David Jones is a 1971 Staples High School graduate. He writes:
Sitting at my post as a Compo Beach lifeguard 50 years ago, water pollution — or anything to do with climate change — was not on my radar. All I thought about was what time do I get off my shift, and when can I get to Ye Olde Bridge Grille?
I spent hours looking at Long Island Sound as a job, never realizing how beautiful it was.
Half a century later, I am all about protecting Mother Earth.
David Jones
A while ago, I was approached with an idea: What if we got rid of traditional granular fertilizer that is filled with chemicals and salts, and has the capacity to blow up half of Beirut (which it did)?
It was an interesting concept. I am now on the advisory board of NTP Technologies. We can save our planet.
Our machine injects pure nitrogen into tap water, creating a fertilizer with no “icky” stuff,
I got a D- in chemistry at Staples. But I realize that no fertilizer runoff in your water tables, aquifers and of course Long Island Sound is a very good thing.
Right now we have a patent and orders on the books. But we need investors, to build out our manufacturing and scalability.
My neighbor Paul Newman used to say, “you only go around once. Do the right thing.” Let’s do this right, Westport!
(To learn more, email djones@NTPtechnologies.com, or call David Jones: 401-500-3256.)
The long-awaited Mrs. London’s Bakery — successor to Aux Delices, Java, Wild Pear, Chef’s Table, and a few other places I’ve probably forgotten on Church Lane, at the foot of Elm Street — will open next month.
“Hopefully for Valentine’s Day,” says Max London. His parents started the now-famous original Mrs. London’s Bakery in Saratoga Springs, New York, in the 1970s.
Nearly a year ago — on February 25, 2021 — “06880” broke the news about the 2nd location. I wrote:
He (she?) feature pastries, baguettes, croissants, grilled sandwiches, paninis, salads, quiches, soups, “decadent desserts,” espressos and teas. Ingredients are organic, locally grown and sourced.
Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for Il Pastaficio — “artisanal pasta” and more, around the corner on the Post Road and announced in the same story — to open.
(Click here for a full CT Examiner story on Mrs. London’s Bakery’s Westport location.)
Homelessness is a national issue — even in Fairfield County.
And even in Westport.
We’re fortunate that many dedicated organizations and individuals are addressing the problem.
Helen McAlinden — CEO of Homes With Hope — also co-chairs the Opening Doors Fairfield County Advocacy Taskforce. On Monday (January 31, 8:30 a.m.), they host a roundtable information session including breakout discussion groups.
Interested residents can learn more about legislative priorities, and how to help our most vulnerable neighbors.
Speaking of arts: Two new exhibits opened last night at MoCA.
“The Westport Idea” features selections from WestPAC holdings of more than 2,000 artworks. Most of these works are housed in public schools and municipal buildings, not alwaysaccessible to the public.
The Museum’s annual high school exhibition features nearly 200 compelling works focused on the theme of “Identity,” created by student artists from across Connecticut and Westchester.
The exhibitions are on view through March 12 (weather permitting, duh). Free docent-led tours are available, and free supporting Cocktails and Conversation events will be held on Thursday evenings. Click here to learn more.
Staples High School junior Sophie Spheeris, a 17-year-old junior from Staples, with her artwork “Us and Them.” It’s the collage of the woman, on the left.
Congratulations to Westport’s 9 Presidential Scholar candidates.
Nomination for the prestigious program is a high honor for high school seniors. Selections are made on superior academic and artistic achievement, leadership, strong character, and involvement in school and community activities. The program is run by the US Department of Education.
The Westporters include Staples High School’s Aidan Mermagen, Tessa Moore, Chloe Nevas, Konur Norbert, Nicholas Prior and Julian Weng, and Hopkins School’s Will Cooper, Max Gordon and Finnbar Kiely.
Hours before the snow began, William Webster captured this “Westport … Naturally” image of what he believes is an immature eagle, 100 yards across the Saugatuck River.
“The beak looks right,” he says, “and the front feathers are starting to turn white.”
And finally … on this day in 1861, Kansas was admitted to the Union, as our 34th state. Years of controversy led up to the event: Would it be a free state, or a slave state? Abolitionists prevailed.
But less than 3 months later, the Civil War began.
In 1946 — just 15 years after its founding — the Westport Country Playhouse established an internship program. Among its graduates: a kid named Stephen Sondheim.
