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Tyler Hicks’ Lens

March 9, 2010 · 2 Comments

Tyler Hicks captures daily life for American soldiers in Afghanistan. (Photo by Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)

It’s common for Westporters to see Tyler Hicks’ photo credit in the New York Times.  The Staples graduate — and Pulitzer Prize winner — travels the globe, shooting searing, thought-provoking, even action-compelling images in every hot spot from Iraq to New Orleans.

Now he’s on the other side of the view finder.

The Times’ “Lens” blog — which combines the best photos and videos with intriguing back stories — has focused on Hicks’ most recent work in Afghanistan. Headlined “Into the Maw at Marja,” it’s a harrowing look at the ground and air war in that vicious land.

The story begins:

“Using one another as pillows, like a family huddled together for warmth in a house without heat, most of the Marines were catching a little sleep before their mission was to begin. But one sat wide awake at the edge of their huddle.

“Tyler Hicks caught this quiet moment.

“Another Marine gazed at a snapshot of himself and his wife. The picture’s tattered edge conveyed how well traveled it was. And how often it was so lovingly examined.

“Mr. Hicks was there.

“Along with members of Company K, Third Battalion, Sixth Marines, Mr. Hicks, a staff photographer for The Times, was preparing to go into battle.

I have to carry cameras, lenses, a laptop, satellite transmitter, chargers, batteries and cables. I bring duplicates of some chargers in case one shorts out because if I can’t charge, then I can’t file my pictures. A sleeping bag, enough clothes to stay relatively warm, three days of food and water. I also wear body armor, a helmet, protective goggles and some first aid gear — pressure bandages and tourniquets, mostly. Things begin to get heavy.

It’s harrowing stuff.  Click here to read more — and to view some never-before-seen photos of a war Westporters don’t often think about.

But one that Afghans, soldiers — and Tyler Hicks — live every day.

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Dogging It In Cyberspace

March 9, 2010 · 4 Comments

It’s a dog’s world.  Even on the internet.

Most Westporters know Bruce Kasanoff as a former Planning and Zoning commissioner with a low tolerance for long meetings.  But he’s calm — and passionate — about dogs.

Which leads us — and, in less than 6 months of existence, 150,000 visitors from over 100 countries — to DrawTheDog.com. 

The website is a co-production of Bruce and Jim George, an ex-Disney animator who lives in California.  Readers send in stories of “real life dogs and their real life antics.”

Six days a week, Jim draws a cartoon based on 1 of those crazy dog antics.  He includes the dog’s name and town. 

Sometimes this makes readers mad — say it’s a cartoon about a dog digging through garbage, but it’s a different dog than yours.  Bruce and Jim didn’t steal that story.  As they say on their website, lots of dogs dig through garbage.

As can be expected — what with Winslow Park and Compo Beach (November through March only!) — Westport figured prominently in the genesis of the site.  Whenever he dog-romped here, Bruce craved doing something canine-ish.

His profession is marketing strategy, with a sideline in speaking and an expertise in personalization.  “But truth be told,” Bruce says, “I’d rather play with dogs.”

One would think a marketer would be marketing the hell out of DrawTheDog, but one would be wrong.  The site promotes itself.  Bruce did get talked into forming a Facebook group.  A good thing he listened — within a month, it had over 2,300 members.

Major media outlets, including the New York Post, and Dog Fancy and Modern Dog magazines — have mentioned the site.

Bruce is often surprised by which cartoons generate the most comments.  Anything about dogs sleeping in their owners’ beds is huge, because the dogs of half the visitors do exactly that.

Greyhound and Great Dane owners are the most passionate readers, in terms of promoting the site with friends.  Pitbull owners come close, Bruce says, “because they are so grateful for anything that shows the loving side of this misunderstood breed.”

DrawTheDog has featured 1 Westport pooch so far:  Saba, a Vizsla whose owner videotaped her playing with a deer in the back yard.  The Post picked up the story, and interviewed owner Elizabeth Vagnoni.  Who says journalism is a dying craft?

