Category Archives: People

Remembering Joey Arciola

Posted on February 20, 2023 | 12 comments

Westport native and longtime, well-respected Parks & Recreation Department employee Joseph “Joey” Arciola died peacefully on February 14. He was 52 years old.

Joey came from a long line of family members who served the town of Westport, as Public Works employees, police officers, firefighters and teachers.

Joey was retired from Parks & Rec, where he started his career as dock master at the age of 19. He worked his way to foreman for the department.

Joey Arciola

Joey was an avid sailor, hiker and camper. He loved Cockenoe Island. He was a passionate sports fan who never missed a Yankees, New York Rangers or Dallas Cowboys game.

His family says: “Joey devoted himself to his friends and family with unwavering commitment, love and loyalty. Throughout his life, he prided himself on making everyone around him a better person as well.”

Joey is survived by his parents, Sam Arciola Jr. and Jo Ann (Austin) Arciola, brother Sam Arciola III (Kelly), nephews Sam Arciola IV and Dominic Arciola whom he adored and treasured, and many aunts, uncles and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Joey’s memory to Save the Sound.

Friends are welcome to attend a Mass of Christian Burial this Friday (February 24, 10 a.m., Assumption Church).

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Longtime friend Andrew Colabella adds a tribute to Joey. He writes:

Joey Arciola lived and loved like every day was his last day fearlessly. He was a man who lived life to the fullest.

Today, Joey would have been 53. Six days ago, Joey left the earth, after making an imprint on thousands of lives.

Joey grew up in Westport, with his wonderful brother Sam. His hardworking parents, Samuel and Joanne, who still live in the same house today, still happily married. They followed in the same footsteps as their father, serving Westport.

Their father worked at the sewage treatment plant. Sam recently retired from the Westport Police Department, with over 30 years of service. Joey started working for the town on the docks and marinas, eventually making his way to the Parks & Recreation maintanence division as a laborer.

Joey spent the next 20-plus years in that department shape the town’s athletic and recreational fields. His work partner was Joey Saviano (click here),

The 2 Joes could be seen riding around in Truck 100, a blue single cab long bed, checking on all their hard work. Joey was easy to spot, always in cargo shorts, sneakers, a Yankees ball cap with perfectly trimmed short hair, walking fast on the ball of his feet.

He never stopped moving, except to stop at Junior’s Hot Dog Stand. He’d sit at the counter having lunch with the other Westport local legends and celebrities. His cousin Jeff was behind the counter.

In 8 hours his crew of guys had the lines stripped, grass rolled and cut, PH soil levels balanced, sprinklers timed, baseball fields ready, beach raked, trash picked up, guardrails weed whacked, and equipment ready to go. It all fell under Joey.

The town was ready to go, for all to enjoy. His style of management was sincere, yet tough. He expected the work that day to be done. But if variables beyond our control prevented completion, Joey would either show up to pitch in and help, never afraid but excited to teach, or call before it was started so that no one’s time was wasted. Joey was resourceful, fast thinking and organized.

Joey was elected president of his union, AFSCME 1303-194. He fearlessly went head to head with any and all for fair wages, incentives, protecting pensions and benefits for his employees. Joey knew the value of his talented workers and colleagues, and how much family meant to him.

Joey Arciola, enjoying Cockenoe Island. (Photo courtesy of Linda Gilleran)

Joey had no kids, but was there every step of the way from the birth of his nephews Samuel and Dominic. Those independent and successful bright boys both graduated from Staples, and went on to the University of Alabama.

Joey’s extended family members all too were influenced by his strong determination to give all and be all. Hard work, dedication and loyalty runs in all their blood.

If he had not employed me in his department for 9 years seasonally as I juggled school full time, I am not sure where I would be today. Joey gave me a chance. He gave me life, an education, knowledge, strength, determination, laughter (a lot), honesty and integrity. But he was also a boss at the same time. Respect was given and returned.

So whether you are an Arciola or a Meier, a child or adult who played on any of our athletic and recreational fields in town, or visited the Saugatuck restaurants and bars, or if you were lucky enough to go to a Yankees game with Joey, his impact is eternal.

So as I write this, knowing I unfortunately will not see Joey tomorrow, or every other tomorrow for the remainder of my existence, the ripples of his fingerprint on earth in this town will remain for decades to come.

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Posted in People, Sports

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Senior Center Names New Director

Posted on January 6, 2023 | 4 comments

There will never be another Sue Pfister.

But now there’s a Wendy Petty.

The Fairfield resident — and, for the past 11 years, Weston Senior Activities Center director — was announced today as the new director of the Westport Center for Senior Activities.

Pfister — who led Westport’s Senior Center for 36 years — retired December 31.

Wendy Petty

Petty led Weston’s Senior Center expansion through fundraising, capacity-building and advocacy. She established partnerships with local organizations, volunteer networks, colleagues and social services agencies, to develop innovative social and recreational opportunities for seniors.