Now nationally recognized as a formative experience for aspiring arts professionals, it’s named for another Westport icon: Joanne Woodward.
This summer — after a 2-year COVID hiatus — the Joanne Woodward Internship Program returns live. Internships in stage management, props/scenic painting, wardrobe, marketing, company management, education, and development will run from May 28 to August 21.
In addition to working directly with senior staff, interns participate in weekly seminars. They hear a variety of guest speakers, including Playhouse staff members, visiting designers and artists, commercial producers and more. The pay is $560 a week.
The application deadline is March 11. Click here for the form.
Stephen Sondheim (crouching, top of photo), during his 1950 internship. The photo was taken at the Jolly Fisherman restaurant. Also in the photo: future film director Frank Perry (front row, left) and Richard Rodgers’ daughter Mary (2nd row, 4th from left).
“Given the rapid drop in COVID cases among our middle and high school students, and the small number of students in quarantine, we will return to regular classroom instruction, and discontinue the use of live-streaming cameras.
“The last day of livestreaming cameras in our secondary classrooms will be tomorrow (Friday, January 28). Pending additional cases or quarantine, there will be zero Staples High and Coleytown Middle students in isolation or quarantine after today, and only 5 students in isolation and 2 in quarantine at Bedford Middle School.
“We will continue to peel back mitigating measures prudently, based on our local experience and input from public health advisors.”
No Coleytown Middle School students in isolation or quarantine!
ADL’s Connecticut chapter is a national leader in the fight against antisemitism and bigotry.
And — like its previous director — its new leader is a Westporter.
Stacey Sobel succeeds Steve Ginsburg. Most recently, she spent nearly a decade as executive director of Child Advocates of Connecticut, serving abused and neglected children.
As a volunteer, Sobel was president of Temple Israel, and president of Westport’s Hadassah chapter.
Sobel also was in private law practice, and served in the general counsel’s office of Continental Can Company. The Long Island native l is a graduate of Lafayette College, and Boston University School of Law.
TAP — the personal wellness team in downtown Westport — and Fleet Feet are partnering on the weekend of February 4-6. TAP members get 10% off merchandise at the running store.
In other words: Work out. “Run” across the street to Sconset Square. Then pick up something special for your valentine a week later.
The Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce “Order Direct/Pick It Up” initiative has educated Westporters to use restaurants’ actual websites (or phones) to place pick-up orders. That’s because Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub and similar platforms take huge chunks of the bill for themselves.
Now the word has spread throughout the state. Other Chambers of Commerce are educating their residents too.
Now the Westport Weston Chamber is going a step further.
Click here, then scroll down for “direct” clickable links and phone numbers of Chamber restaurants. Now there’s no excuse to hand over much of a restaurant’s profit to 3rd-party apps.
The Winter Olympics open in 9 days, in Beijing. Of course there’s a Westport connection.
Our neighbor Julia Marino is on the US snowboarding team (slopestyle/big air).
With no fans, friends or family — plus COVID rules, political pressure, burner phones (!) and zero real snow (!!), it will be nothing like her previous Olympics.
Westport journalist Dave Briggs interviewed our local Olympian for his Westport Lifestyle Instagram Life series. Click here for her candid, up-close-and-personal view of these very unusual Olympics Games.
Last month, “06880” reported on The Walters. The band — fronted by 2010 Staples High School graduate Walter Kosner had broken up, but became social media-famous thanks to a sudden slew of TikTok videos.
I included a link to their biggest hit, “I Love You So.”
But tomorrow (Thursday, January 27, 11:35 p.m.), Westporters — and everyone else in the world — can watch The Walters live. They’ll be on Jimmy Kimmel Live, on ABC.
They probably won’t be on for 15 minutes. But they will be famous.
Several Staples students have taken the first step toward national recognition.
Judges have chosen winners in the PTA’s annual Reflections contest. They advance to the state level; after that comes the national competition.
Congratulations to 1st place winners Charlie Jandora (Literature), Jason Capozucca (Music) and Shivali Kanthan (Visual Arts), runners-up Josh Gordon, Jadon Laitman and Camille Vynerib, and 3rd-place finisher Hugh Kennedy.
Reflections winners: Front row (from left): Charlie Jandora, Shivali Kanthan, Camille Vynerib Rear: Jason Capozucca, Jaden Laitman, Hugh Kennedy, Josh Gordon, principal Stafford Thomas.
