s house. The ‘gypsy jazz’ collective will bring its boisterous sound to the Kate September 28.

38 October 2012

Popular Billboard magazine said it best: “Long before Alanis and Jewel, there was a breed of singer/songwriters whose earthly anthems of soul-searching, heartache and joy touched souls in a way few can muster today.” Who were they talking about? Karla Bonoff, whose songs have been recorded by Linda Rondstadt and Bonnie Raitt, among others. 7 p.m. September 23 at Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $35. 877503-1286, katharinehepburntheater.org.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band is an 11-piece ensemble led by husband-wife team Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi.

Formed in 2010 when the couple decided to set aside their successful solo careers and join forces, Tedeschi Trucks Band has been touring the globe and accruing fans and accolades in the process. Fronted by Trucks’ signature slide-guitar sound and Tedeschi’s pliant, honey-to-husky voice, TTB (as fans know them) delivers a hearty roots-rich musical mix with the power to renew your faith in live music. 8 p.m.

September 28 at Palace Theatre, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $80.50-$35-50. 203346-2000, palacetheatrect.com.

Caravan of Thieves has been described as the result of a party between Django Reinhardt, the cast of Stomp, and the Beatles at Tim Burton’s house. The “gypsy jazz” collective will bring its boisterous sound to the Kate. 8 p.m. September 28 at Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $25. 877-503-1286, katherinehepburntheater.org.

As one of the most prominent and long-running hip-hop superstars there ever was, Snoop Dogg is fo’ shizzle hitting up the Elm City for one night at Toad’s Place. He recently transitioned his music to reggae and changed his stage name to Snoop Lion, which should be interesting when it comes time to sing along to “Who Am I?” 9 p.m. October 3 at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $37.50. 203-624-8623, toadsplace.com.

Influential sludgy punk-metal outfit The Melvins are embarking on a quest to set a Guinness world record for the fastest tour of the United States by a band. The latest incarnation of the band plays under the moniker Melvins Lite. Their “51 Shows in 51 Days Tour” will stop in New Haven with opener Tweak Bird. 9 p.m. September 28 at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $18-$15. 203-624-8623, toadsplace.com.

British R&B/garage rock singer Holly Golightly is no stranger to New Haven; she and her band The Brokeoffs will return for rollickin’ night at Cafe Nine.

9 p.m. October 4 at Cafe Nine, 250 State St., New Haven. $10. 203-789-8281, cafenine.com.

Local indie poppers The Mates of State, comprised of husband and wife duo Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner, will perform at Café Nine as the second annual L.A.M.P. [Light Artists Making Places] Festival goes underway downtown in conjunction with New Haven’s City Wide Open Studios. 9 p.m. October 5 at Cafe Nine, 250 State St., New Haven. Free. 203-789-8281, cafenine.com.

Premier Concerts presents An Evening with Morrissey. The acclaimed English singer and lyricist performs greatest hits from his legendary catalogue, as well as new unreleased songs. 6-8 p.m.

October 6 at Palace Theatre, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $62-$42. 203-346-2000, palacetheatrect.com.

In support of the band’s new single “Headlong Flight,” Rush has embarked on its “Clockwork Angels” North American tour. Lucky for you, it stops in the Park City. 7:30 p.m. October 10 at Webster Bank Arena, 600 Main St., Bridgeport. $140.75-$91.75. 203-345-2400, websterbankarena.com.

The Branford Folk Music Society presents Ralph Bodington, a fine singer and banjo-playing purveyor of oldtimey music. 8 p.m. October 13 at First Congregational Church, 1009 Main St., Branford. $15 ($12 members, $5 under age 13). 203-488-7715, branfordfolk@ gmail.com.

Cellist Zoe Keating is a virtually a onewoman orchestra, using her laptop to loop and layer single cello parts into lush arrangements. A DIY artist, her self-released albums have sold more than 35,000 copies. Keating will play an afternoon show at the Kate. 3 p.m. October 14 at Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $25. 877-503-1286, katherinehepburntheater.org.