We’re betting Saba is not the last Westport dog that Krasnoff and George highlight.  Between Winslow Park and Compo, we’ve got enough “real life dogs and their real life antics” to last a dog’s age.

Bruce Kasanoff's dog bed.

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Spin Cycle

March 8, 2010 · 1 Comment

(Photo by Maureen Cummings)

In just over a decade, SpinOdyssey has become one of this area’s largest and most popular fund raisers. 

Last year’s event raised $250,000 for breast cancer research.

This year’s total:  $381,000.

That’s great news for the American Cancer Society — and for everyone seeking signs that the Great Recession is ending.

→ 1 CommentCategories: Economy · Organizations
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Longshore And Mickey Mouse

March 8, 2010 · 1 Comment

Today, the Oscars are in the news.

It’s been a while since Col. Patrick A. Powers was.

But this is both the 50th anniversary of the town’s purchase of Longshore, and the season to think about movies, so let’s glance back at the colonel. 

He was the founder of Longshore Country Club in 1929,  as well as a pioneer in both “talking pictures.” He even contributed in a small way to the creation of Mickey Mouse.

Who knew?

Thanks to Brian O’Leary — the Longshore 50th committee’s ace researcher — for tracking down Powers, then finding this information on Wikipedia.

Patrick Anthony Powers (1870-1948), born in County Waterford, Ireland, was an Irish-American businessman, involved in the movie and animation industry of the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s.

Powers partnered with Joseph A. Schubert, Sr. and sold phonographs from 1900-07. In 1907, they formed the Buffalo Film Exchange, which purchased films from producers and rented them to nickelodeons.

In 1910, Powers left Buffalo for New York City. He founded the Powers Motion Picture Company that merged with … others in 1912 to create Universal Pictures. He served as treasurer of the Universal Motion Picture Company.

Between the 1922 reorganization of Film Booking Office of America and October 1923, Powers, as one of the company’s new American investors, was effectively in command….In 1928, Joseph P. Kennedy and RCA head David Sarnoff merged FBO and the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater circuit to form RKO Radio Pictures….

Without Col. Powers, would Walt Disney ever have created Mickey Mouse?

In 1928, Powers sold Walt Disney a Cinephone system so that he could make sound cartoons such as Mickey Mouse’s Steamboat Willie (1928). Unable to find a distributor for the sound cartoons, Disney began releasing his cartoons through Powers’ company Celebrity Pictures.

After two years of successful Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies cartoons, Walt Disney confronted Powers in 1930 about money due to Disney from the distribution deal. Powers responded by signing Disney’s head animator Ub Iwerks to an exclusive deal to create his own animation studio.

In his lifetime, Powers produced nearly 300 movies, most of them early silent films produced at Universal before 1913 or one-reel animated shorts. However, he is credited as a producer on Erich von Stroheim’s The Wedding March (1928)….

The New York Times obituary of 1 August 1948 notes that Powers, at the time of his death, was president of the Powers Film Products Company of Rochester, New York. He also had homes in both New York City and Westport, Connecticut….

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Telemachus Clay At Toquet

March 8, 2010 · 6 Comments

In the 1964 play “Telemachus Clay,” a young man leaves the East Coast for California.  He needs to find himself.

In real life Jahari Dodd left California 4 years ago, also to find himself.  He ended up in Westport, as an ABC Scholar.

Now he’s directing “Telemachus Clay” — a Staples Players studio production that debuts this weekend at Toquet Hall.

Jahari Dodd

“A young person’s journey spoke to me,” Jahari said of his reaction when Players director David Roth showed him the script.  The colorful cast of characters; the play’s ’60s sensibility; the funky yet linear story; the concept of no set, no real makeup, minimal costumes — all impelled Jahari to stage the show.

Toquet — where people sit in chairs and couches — is a perfect venue for “Telemachus.”  “When you walk in, you know it’s not your average show,” says Jahari.  “It’s like a place where audiences would watch this play in the 1960s.