Originally from Southern California, Petty and her husband Jim raised their children in Weston. She has a BA in counseling and human Services from Notre Dame de Namur University.

In addition to her specialty in senior services, Petty has experience in non-profit operations, team leadership, grant and program development, and budget administration.

“I am very happy to welcome Wendy to Westport’s Center for Senior Activities,” says 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker. “She brings professional expertise, operational management and local knowledge to the Human Services team and, most importantly, to the WCSA.”

Petty says, “I am very excited to join WCSA’s team and look forward to building on their success as an exemplary hub for local seniors. Together, we will continue to provide the best possible care and service to the senior community.”

In her free time Petty enjoys running, taking long walks with friends, and spending time with family. She and her husband are active in the local car enthusiast community, and enjoy weekend rallies on the back roads of Connecticut.

Westport Senior Center

“The Senior Center’s success can be attributed to a variety of factors, including a Town administration that prioritizes seniors, participants who both contribute and drive programming, and our professional staff members who facilitate connections and run the programs day in and day out,” says Human Services Department director Elaine Daignault, which oversees the Senior Center.

“Under Sue Pfister’s leadership, the WCSA’s dedicated team helped to build the center of Westport’s dreams.

“Today, we prepare for a new era of growth and prosperity for our most esteemed senior residents. I could not be more excited to welcome Wendy to the team.”

In addition to Petty’s appointment — effective February 1, 2023 — Tooker promoted Holly Betts to assistant director of the Senior Center, and Jason Wilson to program specialist, effective immediately.

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Posted in Organizations, People

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Flora Levin’s Eye On Guatemala

Posted on September 22, 2022 | 5 comments

Flora Levin is a Westport plastic surgeon. She just returned from Guatemala, where she volunteered with the International Esperanza Project, a medical aid organization. Her  9th-grade daughter went too, working alongside surgeons and nurses, in the hospital. 

“It was an incredible experience,” Flora says. She writes:

I got involved with this medical/surgical mission through the wife of a friend/ and colleague.

I wanted to go for years, but COVID happened. This was the first opportunity to go since 2019.

I worked at a hospital run by nuns in Patzun, about 2 hours outside Guatemala City. It is truly a 3rd world place, where you feel that you are going back 2 centuries.

Dr. Flora Levin’s daughter, with a young Guatemalan patient.

There are no modern amenities. People cook on open fires, sleep 5 in one bed, and work in the fields after completing primary education. There is no preventative medicine, or what we consider routine care. Most families have 7-10 children.

When we first arrived, the most incredible sight was children and adults waiting in long lines outside the hospital, from 6 in the morning, to be seen. They waited patiently for hours, appreciative when their turn came, even if it was 8 hours later.

I was there with 3 other oculoplastic surgeons, one from Dallas and one from Paraguay. There were also 2 fellows (in training to be oculoplastic surgeons). There were 2 general surgeons, 1 pediatric surgeon and 1 pediatric ophthalmologist, in addition to an anesthesiologist, nurses and volunteers. My 14-year-old daughter Miri came as a volunteer.

Dr. Flora Levin (4th from left), and her team.

We worked for 5 days. On the first day we evaluated patients and scheduled them for surgery. The rest of the days we operated.

The conditions were not optimal: fewer operating rooms than surgeons, leaving procedures that did not require general anesthesia to be done in a regular room without ideal surgical lighting or air conditioning, limited supplies, and old equipment. Despite those challenges we did 55 oculoplastic procedures in both kids and adults and, with other specialties, operated on 123 patients.

Most people who came on this mission had never met before. It was incredible to see how everyone came together, putting personal needs (and egos) aside for a common goal. We shared all meals, late hours at the hospital, and left Guatemala as close friends. Without that camaraderie, kindness and humor, the challenging situation would have been impossible.

My daughter Miri worked tirelessly alongside the adults. She helped in the pre-operative area, playing with the kids waiting for surgery. She helped the nurses, got to watch hernia and gallbladder surgeries, and got to scrub in with me on a case and watch me operate. That was incredibly special.

Dr. Flora Levin and her daughter, at work.

It was an incredible week, Being able to help so many people and touch so many lives is a feeling that cannot be put into words. I plan to return next year, hopefully with supplies that I know will be valuable to provide even better care to those that need it.

I also have a new appreciation for all the modern-day amenities we take for granted!

(For more information on The International Esperanza Project, click here.)

(“06880” is “Where Westport meets the world.” To support stories like this, please click here.)

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Jonathan Greenfield: ALS Warrior Needs Help

Posted on April 20, 2021 | 5 comments

Jonathan Greenfield is a well-known Westporter, and great friend of “06880.” 

Jonathan Greenfield

He’s been an NYU dropout, photojournalist, documentary filmmaker, surfer, triathlete and tea specialist.

Three years ago we featured his amazing life in this story: “The Most Interesting Man in Westport Drinks Tea.”