Ahead of Halloween, satirical costumed rockers GWAR will once again make a stop at the Toad to put on the humorously bizarre spectacle the group is known for. 7:30 p.m. October 15

at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven. $22.50. 203-624-8623, toadsplace.com.

Seven-time Grammy-winner Alanis Morissette performs songs from her newest album Havoc & Bright Lights as well as her extensive catalogue of hits.

7:30 p.m. October 19 at Palace Theatre, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $100-$45.

203-346-2000, palacetheatrect.com.

Japanese post rock outfit Mono will bring its droning sonic booms to the Space for a special late show. Chris Brokaw, former drummer of the recently re-united indie band Codeine, will open the show. 10 p.m. October 26 at the Space, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden. $15. 203-288-6400, thespace.tk.

World Vocalist Ustad Farida Mahwash, the only woman to receive the title of “master” in central or south Asia, is celebrated around the globe for her exquisite approach to poetic ghazals (folk songs). Artistic director and rubab (double-chambered lute) virtuoso Homayoun Sakhi creates an acoustically rich crossroads for sawol-jawab (an interplay of questions and answers), exploring traditional and contemporary Afghan melodies on the inaugural tour of Voices of Afghanistan, which includes the musicians of the Sakhi Ensemble on tabla, harmonium, doyra (frame drum) and tula (flute). 8 p.m. September 28 at Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. $22-$6. 860-685-3355, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Performing Art

85 Willow Street, New Haven, CT 06511 203.799.6400 | audioetc.com

new haven

39

CALENDAR BELLES LETTRES The Victorian Secrets Discussion Group ponders Charlotte Bronte’s classic Jane Eyre. Orphaned at an early age, Jane Eyre leads a lonely life until she finds a position as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There she meets the mysterious Mr. Rochester and sees a ghostly woman who roams the halls at night. What is the sinister secret that threatens Jane and her newfound happiness? 3 p.m. September 24 at Hagaman Memorial Library, 227 Main St., East Haven. Free. 203-468-3890, hagamanlibrary.info.

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

New members are welcomed to the Blackstone Library Second Tuesday Book Club. The group meets on the second Tuesday to discuss a preselected book. Books available for loan in advance of discussion. 6:45-8 p.m. October 9 at Blackstone Library, 758 Main St., Branford. Free. 203-4881441, ext. 318, blackstone.lioninc.org/ booktalk.htm.

Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me, a bilingual Arabic and English poetry reading by Ghassan Zaqtan, translated

by Fady Joudah. 5 p.m. October 15 at Rm. 208, Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St., New Haven. Free. 203-432-0670, yale. edu/whc.

photos and letters. Through December 14 at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, 121 Wall St., New Haven. Free. Open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri., noon-5 p.m.

Sat. 203-432-2977, beineckelibrary@ yale.edu.

Release your inner poet. Time Out for Poetry meets third Thursdays and welcomes those who wish to share an original short poem, recite a stanza or simply to listen. Ogden Nash, Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss and even the Burma Shave signs live again. 12:30-2 p.m. October 18 at Scranton Library, 801 Boston Post Rd., Madison. Free. 203-245-7365.

BENEFITS

The Poetry Institute of New Haven hosts Poetry Open Mics each third Thursday Come hear an eclectic mix of poetic voices. 7 p.m. October 18 at Young Men’s Institute Library, 847 Chapel St., New Haven. Free. thepoetryinstitute. com.

Architecture in Dialogue: The Peter Eisenman Collectionn at Yale. This exhibition examines high modernism in avant-garde publications in Europe, from fascist Italy to the Soviet Union.

Through December 14 at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, 121 Wall St., New Haven. Free. Open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri., noon-5 p.m.

Sat. 203-432-2977, beineckelibrary@ yale.edu.