“All the action goes out to the audience,” Jahari explains.  “The actors are part of the crowd.  Characters run out the back, and come from the fly.  Everyone in the audience should feel a Telemachus-like connection, because all of us should go on a journey to find ourselves.”

As a director, Jahari’s biggest challenge has been to get his actors as loose and fun as the show is.  “It’s hard to pull a spiritual experience out of a high school kid,” he notes.  “But the cast has gone out of their comfort zone.  And I think the audience will feel as free and loose as the cast.”

Glenn Leo and Rachel Samuels rehearse. (Photo by Jillian Bosshardt)

Glenn Leo, as Telemachus, “embodies the young man who’s searching, but knows he lost,” Jahari says.

Jahari is excited to have Whitney Andrews play The Prophet.  Though written for a male, the role seems perfect for her.  “My mother is a pastor, very open and exuberant,” Jahari says.  “I saw the same free-flowing child of the ’60s in Whitney.  The audience will really be drawn to her.”

Jahari — who in addition to directing has been a dancer, TV star and all-around goodwill ambassador for Staples — graduates in June.  “Telemachus Clay,” he says, is “the best way for me to give back to a theater program that’s given so much to me.”

Four years ago, Jahari Dodd came East.  Here he has found a home, resounding success — and himself.

(“Telemachus Clay” will be performed at Toquet Hall, 58 Post Road East — access through the alley to Jesup Road — this Friday [March 12] at 8 p.m., and Saturday [March 13] at 6 and 8:30 p.m.  Tickets are available at the door, and for Staples students during lunch periods this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)

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Sherwood Island Nature Center Seeks Interns

March 7, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Believe it or not, there are youngsters not far from here who have never been to a beach.  Thanks to the Sherwood Island Nature Center — opened last summer as a partnership between Friends of Sherwood Island and the state Department of Environmental Protection — they too can visit a beach.

And learn all about it at the same time.

(From left): Volunteer Jon Wormser, and interns Annie Harnick, Erica Mayer, Matt Wormser and A.J. Kieffer, examine a horseshoe crab.

Mike Rowinsky — whose main job is teaching biology at Greens Farms Academy — is the center’s naturalist at the center.  He’s looking for high school students and 2010 graduates to serve as interns this summer.

Working with Mike, interns create and lead a variety of activities such as arts and crafts projects and trail tours.  They also conduct research for displays, help set up exhibits, care for animals, and act as educational docents to the public.

Interns should be friendly, have a strong interest in nature and environmental issues, and be willing to take initiative.  Small stipends are available.

(For a downloadable application form, click here.  For more information call Liz Milwe: 203-984-8981.)

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Real Estate Reality

March 7, 2010 · 6 Comments

What will you pay -- or get -- for this Westport home? A lot less than 4 years ago.

A local realtor — hoping to separate reality from rumor — recently ran some numbers.

She examined all Westport sales of single-family homes in the $500,000-$2 million range — the majority of Westport properties.  She used median prices rather than averages, because a few sales at either the high or low end can skew the average.  She found:

2006 — 305 homes sold
 Median listing price:  $1,299,000
Median selling price:  $1,255,000
Difference between listing and selling prices:  96.6%

2009 — 183 homes sold
Median listing price:  $988,000
Median selling price:  $940,000
Difference between listing and selling prices:  95%
Difference between 2006 and 2009:  Down 26% in sales dollars, down 40% in volume

January 1-February 28,2010 — 27 homes sold
Median listing price:  $1,158,000
Median selling price:  $1,075,000
Difference between listing and selling prices:  92.8%

January 1-February 28,2010 — 27 homes under contract
Median listing price:  $988,000

What’s it all mean?

“To me, the lower median prices at the beginning of this year are because the tax rebate is getting the low-end and first-time buyers to buy,” she says.  “And it shows that if houses are priced right, they go fairly quickly.”

Homes in higher ranges usually start selling in March.  In fact, she says, March is traditionally the strongest sales month — followed by April and May.

A typical comparative sale, she says, is a “charming Currier and Ives” home on Anchor Lane off North Compo, across from Winslow Park.  In 2005 it was listed at $1,195,000, and sold fast — at the listing price.