And finally … on this date in 1934, the Apollo Theater reopened in Harlem. Begun as a white-only burlesque house in 1914, it fell into disrepair. It was transformed 2 decades later into a jazz venue, with primarily Black performers and patrons.
Duke Ellington was on the opening day bill in 1934. So was Benny Carter and his Harlem Club Orchestra. He probably played this hit, recorded 3 months earlier:
We have the State of the Union speech, and the clumsily named State of the State speech.
But what about Westport?
1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker and Board of Education chair Lee Goldstein address the “State of the Town” on Sunday, February 6 (2 p.m., Westport Library).
The pair will review accomplishments during the past year, and preview some upcoming initiatives. A question and answer session will follow, led by RTM moderator Jeffrey Wieser.
Questions may be emailed before and during the State of the Town to WestportSOTT@gmail.com.
The event will be livestreamed on www.westportct.gov, and broadcast on public access channels 79 (Optimum) and 6020 (Frontier). Click here to register for in-person attendance or a Zoom link. The event is co-sponsored by Westport Sunrise Rotary and the Westport Rotary Club.
What’s the state of our town? Find out on February 6. (Photo/JC Martin)
Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist — and 1991 Staples High School graduate — Lynsey Addario spent nearly 3 years photographing Marieke Vervoort as she prepared to die. The Belgian woman — a Paralympics gold medalist as a wheelchair sprinter — suffered from a painful degenerative muscular disease.
Under Belgian law, she chose to end her life. Addario’s 2019 New York Times story was raw, intimate and powerful. She also wrote about what the reporting and photography of that story meant to her, personally.
Yesterday, the Times released a podcast of that story. Addario revisits that story, and all its emotions, in a riveting episode. Click here to access it. (Hat tip: John Hartwell)
In her final hours, Marieke Vervoort embraces her parents. (Photo/ copyright Lynsey Addario for New York Times)
The Joggers Club Jr. is back for a 2nd season of fun.
Youngsters in kindergarten through 8th grade can train with accomplished athletes, including speed and strength coaches.
It “runs” (ho ho) Sundays (2 to 3:15 p.m.), from April 3 to May 22, at the Staples High School track. The cost is $49 for Joggers Club members, $99 for non-members.
The camp is open to only 35 runners, and sold out last year. To join, Venmo @TheJoggersClub.ct.
Registration opens this Sunday (January 30, 6 a.m.). Click here, then complete the waiver under the “Members” section. Once that is complete, email the name and age of the registration to TheJoggersClub@gmail.com. Confirmation will be sent within a day.
Speaking of jogging: It’s a good way to work off any extra pounds from The Cheesecake Collection.
Westporter Anthoula Pantzos now makes beautiful, custom — and superb — cheesecakes. She grew up around the desserts — including at her family’s Greek restaurant in Stamford — and her husband (a chef) makes them too.
They come in Classic, Trendy and Seasonal varieties. Customers can also build their own. Pantzos offers 8-inch and 10-inch cheesecakes, plus mini-cakes, cheesecake bars, and special items for Valentine’s Day. Click here for the website.
Pick-up is available with 2 days’ notice. Free delivery is available on Saturdays, within a 10-mile radius of Westport.
Click here for the full story on CTBites. (Hat tip: Christine Meiers Schatz)
Anthoula Pantzos, with one of her cheesecakes. (PHoto courtesy of CTBites.com)
Speaking of food: A Westport bagel maker has made the New York Post‘s list of “the most sought-after pastries at NYC’s best bakeries.” The paper says:
“Putting it bluntly, New Yorkers are begging for these bagels. Popup Bagels, a subscription-based bakery with roots in Westport, Connecticut, won the vaunted title of best bagel at the Brooklyn BagelFest last October.
“Owner Adam Goldberg, 47, told The Post that his bagels’ ‘fun collaborations and freshness’ make them real winners. His recent ‘awesome flavors’ range from dill pickle and caramelized onion to Utz Cheese Ball powder and Mike’s Hot Honey.”
As of this week, the FCIAC is allowing non-parent fans back into winter high school sports events.
The Staples gym was packed last night, for the first time in 2 years. Students from the home team and Wilton were equally raucous in support of their squad, 2 of the top in the league. The Warriors prevailed 50-47 in overtime.