Descriptions of Literature: Texts & Contexts in the Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Papers. Exhibition probes Stein’s creative process and writing life through drafts, notebooks,

The Face of Mercy is the aptly titled 40th anniversary gala for the Mercy Center at Madison. Cocktails by the sea, hors d’oeuvres, live auction, Face of Mercy recognition awards, dessert, coffee — the whole shebang. WTNHTV’s Jocelyn Maminta emcees. 5:30-7:30 p.m. September 22 at Mercy Center, 167 Neck Rd., Madison. $75. 203-245-0401, mercybythesea/org.

Schooner Inc. and the Fusco Corp. co-host an Evening at the Water Club, a celebration of the history, future and art of New Haven Harbor, Long Island Sound and the world’s oceans. Food, drink, exhibits, displays of Schooner’s educational programs, the beneficiary of proceeds from this event. 6-8 p.m.

September 27 at the Water Club, 545 Long Wharf Dr., New Haven. $50. 203865-1737, schooner@schoonerinc.org.

Fourteen businesses around the Milford Green will offer tastings of three or four wines each from around the world as part of the fourth annual Milford Wine Trail, whose proceeds benefit Milford Hospital and the Literacy Center. Also, area restaurants will provide delicious hors d’oeuvres to each of the participating locations. 6-9 p.m. September 29 in multiple locations,

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams will discuss “Irish America and the Struggle for Freedom in Ireland” September 25 at Quinnipiac.

Milford Green. $40 (advance only). downtownmilfordct.org.

Griffin Hospital will host a Valley Goes Pink Scotch Tasting to benefit the hospital’s Hewitt Center for Breast Health. Diageo’s Master of Whiskey L.J. Heffernan will acquaint attendees with the sublime mysteries of Johnnie Walker Blue, Green and Gold labels along with Oban 14, Lagavulin 16 and Talisker 10. Food by the Original Antonio’s Restaurant in Ansonia, plus wine tasting and raffles for bottles of scotch. 5:30-8:30 p.m. October 18 at La Sala Banquet Hall, 79 High St., Derby. $60 advance, $70 at door. 203-732-7504, griffinhealth.org/pink.

CINEMA American icon Robert Forrest is dead.

As the nation mourns, reporters converge on his hometown. Among them is a journalist who discovers that Forrest’s widow might have saved her husband. Or did she prevent a fate beyond the country’s worst imaginings?

Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy star in Keeper of the Flame (1942, 100 min., USA). Directed by George Cukor. 2, 4 & 7 p.m. September 25 at Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook. $8. 877-5031286, katharinehepburntheater.org.

You’ll never look at starlings the same way again once you’ve experienced what some consider the crowning achievement of Alfred Hitchcock’s storied career: The Birds (1963, 119 min.

USA). Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren star. 5 p.m. October 25 at Hagaman Memorial Library, 227 Main St., East Haven. Free. Registration. 203-468-3890, hagamanlibrary.info.

COMEDY

Aerialists Dima and Nadja fly through the air with the greatest of ease as part of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which comes to Barnum’s hometown October 18-21.

40 October 2012

Every Wednesday evening Joker’s Wild opens its stage to anyone who wants to try standup comedy — from brandnew comics to amateurs to seasoned pros. As Forrest Gump might say, each Open-Mic Night is kind of like a box of chocolates. 9 p.m. Wednesdays at Joker’s

Wild, 232 Wooster St., New Haven. $5. 203-773-0733, jokerswildclub.com.

Funnyman Joe Bronzi has opened up for top talents including David Brenner, Robert Klein, Jerry Seinfeld, Gilbert Gottfried and others, and has been featured in both the Toyota Comedy Festival and the Boston Comedy Festival. Mick Thomas opens. 8 p.m. October 5, 8 & 10:30 p.m. October 6 at Joker’s Wild, 232 Wooster St., New Haven. $18. 203-773-0733, jokerswildclub.com.

