The first step toward becoming a Democratic candidate — or helping to influence the party locally — begins January 13 (7:30 p.m., Town Hall).
That’s the biennial Democratic Town Committee Caucus — an election to the DTC. They’re the group that endorses candidates for local elections, and helps select statewide nominees.
All registered Democrats are eligible. Any voter who has changed registration from another party must have done so at least 90 days prior to January 13. Click here for the Westport Democratic Town Committee bylaws.
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Speaking of politics (sort of): The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has had a collateral effect on Westporters vacationing in the Caribean.
The closure of air space in the region caused airlines to cancel hundreds of flights.
One local family was scheduled to leave today from Trinidad & Tobago — 7 miles off the Venezuelan coast, but 350 miles from Caracas.
Another is in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands — hundreds of miles from Venezuela.
Airlines are swamped with calls from stranded travelers. They’re responding with variations of “We have no idea…”
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Verso Studios — the media arm of the Westport Library — has hosted headliners like Patti Smith and the Wallflowers. They’ve produced a vinyl album — the first ever by any library, anywhere.
What haven’t they done? A Battle of the Bands.
Until now.
Next Saturday (January 10, 7 p.m.), 4 high-energy local bands take the Trefz Forum stage. The crowd will decide the winner. Prizes are $500 for first place, $250 for second.
The college and teen groups are the Breakers, Clockwork, Caravan and MOSS.
Tickets are $10 for students, $20 general admission. Click here to purchase, and for more information.
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Many Westporters know and love Abby LaBanca, longtime Spotted Horse bartender.
They may not know that her father Jim is terminally ill with cancer. A strong and selfless man, he continues to give back — including as chair of the Sunshine Kids Cancer Foundation, dedicating time and energy to helping children and families facing the same battle he now wages.
Along with the emotional weight of their impending loss, Jim’s family faces unexpected financial hardship.
A GoFundMe page has been organized to help the LaBancas focus on spending their final days together, without added stress. Click here to donate, and for more information. (Hat tip: Andrew Colabella)
Jim LaBanca
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Thant Myint-U grew up in Riverdale, New York — when his grandfather, U Thant, was the third secretary-general of the United Nations — and then in Bangkok, when his father was with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
But his mother Aye-Aye Thant — U Thant’s daughter — was a longtime Westporter.
Her son has just published a book about his grandfather.
According to PassBlue — an independent, women-led nonprofit news company that covers the US-UN relationship, women’s issues, human rights, peacekeeping and other global matters — “Peacemaker: U Thant and the Forgotten Quest for a Just World” “reveals rich layers of history during the 1960s, taking readers back to key moments in his maternal grandfather’s role in world history, from the Congo crisis to the Cuban missile crisis, from Vietnam to the Six-Day War in the Mideast.
“The author, who worked for a while in the UN and has produced several history books, has now written a book drawing on his family’s legacy. He says it was an accident that he stumbled upon archival material about his grandfather and the UN, which led him to work on this biography.”
Aye Aye and her husband lived in Westport from 2000 to 2022 (except for 2011 through 2014, when they renovated her former home in Yongon, Myanmar, as the U Thant House Museum. It is still in operation; her son is the chairman.
Aye Aye moved from Westport to Boston in 2022, to be closer to her daugthers.
Click here to read more, including a Q-and-A with Aye Aye Thant’s son. (NOTE: “06880” rules limit comments to the relevant topic at hand. All comments on this item should pertain to the Thant family. General posts about the UN today will be deleted.)
U Thant
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Dana Kuyper snapped a nice “Westport … Naturally” image of the view from Longshore, across Gray’s Creek to Owenoke.
Well, it was a nice view — except for the large trash bin that someone dumped sometime, somewhere, and which managed to get stuck in the winter mud.
(Photo/Dana Kuyper)
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And finally … in honor of the Gray’s Creek photo above, lets hear from this musician:
(Where else but “06880” will you find U Thant and Muddy Waters together? That’s the way we roll. If you appreciate this blog — where Westport meets the world — please click here to support us. Thanks!)
Our Zach is stuck in Barbuda
A friend of mine and his family who live in Easton had their flights home from Bonaire cancelled this morning. Interestingly, he says that there are oil storage tanks within eyesight of his hotel where Venezuelan oil is kept.
Oh no! I’m stuck on a tropical beach in the Virgin Islands. Sun, warm water, nowhere to be. Truly a humanitarian crisis.
I can’t believe there is a post mentioning Venezuela and the resident boot-licker has yet to comment “TDS!”
Venezuelan citizens celebrating their freedom from dictatorship, narco-terrorism, hyperinflation and starvation in the streets while white Americans cry about it in the streets, crazy world lmao
I realize that this is only a silly and bothersome “law”, lol, but for those who still assert we don’t do dictatorships here, ‘splain your way around this one:
https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2013-title50/USCODE-2013-title50-chap33