The 2021-22 Staples High School boys basketball team.
The link provided by AAPI Westport for the February 5 Lunar New Year celebration (Westport Weston Family YMCA, 1 p.m.) was broken. Registration is requested, but not required. Click here for the correct link.
Dale Eyerly Colson — a Westport resident for over 60 years, and a 1963 Staples High School graduate — died last week in Pittsboro, North Carolina. She was 76.
While studying sociology and economics at Salem College in Winston-Salem, she met West Point Cadet Robert Colson on a blind date before the Army-Navy football game. In June of 1967, they both graduated college and were married — all in the same week.
During 54 years of marriage they lived in 7 states, courtesy of the US Army. They were apart only while Robert served in Vietnam.
When he left the Army in 1976 they returned to Connecticut. Dale joined Travelstar, a full-service travel agency started by her mother. She was influential in the industry. She wrote “View from the Bilge,” a humorous column that ran regularly in a travel industry trade publication, and started the Cruise Compendium, which offered training to travel agents who hoped to specialize in cruises.
When her mother retired, Dale took over Travelstar and led the agency to a national award.
After closing the agency in 2003, she worked for 10 years with Tauck World Discovery as a proofreader and fact checker. Her work in the travel industry was matched by her love of travel itself. She visited relatives in England and Scotland, and traveled to 5 continents.
In 2013, Dale and Robert moved to Fearrington Village in Pittsboro. Their home became known as the “house on the edge of the deep, dark woods.” Friends on social media read frequent accounts of her adventures there.
She was active in her community, editing the newsletter for Women of Fearrington, volunteering in elementary schools in Chapel Hill and Chatham County, and singing first alto with the Fearrington Village Singers.
Dale is survived by Robert; daughter Amanda (David) of Chapel Hill; granddaughters Claire of Berlin, Germany and Lucy of Chapel Hill; sister Beth van Dijk of Little Britain, Ontario, and many nieces and nephews.
Because she made an anatomical gift to Duke Medical School, no funeral arrangements are planned. Those wishing to honor her life may make donations to the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation in Siler City, NC or CORA Food Bank in Pittsboro, NC, 2 organizations she supported.
And finally … on this date in 1858, Felix Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” ws played at the marriage of Queen Victoria’s daughter (also named Victoria), and Friedrich of Prussia. It’s still heard 164 years later, at nearly every wedding, everywhere.
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With COVID cases decreasing, Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice has announced that as of January 31, visitors will be allowed back in buildings. All visitors will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative test administered 72 prior to the visit.
Stop & Shop may still be confounding customers with its “redesign.” But they are on the ball with one thing. Last week, “06888” called the supermarket out on their flyer, which announced their “reopening” (though they never closed) as taking place in “East Westport.”
This week, they got it right:
Now, if we can just figure out where they moved the coffee to … (Hat tip: Beth Keane)
Congratulations to the Staples/Stamford/Westhill girls ice hockey coop team. They’re the Ruden Report Team of the Week, following a great 0-0 tie against powerhouse Darien.
The girls practice at 5:30 a.m. — in Stamford — once a week. But you can catch them working out on Fridays after school, at the Longshore PAL rink.
The Staples/Stamford/Westhiill girls ice hockey coop team.
Ever since COVID struck, Westporters have discovered the wide open spaces and beauty of Sherwood Island State Park. Fred Cantor took this “Westport … Naturally” photo last week.
The Westport Fire Department wants residents to know that carbon monoxide poisoning is a winter threat.
Carbon monoxide is an invisible odorless gas that can be fatal. It forms when fuels like gasoline, natural gas, propane, wood, charcoal, and kerosene do not burn completely. Breathing carbon monoxide can deprive the body of oxygen, and may lead to illness, loss of consciousness and death.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include:
Headache, fatigue, dizziness, confusion, nausea or vomiting, and loss of consciousness.
If several members of a household experience these symptoms when they are home but feel better when they are away from the home, there may be a carbon monoxide problem.
If you have symptoms:
Get out of the house immediatelyand seek medical help if you or a family member or guest has unexplained/sudden onset of symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide alarms are the only way to know if the deadly gas is present in your home. It is recommended that all residents with fuel burning appliances or indoor equipment install carbon monoxide alarms near all sleeping areas in their home to alert them of the presence of carbon monoxide. Install a carbon monoxide alarm on each floor of your home and outside of each bedroom. Install new batteries as per manufacturer’s instructions and replace alarms every five years, as the sensors degrade.