Comedian Bill Burr has been seen on Chappelle’s Show, David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. His second hour-long Comedy Central special, Bill Burr: Let It Go, premiered to rave reviews. 8 p.m. November 3 at Lyman Center for the Performing Arts, Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent St., New Haven. $35, $25 faculty/staff, $10 students. 203-392-6154, tickets.southernct.edu.

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Calling all knitters and crocheters! Meeting last Tuesdays, the Hagaman Library’s casual Knitting Circle is open to all who want to share tips and show off new projects. 6-8 p.m. September 25, October 30 at Hagaman Memorial Library, 227 Main St., East Haven.

Free. 203-468-3890, hagamanlibrary.info.

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CULINARY Consiglio’s Cooking Class Club. Chef Maureen Nuzzo explains and demonstrates how to prepare mouth-watering southern Italian dishes that have been passed down from generation to generation.

October’s menu includes crabmeat stuffed Portobella, homemade black pepper fettucine with grilled asparagus, osso bucco and crème brulée. 6:30 p.m.

October 11, 18, 25 at Consiglio’s Restaurant, 165 Wooster St., New Haven. $65. Reservations. 203-865-4489, consiglios.com.

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City Farmers Markets New Haven. Eat local!

Enjoy seasonal fruits, vegetables, and herbs from local farms including seafood, meat, milk, cheese, handcrafted bread and baked goods, honey, more.

WOOSTER SQUARE: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at Russo Park, corner Chapel St. and DePalma Ct. EDGEWOOD PARK: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays at Whalley and West Rock Aves. DOWNTOWN: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesdays on Church Street at the Green. FAIR HAVEN: 2:30-6:30 p.m.

Thursdays through October 25 at Quinnipiac River Park.

THE HILL: 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Fridays through October 26 at Connecticut Mental Health Center, 34 Park St. 203773-3736, cityseed.org.

DANCE Choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (the trailblazing founder of Urban Bush Women) and Nora Chipaumire (2007 recipient of Wesleyan’s Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award), visible (2011) is a bold performance work that explores journeys, myths, dreams and memories of the known world, and an imagined future in an unknown land.

This New England premiere includes an international cast of featured dancers.

8 p.m. (pre-performance talk 7:30) October 6 at CFA Theater, 283 Washington Terr., Middletown. $23-$6. 860685-3355, wesleyan.edu/cfa.

The Woodbury Ballet presents its production of Dracula, ballet based on Bram Stokers’ chilling story of good, evil, romance, seduction and sacrifice featuring a deliciously dangerous musical score. 8 p.m. October 20 at Palace Theatre, 100 E. Main St., Waterbury. $48-$28. 203-346-2000, palacetheatrect.com.

Continued on 42

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Calendar Continued from 41

42 October 2012

W O R D S o f M O UT H EDITOR’S PICK: Dew Drop Inn Photograph: Lisa Wilder

I

s there a more perfect American food than a freshly fried Tater Tot?

That thought crossed my mind on a recent afternoon as I bit into a golden brown sphere, the exterior crisp and the interior a burst of fresh, starchy goodness. Like Proust’s Madeleine, that Tater Tot summoned up fond memories — grade-school lunchrooms, Idaho potato fields, bubbling Fry-o-lators…

My patriotic reverie was heightened by the view, out the window of the Dew Drop Inn in Derby: A row of made-inAmerica Harley-Davidson motorcycles gleaming in the sunlight. What a country.

Quality fried food and American metal are not the only attractions of the Dew Drop, a longtime fixture in the Valley.

New ownership has expanded the menu, tapped into the latest in social media and added an array of quality beers.

And you don’t need a rumbling crotchrocket to stop by.

The Harleys out front can make a visit to the Dew Drop a bit intimidating for the first-timer. These are serious machines and the riders sport tattoos, heavy metal T-shirts and facial hair right out of Sons of Anarchy, the HBO series on outlaw bikers.

We were tad hesitant to walk in — not only were we a distinctly tame-looking pair but also the male in our party somehow left the house wearing Crocs.