A year and a half later — shortly after completing his 3rd triathlon — we reported on him again. He’d been diagnosed with cancer — and ALS.

With his trademark optimism, good humor and vigor, he took a leadership role in a crusade to help others with ALS. He organized fundraisers, and as a proponent of the Wim Hof breathing technique, he spread the word about innovative treatments.

Another story, last May, described his advocacy work for ALS research and treatment.

Jonathan Greenfield at a Washington, DC protest.

Here’s our latest update. It comes courtesy of WestportMoms, the multi-media platform. “06880” is honored to repost this. We hope you’ll share it too, with all your networks.

Iris and Jonathan Greenfield are going through an unimaginable situation.

In 2018 Jonathan was diagnosed with ALS. Over the past year his diagnosis took a turn for the worse. He is now confined to a wheelchair, without the ability to speak, write or perform basic motor functions.

Iris works her day job as an acupuncturist (a field significantly impacted by COVID), and spends her nights waking regularly to care for Jonathan. That’s in addition to raising their 3 amazing children: Zach (12), Skye (10) and Josie (8).

Jonathan and Iris Greenfield.

The Greenfields’ health insurance does not pay for the constant home care that Jonathan requires. That has created an incredible financial strain on the family.

As a community, we are defined by how we come together to help our neighbors in the greatest hour of need. Jonathan and his family desperately need our help, so they can pay for their basic living expenses.

Please click here to contribute to their GoFundMe page. The page contains more information about Jonathan’s life, as well as links to his Breathe4ALS organization, and a book of his photojournalism compiled by friends.
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Dr. Altbaum Hangs Up His Stethoscope

Posted on March 29, 2021 | 25 comments

Medicine has changed a lot in the 42 years since Dr. Robert Altbaum began practicing.

Physicians know much more. They have better treatments and medications.

On the other hand, it’s much more of a business. Paperwork (on computers) has increased exponentially. There’s less time for each patient.

Another trend — “concierge” medicine — has widened the gap between those who can afford to pay for added access to doctors, and those who can’t.

Dr. Robert Altbaum

Several years ago, Internal Medicine Associates of Westport — where Altbaum has spent his entire career — began talking about a concierge tier. Four partners left, to open a strictly concierge practice

“It would have made life easier, and probably more profitable,” he admits.

“But my patients had been so loyal. I wanted to continue the same way to the end.”

He accepted 100 or so concierge patients. The rest — hundreds — he treated just as he’d always done.

“Emotionally, for me, it was the right decision,” Altbaum says.

This June, one of Westport’s longest-serving physician retires. He’ll hike, snowshoe, play tennis, travel, and enjoy his wife, children and grandchildren. All live nearby.

He’ll join the Y’s Men, and — a “perpetual student” — take courses at local universities.

Yet he won’t leave medicine behind. Altbaum will teach at Norwalk Hospital, and give talks at places like the Westport Library, on subjects like hospice, advance directives, and searching the internet for diagnoses.

Medicine has been a rewarding career for Altbaum. It’s what he always wanted to do.

He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science at 16. After New York University (Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude) and Harvard Medical School, he did a residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

His wife was a Staples High School graduate. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer. To be closer, he spent a year of ambulatory chief residency at Yale New Haven Hospital.

During his mother-in-law’s illness, Altbaum met Paul Beres and Harold Steinberg. They were looking to add an internist to their practice, established by others in the 1950s.

Altbaum joined them in June of 1978. He’s been there nearly 43 years.

“It’s gone by quickly,” the doctor says. “There have been different partners. But it’s the same shingle. The same name.”

Altbaum still works 70 hours a week. Each day, after 8 to 12 hours with patients, he spends 2 to 3 hours updating records on the computer.

He takes his laptop into the examining room too. He regrets having to look down at the screen, rather than always into his patients’ eyes.

But that same technology allows him to retrieve information quickly. It eliminates possible errors in medication. He’s come to embrace it.

Technology has also made his patients — always intelligent — much more aware of their own medical care. “They walk in well prepared with information,” Altbaum says. “That can be good or bad.”

And although he sees each patient less than before — 15 to 20 minutes, rather than 20 to 30 — he never sensed a change. “There’s still a strong bond,” he says. “They’re loyal to their doctor, and their doctor is loyal to them.”

The Internal Medicine Associates staff. Dr. Altbaum is standing, far right.

What kept Altbaum going for over 4 decades? “I really like medicine. I like the science. I like the feeling at the end of the day that I helped people.”

His greatest worry when he began was that internal medicine would be “colds and influenza.” In fact, he says, as his patients have aged — the majority are now older than he is — their issues have grown more complex. That’s a challenge. And in that challenge, strong relationships are forged.

In the weeks since announcing his retirement, Altbaum has been heartened by his patients’ responses. “People say I’ve made a difference in their lives. That’s so rewarding,” he says. “That far outweighs the burden of the hours.