To stay safe:
Never use portable generators, charcoal or gas grills, gas or propane powered pressure washers, saws or other fuel powered equipment inside your home, garage, carport, basement, or other enclosed spaces. Opening windows and doors, and operating fans is not enough to prevent buildup of carbon monoxide in a home
Install a carbon monoxide alarm on each floor of your home & outside of each bedroom.
Make sure the exhaust pipe on your standby generator is pointing away from the house.
Place portable generators at least 20 feet from the house.
Make sure gas dryer vents and automobile tail pipes are not plugged up with snow.
Have your heating systems, chimney flues, gas appliances, wood stoves, and generators checked every year, and cleaned and serviced as needed by qualified heating/appliance contractors.
There are many ways to illustrate the current tensions in Ukraine.
Staples High School 1988 graduate/Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times photographer Tyler Hicks did it with a unique shot of Ukrainian soldiers jumping into a cross made out of ice, near the Russian front — a tradition in that country.
The image was the lead one today, on page 1 of the Times. (Hat tip: John Karrel)
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Congratulations to the Staples High School boys ice hockey team. The Wreckers beat Norwalk-McMahon 4-2 in the 3rd annual Dale Wemhoff Cup. Wehmhoff attended Westport schools and was the assistant hockey coach at Staples before taking over the Norwalk program. (Hat tip: Hannah Kail)
Staples High School ice hockey team.
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There’s (almost) always something going on at Local to Market. Mark these dates, for the popular food-and-more store on Main Street next to Parker Harding Plaza.
Tomorrow (Saturday, January 22, 2 to 4 p.m.): Maria from Fairfield’s Bee Love Project offers tastings, suggests pairings and presents insights into the world of honey bees.
Two days before Valentine’s (Saturday, February 12, time TBD), Samantha from Locavore Kitchens in Westport talks about her rosemary glazed shortbread cookies (and more).
Go for the local food stars. Stay for the samples?
And finally … 2 recent deaths with local connections.
Meat Loaf died yesterday, at 74 (or so — read full obituary here). The larger-than-life ’70s singer would of course be commemorated here no matter where he lived.
But for a while he was a Westport resident. He played softball on Sunday mornings at Compo Beach, coached his daughter’s softball team, hung out on Terry and Gail Coen’s very visible Soundview Drive front deck, and was a cheerful, popular presence in town. Everyone of a certain age has a Meat Loaf story from those days.
And Fred Parris, co-founder of the Five Satins and writer of “In the Still of the Night,” died recently after a brief illness. He was 85.
The New Haven native wrote the song while on guard duty with the Army in Philadelphia. His group recorded it “in a makeshift studio in the basement of St. Bernadette Roman Catholic Church in New Haven on February 19, 1956,” the New Haven Register says. Click here for the full obituary. (Hat tip: Audrey Rabinowitz)
Sophia Livecchi is embarrassed to admit it. But growing up in Westport, the 2017 Staples High School graduate had a bit of fear of leaving this bubble.
“People are nervous to step outside of their comfort zone to try something new,” she notes.
Now — a year after graduating from Skidmore College — it’s her job to get people in places like Westport to take that step.
Sophia Livecchi
Sophia is the marketing manager for The Knowlton. That’s the waterfront event venue, artist studios and mural park in Bridgeport that most people here have never heard of.
And if they have — well, maybe they also have misperceptions about the big city, less than 10 miles from our border.
Sophia first heard of The Knowlton from James Brown, a Westporter who is one of the 27 artists with a studio there.
She was looking for a “creative community,” and found it strange she’d heard nothing about it. “It’s in our back yard,” she notes.
The Knowlton is located on Bridgeport’s East Side. It’s on the Peconic estuary, within walking distance of the train station.
Owner Shiran Nicholson — a native New Yorker and professional event planner — has created a vibrant, welcoming and eclectic space in his adopted city.
The Knowlton: a bird’s-eye view.
It includes a large boathouse with deck overlooking the water; 2 galleries; those 27 studios, and a plenty of space for weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, corporate events, outdoor dinners and more.
The main building dates to 1865. The first hybrid electric car was built there, Shiran says, and it survived a tornado in 2010.