A middle-aged man in shorts and goofy plastic sandals would be enough to spark a brawl in most places, much less a biker bar. Heck, I wanted to hit him myself.

But a trip to the facilities revealed the “anarchy” these Valley bikers were up to: benefit rides for food banks, kids with cancer and toy drives. Up close, they weren’t so scary after all. And once inside, it’s hard to miss how clean and well maintained the bar is, along with décor items like a Harley-themed toy train affixed to the ceiling.

The best way to fit in regardless is to first order a beer from the excellent selection: Our draughts of Sixpoint

At the Dew Drop Inn the menu is back to basics — in this case a bacon cheeseburger and the eatery’s signature Tater Tots.

Bengali Tiger IPA and Founder’s porter arrived in jars. The full spectrum of craft beers is represented – from hoppy West Coast IPAs to Miller Lite in the bottle, favored by the more substantial bikers.

The menu focuses on wings, burgers and sandwiches, with fried sides like “Frips,” the bar’s hybrid of fries and chips. Round and crunchy but with some pillowy potato inside, the frips are salty and tasty but best mixed in with those stellar Tots.

Cajun. Find out the wing sauce of the day or the latest keg tapped with the Dew Drop’s active social media efforts: You get a free beer in exchange for text updates.

So if you need a break from suburban ennui and are in the mood for some tasty beer and fried foods, the Dew Drop does the trick. Just be sure to mind the hogs and park very, very carefully.

Dew Drop Inn, 25 North Ave., Derby (203735-7757), facebook.com/dewdropinnct.

Wings come with dozens of sauces: We loved the tangy and spicy creamy

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Q

uick — name your favorite Brazilian dish.

Chances are, if you live in the New Haven area, you’ll draw a blank. That particular South American cuisine has been missing in action at local eateries; those in need of a hit of feijoada or farofa have had to hit the highway for Bridgeport or points farther south.

That is until earlier this year, with the opening of New Haven’s own Palmeira Brasil in Ninth Square. In a storefront that has seen a bit of turnover in recent years, the restaurant’s owners hope to lure diners with novel flavors and a bit of spice.

resulting in a tart and potent blend. Palmeira’s version is refreshing and packs a whallop.

A new and welcome addition to the Ninth Square, Palmeira Brasil offers flavors diners won’t find elsewhere in town.

Also worth a try is the Xingu Brazilian beer, a smoky, malty brew that’s light-bodied and crisp despite its inky-black color.

Our meal started strong with the chicken coxinha appetizer, breaded croquettes with a savory and complex mix of spices. Dipped in a vinegary hot sauce, the morsels were an unusual and satisfying treat. Bacalhau codfish cakes were also light and crisp but a bit one-dimensional by comparison.

Feijoada ($21.95), another national classic, came as almost a smorgasbord of separate components, each appealing in its own way.

The seduction starts with the space, nicely reconfigured from earlier iterations with billowy sherbet-colored fabric and tropical prints on the banquettes. Diners can still find secluded nooks for conversation in the airy dining area, and the pleasant Brazilian pop soundtrack is at just the right volume for relaxation.

Center stage belongs to the namesake stew of beans, sausage and luscious chunks of pork — meaty and satisfying on its own. Ribbons of buttery collard greens and tender rice were natural partners to the stew.

The ambience demands a round of caipirinhas, the national cocktail of Brazil.

Unlike other south-of-theborder rum concoctions, the caipirinha showcases biting sugar-cane liquor and lime juice ahead of sugar,

More puzzling were the slices of breaded, fried banana, which struck this diner as a bit too squishy and sweet.

Sliced orange made more sense as a counterpoint to the stew, along with crunchy morsels of farofa — shreds of

roasted manioc flour — for textural contrast.

Those seeking a lighter entrée would be well served by the bobo de camarao ($18.95), an herbal combo of shrimp and vegetables sparked by flavor from coconut milk and palm oil and manioc.