“I’m grateful that I’ve gotten a lot of intellectual and emotional reimbursement from what I’ve done.”

He always planned to retire at 70. Had he left a year ago — before COVID — he says, he probably would have come back.

“This has been very hard on our partners,” he notes. “But from a medical perspective, it’s been a very stimulating time. We learned a lot. We digested a lot of information in a short period of time.”

Much of Altbaum’s life has been focused on medicine. But he has another passion. It’s been on display for years: music.

Not just any music. Rock ‘n’ roll.

Dr. Albtaum (front row, far right) and his band.

As a child, Altbaum took piano lessons. At 13, he and few friends formed a band: The Blue Shades.

“It was 3 months of acne and voice changes. We had no gigs. We were pretty bad,” he recalls.

At 18, he got a gig: accompanying youngsters at Hebrew School. When his own children were part of the Staples elite Orphenians choral group, he played piano for them.

Then, 20 years ago, he and fellow physicians Fred Kaplan, Andrew Parker and Frank Garofalo formed a band.

DNR plays at the Levitt Pavilion. Keyboardist/vocalist Dr. Altbaum is at right. (Photo courtesy of WestportNow)

“It was like a Mickey Rooney movie,” Altbaum says. “We were a garage band. We actually practiced in Frank’s garage.”

Other doctors joined. They got good. They called themselves DNR (medical-ese for “Do Not Resusciate”). Their website claims that former Surgeon General Everett Koop called them “the best multispecialty rock group in Fairfield County.”

Through the years, more doctors have played with DNR. (And one attorney: bassist Fred Ury.)

The current lineup has been together about 15 years. They’ve got a devoted classic rock following. Their Levitt Pavilion show — a fundraiser for Westport’s Volunteer Emergency Medical Service — is always jammed.

COVID canceled last year’s show. But Altbaum is eager to get back on stage.

And he’ll have as much time as he needs to rehearse. (Hat tip: Amy Schafrann)

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Meghan Ward Charts A New Path

Posted on March 25, 2021 | 5 comments

At most schools, the assistant principal handles discipline. He — and it’s often a male — breaks up fights, hands out suspensions and tracks down truants.

Staples is not most schools.

There, assistant principals have a wide range of tasks. They handle every aspect of student life, from curriculum and the daily calendar to clubs and activities. They’re involved in attendance, academic integrity, even proms.

That’s just part of the job description. Meghan Ward, for example, oversees online courses, the independent learning experience and Pathways, Staples’ alternative school program. She works with academic support classes, and — particularly this year, with COVID complications — collaborates closely with guidance counselors, pupil personnel services, social workers and psychol0gists to keep students on track.

All of those skills and experiences will help Ward when she leaves Staples this summer. The assistant principal has been named principal of John Read Middle School in Redding.

Meghan Ward (Photo/Dan Woog)

It’s a homecoming of sorts. Ward attended Joel Barlow High School — which her new school feeds into — and loved it. Among other activities, she was Student Council president.

She enjoyed an introductory education class at Providence College, but graduated from Southern Connecticut State University as a political science major.

Her first job was with US Tobacco in Greenwich. Working in governmental affairs, she met an intern who headed back to school for a master’s in education.

That piqued her interest. Ward shifted gears, got her own master’s at Sacred Heart University, and student taught in social studies at Trumbull High, under Jon Shepro.

In 2004, 2 positions opened up a Staples. Shepro and Ward filled them both.

Ward spent 9 years in the classroom. She credits “awesome administrators” with allowing her to “take risks and try new things.” Student-centered classrooms encouraged students to think for themselves.

“I was given a gift to be creative and independent,” she says. “We teach to common standards, but the way we deliver education is our own. The 25 kids in my classroom may be very different from the ones next door.”

Along the way, Ward became certified as an administrator. When she and her husband moved to Maine, she was hired as dean of students for a regional high school.

She loved the opportunity to get to know both “the whole student” — not just the one in a Global Themes or US history class — and the entire sophomore class. The challenges — academic, social, interpersonal, family dynamics — were fascinating. Her principal and administrative team were “totally student-centered.”

The school included an alternative program. It was Ward’s first experience with teenagers who — though school was “not their thing” — followed a positive path.

“Every kid had a passion for something,” Ward says. “One of them loved welding. We figured out how he could get credit for it. Creativity can change the course of someone’s life. If you listen and believe in them when they’re at their lowest point, they’ll respond.”

Ward’s next position was assistant position at Old Orchard Beach High School. She was involved in the alternative education program there too.

She moved on to the principalship of York High School. “An amazing experience!” she says. “The staff and Board of Education were very supportive. The amount of time they committed to kids was incredible.”

She left with regrets, when her family returned to Connecticut. Fortuitously, an assistant principal’s position opened up at Staples, in the fall of 2016.

Ward worked with then-principal James D’Amico to develop the Pathways program. Among her dozens of responsibilities, it’s been among the most rewarding.