This year the same home came on the market at $949,900.  Again it sold quickly — again at the listing price.

“If the price is right, you’ll sell,” the realtor says.

“But people still have a hard time realizing they’re not going to get what their neighbors got 5 years ago.”

She adds:  “On the one hand, that’s sad.

“On the other, maybe it will mean we’ll get more younger buyers coming in.  For a while, Westport was one of the fastest-growing graying markets around.”




→ 6 CommentsCategories: Economy · Real estate
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Breaking News — Spring Spotted In Westport

March 6, 2010 · 1 Comment

If you look closely — very closely — you can see 3 buds in this photo.

Honest.

Of course, as anyone who has lived here for more than 3 days knows, weather in Westport does not proceed linearly.

Or logically.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Winter will not go down without a fight.

→ 1 CommentCategories: Totally random · Westport life
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North Avenue Nightmare

March 6, 2010 · 9 Comments

No, it’s not Bigfoot.  It’s just a few of the dozens of craters, cracks, ruts, holes and other chassis-jarring surprises lurking up and down North Avenue.

Well, hey, it’s winter — what do you expect?

Well, hey — no.  Adjacent roads — Long Lots and Cross Highway, for example — are in much better shape.

Maybe it’s an older surface?

Nice try.  North Avenue was resurfaced in, um, the summer of 2009.

So do roads come with warranties, like cars and microwaves?

Now you’re talkin’.

→ 9 CommentsCategories: Places · Westport life
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CERT-ainly Helpful

March 6, 2010 · Leave a Comment

In the aftermath of 9/11, Kris Nash was amazed that many of the well-meaning people streaming into New York City could not be used.  They had no skills useful in an emergency.

When Westport offered its 1st CERT — Community Emergency Response Team — class in 2003, she realized she could gain those skills right here.

An important — but little-known — volunteer organization that’s a division of the Police Department, CERT supports local emergency service agencies in disaster, crisis and emergency response.  CERT also promotes safety education, emergency and disaster preparedness.

CERT does not perform functions normally done by police, fire or EMS personnel.  They are simply — and vitally — extra helping hands.

During a big rainstorm a few years ago, CERT volunteers stood near some of the 59 closed roads, warning drivers of downed trees and power lines.   Kris — stationed at the corner of the Post Road and Bulkeley — used her 35 years’ knowledge of Westport streets to give alternate directions.

“At the end of my shift I felt wet, cold and happy,” she says.  “I felt I had been able to help people in a practical way.”

Luckily, Kris says, most of the helping so far has come in small ways:  helping attendees at a crowded flu clinic or First Night; finding parking at the 4th of July fireworks.

A few CERT volunteers march in the Memorial Day parade.  The others are working, keeping parade and pedestrian traffic apart.

CERT has not yet faced a true disaster — but they are ready.  Regular training includes opening up and managing an emergency shelter.  They’ve been part of an anti-terrorism exercise at the University of Bridgeport — simulating a terrorist and hostage situation — with police, SWAT teams and emergency responders from several towns.

They also trained with Metro-North in a scenario involving a train wreck and the shutdown of I-95, and did 2 exercises at the Senior Center (1 simulated running an emergency shelter during a coastal storm; the other involved search, rescue and treatment of victims of a plane crash).

CERT volunteers train in a variety of ways.

CERT volunteers range in age from 20s to 70s.  There are engineers, teachers, artists, writers, builders, medical professionals, real estate agents, business executives, and a veterarian, psychologist and librarian.

The next time you see a Westporter wearing a bright yellow vest, ask him or her about CERT.  Or for help.  Or directions to the nearest bathroom.

In any event, that’s what CERT is there for.

(CERT offers new training series regularly — the next is set for fall.  Basic sessions include radio use, light search and rescue, triage, CPR, first aid, water safety, fire suppression and use of fire extinguishers.

(New members are welcome.  Click here for more information; call 203-226-0780; email info@WestportCERT.org, or follow the Twitter feed @WestportCERT.)

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