With Brazilian-style steaks and seafood taking up most of the rest of the menu, vegetarians must content themselves with sides, a meatfree version of feijoada or a yuca stew.

We finished with brigadeiros ($3.75), dense orbs of fudgy chocolate covered in chocolate sprinkles. Not exactly what I would associate with a tropical country, but tasty nonetheless.

Brazilian-style fruit cremas and tapioca were on the menu but not available on the night we visited.

You won’t find flavors like these anywhere else in town, and Palmiera acquits itself well as an addition to a revitalized Ninth Square.

Palmeira Brasil, 56 Orange St., New Haven (203-691-9918), palm-ct.com.

We’re Gonna Make Your Day...

www.CTcalendar.com NEW HAVEN

44 October 2012

Photos:Lisa Wilder

JUST A TASTE: Palmeira Brasil

NEW EATS: New Haven Meatball House

“A

mbience: Hipster.”

That’s how one online food site describes the New Haven Meatball House, the newest eatery along Chapel near Howe Street. It’s the latest addition to a neighborhood that’s evolving into New Haven’s Hipster Central, for better or worse.

For those who haven’t been to Williamsburg in a while, hipsters emerged in the 1990s and have morphed into a youth subculture that venerates authenticity — with ironic quotation marks, of course. Hipsters tend to sport piercings, wear fedoras, drink craft bear and eat locally.

New Haven is a bit too small and too close to Brooklyn to support a fullfledged hipster subculture of its own, but the hipster look seems to be taking firm root in new restaurants. So a visit to New Haven Meatball House, with its flickering Edison bulbs and exposed ductwork, may remind you of walking into Prime 16 or Rudy’s.

The look is getting a bit too familiar, but the new restaurant’s tasty food and drinks got me past the urge to hiss, “Get off my lawn.”

First of all, vegetarians take note: There are plenty of meat-free options at the Meatball House. The menu is also far from the traditional Sunday dinner version of a meatball meal with red sauce and pasta.

Sitting at a bar with a silky concrete countertop, we were first asked to choose a protein: Pork, beef, chicken or vegetarian meatballs. You then choose a sauce — I picked creamy parmesan to top my pork meatballs. For a starch foundation, I chose black garlic mashed potatoes from options including spaghetti, rigatoni and mac and cheese.

Juicy and nicely seasoned, the pork balls were a winner, with the savory sauce adding another layer of spice and salt. Veggie balls were also savory and satisfying and the mushroom sauce was a hit. Black garlic gave my mash a ribbon of color but no discernable flavor beyond standard garlic, not that it mattered. The combo of four sizeable meatballs, sauce and mash made for a filling and savory meal for $7.

Less winning was a side-dish serving of Tuscan kale ($4) with good flavor but a soggy texture, barely salvaged by pine

Truth in advertising at the New Haven Meatball House: one beef meatball with traditional tomato sauce, one chicken meatball with mushroom sauce and a pork meatball with spinach pesto sauce.

The side is an arugula salad. The bartender is Ed Zynk

nuts and golden raisins. A salad splashed with the chef’s vibrant lime dressing would be a better choice for those seeking greens.

The meatballs can also serve as filling for a slider ($3) or brioche sandwich ($9), along with various toppings and sides likes roasted sweet potatoes and quinoa.

Wash down your balls with one of the restaurant’s craft beers, natch. The night we went there was a well-edited selection including a hoppy West Coast IPA and two draughts from our local New England Brewing. Quality, smallbatch liquors are arrayed behind the counter as well, promising a range of trendy cocktails.

Or you could get your booze in a milkshake — “spiked floats” make up their menu section and are well worth busting your diet, along with the icecream cookie sandwiches. The Double Barrel float ($7) combined bourbon, craft root beer and a scoop of vanilla for an effervescent and not-too-sweet treat.

Yes, you’ll have to put up with a lot of exposed wood, industrial fixtures and twentysomething conversation. But New Haven Meatball House’s menu may make a hipster out of you after all.