The main classroom at Pathways. Other rooms — and the lounge — branch off from here.

She takes the “path” idea literally. “We can actually help create a way for each kid to get what they need to succeed,” she says.

Returning as an administrator to the high school where she once taught was eye-opening. She gained a deeper understanding of the interrelationships between all staff members, and the importance of listening closely to others in order to make the best decisions for “the student, the building and the town.”

Staples is the only Connecticut school building Ward ever worked in. She is grateful for the support and opportunities she’s received, from “special, incredible” colleagues.

Now she heads to a different one — and with a different age group.

“After embracing 9th graders coming to Staples, I’m excited to work with middle schoolers,” Ward says. “Fifth through 8th graders: What do those pathways look like?”

As usual, she’ll listen — to students, their families, the community.

Then Ward — the mother of a 5th and 7th grader herself — will take the lessons she’s learned in Westport and Maine, and apply them to John Read Middle School.

A new path awaits.

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Posted in Education, People, Staples HS, Teenagers

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Remembering Steve Lyons

Posted on March 24, 2021 | 4 comments

Steve Lyons — the Cape Cod artist who opened a gallery in Westport in 2019 — died peacefully Sunday at his Chatham home, surrounded by family. He was 62 years old, and had battled brain cancer.

When Steve opened Bankside Contemporary on Post Road West, next to National Hall, he envisioned it as both a gallery and a communal gathering place. The pandemic — which struck just a few months later — and his illness forced Bankside to close last year.

Art was his second career. Steve spent most of his adult life as a corporate writer for a mutual fund. But 9 years ago he went back to a hobby he loved. He began painting on scrap wood. Within a few years, he was named one of the Top 5 Expressionist Artists in the World.

During treatment for his cancer in California, Steve and his partner of 36 years, Peter Demers, both contracted COVID. On January 10, Peter died. Friends raised funds for Steve to return to his beloved Cape Cod.

Click here for a full obituary.

Peter Demers and Steve Lyons.

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In February 2020, I featured Steve Lyons in an “0688o” post:

Westport has plenty of art galleries.

But it may never have seen one quite like Bankside Contemporary, Steve Lyons’ new one on Post Road West.

Modeled on his successful gallery in Chatham on Cape Cod, this one — formerly Mar Silver Design, opposite Winfield Deli — is far from the very quiet/let’s examine the works/wine-and-cheese reception traditional gallery space.

Lyons prefers a “communal gathering space.” He wants people to wander in, say hi, enjoy cookies and candy and coffee, and just hang out.

“If you want art, we’ve got it,” he says. “But everyone is welcome.”

Steve Lyons’ art at Bankside Contemporary, 14 Post Road West.

If that sounds like a different kind of art gallery, well, Lyons’ path as an artist has been untraditional too.

Growing up poor in the foothills of Appalachia, he always painted. In college he minored in art and art history, but majored in something more career-oriented: journalism.

He moved to New York. He did PR for films and TV (and served a stint as critic Judith Crist’s assistant). He painted in his spare time, on weekends.

A job offer — corporate writing for a mutual fund — brought Lyons to New Haven. He bought a house on the Cape, and displayed his work at “casual shows” there.

He had some success. But he never thought about quitting his day job.

Steve Lyons

Eight years ago, Lyons began working on his back porch, painting on small pieces of scrap lumber. He put the finished art out front, with a sign asking anyone interested to put $40 or $50 in a nearby jar.

He sold 400 pieces that summer. Encouraged, he took a leap of faith to pursue art full time. “I know I’m one of the lucky ones,” he says.

Lyons opened a studio on Chatham’s Main Street — a homey place with a welcoming vibe.

In 2016 he was named one of the Top 5 Expressionist Artists in the World by the American Art Awards. The following year they named him #2 in the world for abstract expressionism. In 2018, Art Tour International Magazine listed him as one of the Top 15 Artists in the World to Watch.

It’s not quite a Grandma Moses story — she gained her first fame after age 80. But Lyons is 61 years old. Most “Artists to Watch” are not so close to Social Security.

Among the collectors paying attention was Phil Nourie. Last year — after a career in public relations and marketing — the 51-year-old Westporter started a new company.

Called GigSuite, its mission is to help people realize that after decades in a structured career, their skills actually are transferable. They can own, manage, advise and/or invest in a new, entrepreneurial field — even as their peers think about retirement.

The pair have formed an unusual business alliance. Lyons serves as Gig Suite’s art advisor. He helps clients who want to learn more about art, for aesthetic or business reasons (or both).

Steve Lyons’ “Dancing Clouds.”

Nourie, meanwhile, has helped Lyons open the Bankside Contemporary gallery.

“Steve changed careers in mid-life. He’s able to help others see it’s possible,” Nourie says.

Lyons’ artistic style is an important element in what both men do.

GigSuite’s research showed that “people need an open mind first, to overcome fear of trying something different later in life,” Nourie says. It also shows the human brain responds well to abstract expressionism.