New Haven Meatball House, 1180 Chapel St., New Haven (203-772-3360), nhmeatballhouse.com.

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On Two Wings and a Prayer Scenic air tours by biplane The incomparable view of the Connecticut River at East Haddam looking south from the front cockpit of the PT-17 Stearman biplane.

Goodspeed Opera House is visible at bottom

PHOTOGRAPH: Susan E. Cornell

By SUSAN E. CORNELL

I

’d seen the brightly colored blueand-yellow biplane flying overhead everywhere from the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam to Hammonasset Beach in Madison for literally years but hadn’t given it much thought except how cool the antique craft looked up there among the clouds. I never imagined until I strapped on the goggles and helmet and clambered aboard the 1941 Boeing PT-17 Stearman just how amazing an experience a biplane ride might be.

The pilot and I took off from the Chester Airport and headed north past Gillette Castle and the Goodspeed Opera House, both in East Haddam, and then south through the Connecticut River Valley

by Essex, and then over Saybrook Point, Westbrook, Clinton and Madison before returning (phew!) to Chester.

In one word, a ride in an open-cockpit biplane outdoes that of any small enclosed plane because of one word: view. It’s incredible. Even having lived in the area for more than two decades, playing tourist visiting all the River Valley sites including trails, beaches, towns and the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound by boat, the area seemed new and intensely gorgeous from above. I felt for those crawling along I-95 heading for destinations outside of Connecticut and gained a keener appreciation for what we have right here.

46 October 2012

Scared? Sure at first, particularly thinking the engine sounded like a weedwacker and the aircraft itself is a senior citizen, but once I trusted the plane and pilot and understood what a thrill the experience was going to be, all apprehension evaporated.

The plane holds two: the passenger in front and the pilot immediately behind.

The passenger has all the gauges, throttle and foot pedals but, fortunately, doesn’t need to do anything but enjoy and take photos.

Customers, says Bruno Kitka, Chester Charter’s director of operations and chief pilot, range from tourists to locals to history buffs to those who’ve been given gift certificates by someone looking for a unique gift for the person who has everything.

Then there are “those who went off and did their job in the Army Air Corps where they were flying fighters or transports or bombers,” Kitka explains. “They got back from the war and went back to the farm or the family business and never flew again. You have those people the family knows — Uncle Joe or Granddad was a pilot in World War II so they think that’s a neat gift. They come and some of them still fit into their World War II uniforms and come in their uniforms.”

The PT-17 (the initials stand for Primary Trainer), Kitka explains, “would have been the first airplane that any of the cadets would have flown. If they were able to learn to fly in a relatively quick manner, then they would go onto a basic trainer, a little more complex aircraft, and then to an advanced trainer.”

He adds: “If you couldn’t learn to fly this airplane in so many hours, you were basically ‘washed out’ because during the war they had to make pilots. They couldn’t afford to sit there training people who didn’t learn that quickly.”

The PT-17 was a fairly difficult plane to manage landing and takeoff, but “once you get it in the air it’s pretty simple,” Kitka explains.

A half-hour ride runs just over $200. A passenger can choose from a scenic air tour of the Lower Connecticut River Valley or the picturesque Connecticut Coastline, or select his or her own flight plan.

If you are interested in donning the goggles and helmet and treat yourself to an experience that will be remembered forever, contact Chester Charter at 860526-4321 or 800-752-6371. Chester Charter is found at the Chester Airport, 61 Winthrop Road in Chester and online at chestercharter.com.

Persistence conquers all.

Even Noah got no salary for the first six months—partly on account of the weather and partly because he was learning navigation.

MARK TWAIN

Sage advice to ensure a successful year at the office from the Cheney & Company 2012 Calendar.

20 Grand Avenue, New Haven CT 06513 cheneyandco.com 203-562-7719

Nationally recognized experts in creative marketing communications for independent schools, healthcare organizations and nonprofits.

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