So Lyons’ work hangs on the walls of Gig Suite’s office at 500 Post Road East, inspiring all who come to their workshops. And Gig Suite is the official host of the “Agility Through Art” series at Bankside Contemporary.

Grandma Moses, eat your heart out.

(For Steve Lyons’ website, click here.)

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Roundup: Operation Varsity Blues, Christopher Lloyd, Women’s Voices …

Posted on March 24, 2021 | Comments Off on Roundup: Operation Varsity Blues, Christopher Lloyd, Women’s Voices …

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“Operation Varsity Blues” — the Netflix movie about the rich-and-famous college admissions scandal — has taken America by storm.

There’s a Westport angle. Thankfully, it has nothing to do with a parent pretending his or her child was a star water polo player, even if he or she cannot swim.

“Operation Varsity Blues” was written and edited by Jon Karmen. He’s the 2008 Staples High School graduate who made a huge name for himself there as half of “Rubydog” — a moviemaking duo who, working with media instructor Jim Honeycutt, made a number of way-beyond-high school videos back in the day. (Click here to see some of their pioneering work.)

Karmen is known too as the writer/director of “Fyre” (2019), a behind-the-scenes look at that infamous music festival.

“Varsity Blues” was #3 on Netflix’s Top 10 Most Watched Movies & TV Shows yesterday. But it wasn’t the only one with an “06880” connection. Jamie Mann’s “Country Comfort” checked in at #7. (Hat tip: Kerry Long)

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Speaking of Staples: More than 60 years after helping found Staples Players, Christopher Lloyd is still acting.

In 1958 he was a Staples High School student who wanted to do more than just act in a class play. He found a mentor in English teacher Craig Matheson. The rest, as they say, is history.

Lloyd went on to a career that includes “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” the “Back to the Future” trilogy, “Star Trek III,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and 2 “Addams Family” films.

At 82 years old, he’s got a new movie: “Senior Moment.” He stars with Jean Smart and William Shatner, who play a pair of older star-crossed lovers in an old-school romcom.

Lloyd talks about that project; his 5 wives — and growing up in Westport — in a wide-ranging Guardian interview. He was the youngest of 8 children, though the closest in age was 7 years older. Click here for the full interview. (Hat tip: Jeff Mitchell)’

Christopher Lloyd in “Senior Moment.”

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Speaking again of Staples: Staples history classes absolutely crushed the National History Day regional competition.

Their papers, documentaries and exhibits examined everything from the Daughters of the Confederacy and Queer Communications in the Age of Oppression to Crypto-Analysis in World War I, Cigarette Advertising and the Freedom Riders.

How dominant was Staples? 32 students placed. There were only 5 other winners in the entire region, from just 2 other schools.

Placing first were Ishan Prasad, Sabrina Paris, Maya Hruskar, Lilly Weisz, Srushti Karve, William Jin, Michael Nealon, Zachary Brody, Jeffrey Pogue, Jack Ginsburg, Preston Norris, Tyler Clark and Matthew Gatto.

Finishing second were Nikos Ninios, Franca Strandell, Camille Vynerib, Julet Tracey, Lily Klau, Olivia Stubbs, Hannah Fiarman, Franky Lockenour, James Dobin-Smith, Coco Laska, Karlie Saed and Sarp Gurdogan.

Taking third were Sebastian Miller, Analise Vega, Emma Porzio, Arda Ernamli, Hannah Conn, Samantha Paris and Ethan Cukier.

Their (superb) teachers are Drew Coyne, Nell-Ann Lynch, Cathy Schager and Kelly Zrenda.

Up next: state and (hopefully) national competition.

A US championship? That would be historic.

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Speaking once again of the arts: On Tuesday (March 30, 7 p.m.), the Westport Country Playhouse presents a world premiere of “New Works/New Voices.” These 4 new pieces — all written by community members — honor women who inspired them: Constance Baker Motley, Anne Bogart, Mary Freeman, Mary McLeod Bethune and Gloria Steinem.

Local storytellers and actors will bring to life these very personal, beautiful stories recorded on the WCP stage.

Viewers are invited to pay what they can. 50% of ticket sales and donations during the broadcast go to the Playhouse’s community partner, Women’s Mentoring Network, providing career, educational and personal resources for the economic empowerment of low-income women and their families.

Click here to register for “New Works/New Voices.”

The artists and storytellers who will bring 5 women’s stories to life.

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Westporter Rob Simmelkjaer was confirmed yesterday, by a bipartisan State Senate vote, as chair of the Connecticut Lottery.

It’s a volunteer — but quite active — role he’s served in since May. Area senators Will Haskell and Bob Duff spoke warmly on the media executive’s behalf.

Rob Simmelkjaer

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Update from Parks & Rec: The concession stand at Compo Beach will open in mid-April. Last year, during COVID, it opened late, and ran only from a trailer adjacent to the brick building.

The concession stand at Compo Beach will be open next month.

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MoCA Westport has added 5 members to its board of directors. Two are from Westport.

Jennifer Kanfer has served on the board of The Conservative Synagogue, including co-chair of the Social Action, Membership and Fundraising Committees. and with the Coleytown Elementary School PTA. She previously worked in healthcare communications for 14 years. She holds a BA in political science from the University of Michigan, an MPA in healthcare policy and administration from NYU, and an MBA in Finance from NYU’s Stern School.

Samantha Yanks is an award-winning editor with over 20 years experience in luxury fashion and lifestyle publishing. In 2018 she launched a social, digital and branding agency, Samantha Yanks Creative. She was most recently editor-in- chief of Gotham and Hamptons magazines. As senior accessories editor at O, she collaborated closely with Oprah Winfrey. Yanks has discussed fashion, beauty and lifestyle on “The Today Show” and “NBC Nightly News,” “New York Live,” “Good Day New York,” E!, the Martha Stewart and Howard Stern shows, and more. She graduated from Tulane University.

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‘Tis the season — for both holiday lights and daffodils.

(Photo/Tracy Porosoff)

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And finally … the great — and greatly underrated — Billy Stewart was born today, in 1937. He died in 1970, only 32 years old.

If you only have time to listen to one song, it’s “Summertime.” But everything he touched was a classic.

 

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Randy Herbertson Has Plans For The Downtown Plan

Posted on March 22, 2021 | 13 comments

Better parking. Enhanced river access. Tech upgrades, including vibrant WiFi.

Those are some of the initiatives planned for downtown.

Now all Randy Herbertson has to do is implement them.

He’s not alone, of course. The revitalization of Main Street, Jesup Green and environs is a huge task, with public and private partnerships and investments.

But as the new chair of the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee, it’s Herbertson’s job to see it all through.

Randy Herbertson

He’s hardly parachuting in. He and his wife Deborah have been here since 1998. But although they chose this town in part for its cultural offerings, for more than their first decade Herbertson was “that guy who saw Westport only in the dark.”

He owned a marketing and design firm in New York. She commuted too. It was only after he sold his business and opened The Visual Brand on Church Lane — and Deborah became creative director at Terrain — that he got involved in local affairs.

He went big. David Waldman encouraged him to join the Westport Downtown Merchants Association. He sat on the town website steering committee and the Westport Library board.

And Herbertson joined the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee.

The “plan” is the town’s Master Plan. Developed 7 years ago, it is now “a bit outdated,” Herbertson admits. But it’s a start.

The new chair hopes to prioritize the plan’s 4 or 5 major initiatives, by cost and complexity.

One key issue: Reimagining parking. First up, Herbertson says, is the Baldwin lot off Elm Street. That’s the easiest

Parker Harding Plaza is more complex. It involves rethinking green space, and the lot’s relationship to the Saugatuck River.

A slender ribbon of green separates the Saugatuck River from Parker Harding Plaza. (Photo/Amy Berkin)

Jesup Green is the most complex. The ultimate vision, Herbertson says, is to flip the current parking with the adjacent green space. That would emphasize and maximize river access, while adding perhaps a playground or skating rink.

The greening of downtown, including technology upgrades, could solarize much of the area. A stronger WiFI network would enhance music capabilities.

Herbertson’s committee will also figure out how to create “more stop-and-pause places. People want room to move freely outside, then stop and dwell.”

The DPIC head points to the COVID-induced closing of Church Lane as successful. It led to increased dining and shopping, Herbertson says. Now he wants to build on that success.

Another issue: the best way to manage services like trash pickup and recycling.

“A good downtown is the heart and soul of a community,” Herbertson says. “It’s great to see that ours is becoming that again.” New businesses — restaurants, book stores and more — are opening up. Some are start-ups; others have relocated from elsewhere in town.

Among the new businesses downtown: Capuli restaurant.

During his time as president, the Westport Downtown Merchants Association reinvigorated the Fine Arts Festival. They added special events for different populations — a fashion show, beer fest and more — and advocated for enhanced public/private partnerships. Cables were buried; sidewalks and curbs added.

Herbertson calls his roles with the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee and Downtown Merchants Association “synergistic.” The DPIC is an advisory body, he notes; the town controls all rules and regulations.

But, he notes, “everything the DPIC touches is something the WDMA is involved in.”

He also sees synergy with other initiatives in town — for example, the revitalization of Saugatuck.

“COVID taught us the importance of the retail community, as part of our town as a whole,” he says. “Whatever happens in one place affects the rest.”

So what does Herbertson’s idea downtown look like?

“Highly walkable,” he says.”Real strong integration of natural resources, especially the waterfront. Every space filled with a selection of things that are unique an good for the town, where people can stop and pause.

“And something for all ages.”

Downtown Westport. (Photo/John Videler for VIdeler Photography)

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Remembering Joan Walsh Anglund

Posted on March 18, 2021 | 6 comments

Joan Walsh Anglund — a poet and children’s author who sold over 50 million books worldwide, and was a longtime Westport resident — died this month, surrounded by 3 generations of family. She was 95.

Three years ago, Tim Jackson — like Anglund’s daughter Joy a 1967 Staples High School graduate — made a documentary film about her.

The other day, he posted this remembrance on the Arts Fuse blog:

Joan Walsh Anglund’s words and delicate pen and ink illustrations of dot-eyed waifs were the source of poetic observations on love, nature, family, friendship, and faith for children and adults around the world for 60 years.

Joan Walsh Anglund (Photo/Ted Horowitz)

Her gentle drawings were filled with small details. She often wove the names of children of friends and family into the leaves and branches of trees. Beyond children, she had legions of admirers, from Queen Elizabeth to Midwest housewives.

Beyond her artistic achievements, Joan possessed an inner light that inspired all who met her. I knew her and the family for 60 years and, in 2015, produced a documentary of her life called Joan Walsh Anglund: Life in Story and Poem.

Joan learned her craft from her artist parents, Her grandmother instilled a passion for language.

Joan’s love of drawing and poetic language, of spirituality and family remained central to her life and an inspiration for her art. Prior to the success of her own books she had been a literary illustrator, most memorably for The Golden Treasury of Poetry by Louis Untermeyer.

For more than 50 years she was married to producer and actor Bob Anglund, who passed away in 2009. They met when Joan was a student at The Art Institute of Chicago and he was a student at the Goodman Theater….

They had a radio show together in Los Angeles in 1948. In 1959, after moving to Connecticut, unbeknownst to her, Bob brought the manuscript for her first book to Harcourt, Brace, and World. She later read in the newspapers that the book, A Friend is Someone Who Likes You, had sold over one million copies. Her career was born.

When her children were young, they scrambled about under her father’s original drawing board as she worked on illustrations, just as she had done with her father. Her 120 books went on to sell 50 million copies around the world in multiple languages. With the books came an array of figurines, calendars, dolls, and Joan Walsh Anglund accessories. She and her husband had numerous friendships in the theater and literary world but she remained humbled and amazed by her success, maintaining a quiet and private life….

Joan Walsh Anglund and her husband Bob. (Photo/Ted Horowitz)

In the film she confides: “I realize I can’t stay here forever but I feel that I can. I don’t have any sense of being old and sensible. Because every day the world is so new to me.” She spent 60 idyllic summers with the extended family at her small beach house on Nantucket. Days before she passed she said to her daughter Joy: “I’m going into the deep, deep waves. I’m going to a homecoming.”

She was pre-deceased by her husband Bob and son Todd. She is survived by her daughter Joy Anglund and husband Seth Harvey; grandson Thaddeus Harvey, granddaughter Emily Anglund-Nellen and her husband, Gregory Martin, and their twin daughters, Rose and Elizabeth.

The family requests any donations be made in the form of a children’s book to The Jonestown Family Center. PO Box 248, 401 Main Street, Jonestown, MS 38369.

(Click here for the full Arts Fuse link.)

Joan Walsh Anglund and Tim Jackson. 

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In 2016, I posted this tribute for her 90th birthday:

The poet/author/illustrator — who spent many years in Westport, and raised her children here — wrote over 120 children’s and inspirational books. They’ve sold more than 50 million copies, and been translated into 17 languages.

Among her most famous quotes:

  • Do not be sad that you have suffered. Be glad that you have lived.
  • Life is in the living. Love is in the giving.
  • Where is the yesterday that worried us so

Joan Walsh Anglund, on Nantucket. (Photo/Ted Horowitz)

Wikipedia says that last year, a US Postal Service stamp commemorating Maya Angelou contained Anglund’s quote “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song” — seemingly tying it to Angelou.

That’s not the first time. President Obama wrongly attributed the sentence to Angelou when he presented the 2013 National Medal of Arts and Humanities to her.

“I hope it’s successful,” Anglund said of the stamp when it was issued.

In the 1960s and early ’70s, Staples High School principal James Calkins — who spoke often of the importance of love — frequently quoted Anglund to the student body.

“Do You Love Someone?” — one of Joan Walsh Anglund’s many illustrated books.

When Calkins left Staples, Anglund’s daughter — a student there — thanked him using her mother’s words: “I did not hear the words you said. Instead, I heard the love.”

A website dedicated to Anglund lists a few of her famous fans: Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Elizabeth, Cary Grant, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Ethel Kennedy, Carol Burnett, Helen Hayes, Phyllis Diller, Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, Rosemary Clooney, Shirley Jones, the Emperor of Japan and Elizabeth Taylor.

And, it adds helpfully, “etc.”

“06880”  joins Joan Walsh Anglund’s many admirers — in Westport, and the world — in saying: “Happy 90th birthday!”

Or, to quote herself: “A (person’s) health can be judged by which he takes two at a time: pills or stairs.”

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