The artists with studio space there have formed a true community, Sophia says. They get together often, for social events and creative collaboration.
Children play at The Knowlton’s mural park.
The Knowlton is just one of several spots that make up Bridgeport’s burgeoning arts and cultural scenes. The Bijou Theater is one example; they just welcomed alternative radio station WPKN-FM to new studios upstairs.
Steelpointe is planning luxury apartments. They may be linked to The Knowlton by a walkway, with floating gardens.
“People come here and say, ‘How come I didn’t know about this?'” Sophia says.
“I love the vibe here,” Shiran says. “I’m so glad I found this space.”
So is Sophia.
“If I lived my life being closed to new opportunities, I’d really regret it. This is a creative, comfortable space. I can be myself there. That’s not always the case in Westport.”
She is thrilled she stepped out of her comfort zone.
Like many people during the pandemic, Will Haskell found himself with unaccustomed time on his hands.
Unlike many people, his job involved constant meetings, every day and night, so he had even more free time than most. Haskell is a State Senator.
Like many people, he decided to try his hand at writing.
Unlike many people, he actually completed what he set out to do. And unlike nearly everyone else, he turned his project into an actual, real book.
100,000 First Bosses: My Unlikely Path as a 22-Year-Old Lawmaker will be published officially yesterday. And not by any vanity press, either. This is a legit, Simon & Schuster book.
It’s one more chapter (ho ho) in the remarkable story of the Staples High School graduate/still-youngest-member-of-the-Connecticut General Assembly’s life.
Haskell was a Georgetown University senior when he decided to run for the 36-member Senate. He enlisted his roommate as campaign manager. He gathered a hard-working group of committed volunteers, from even younger than himself (14 years old!) to those older than his grandparents (they remember FDR!).
Four years ago, new college graduate Will Haskell became State Senator Will Haskell. He unseated an incumbent who had been in office longer than he’d been alive.
Now he wants to inspire his peers — and the next generation — to do the same.
100,000 First Bosses is not a “how-to” book. “I’m not qualified to write that,” Haskell says. “Every campaign is different.”
What he does is pull the curtain back on his own experiences. He talks about the surprises and drudgery of knocking on doors; the lessons learned as he learned the ropes in Hartford; the successes he’s had, and the mistakes he’s made.
State Senator Will Haskell,
His book, he says, is “my thoughts on the weirdest first job someone could have right out of college.”
Most people have 1 or 2 bosses. Haskell is beholden to the 100,000 residents of State Senate District 26. It stretches from Westport to Bethel.
Throughout the book he emphasizes the perspective of a 20-something, still finding his way in a complex, troubled America, with tons of problems my generation has dumped on his.
Climate change, gun violence, college affordability — all those are very real issues to Haskell and his cohort. And they’re issues, he argues, that his generation can address and solve.
But to do that, he emphasizes, they must be in positions of power.
Haskell’s unique perspective — and his equally unique literary debut — was helped by someone his own age: his editor, Carolyn Kelly.
Like Haskell, she’s in her first job. In fact, this was her very first book.
It is a very 2020s tale. “She knows everything about my life. But we’ve never met,” Haskell marvels. We did everything online.”
Kelly taught him how to craft his story to appeal to “people who might be uninterested in politics. Lots of people don’t know who their state representative is, and have never been to their state capital.”
The State Capitol in Hartford is Will Haskell’s workplace. Have you been there?
He hopes his book will be read by them though, and spur them to think about running for office. Maybe they’ll encourage a colleague to do so.
Or a grandchild.
He had not thought of running for office either, back in the day. But when Barack Obama left office, he told the nation’s young (and “young at heart”) to push for progress from the grassroots up.
Haskell had no idea who his state senator was. He found out — and realized he did not agree with some of her positions.
The rest is history.
And history-making.
Gun violence is one of the issues State Senator Will Haskell has worked on.
Though much of the state — and nation — are polarized politically and socially, Haskell says that his 2 terms in the Senate have made him very optimistic. He realizes, he says, that one person can make an impact.
Through his book, he hopes to share that optimism.
Yet Haskell is leaving politics. He announced last month that he will not run for a 3rd term. Instead, he is heading to law school. (He’s also getting married, whenever the pandemic allows a large group to celebrate.)
In 100,000 Bosses‘ final chapter, Haskell writes about struggling with that decision. He frames it as a way to show that as important as political action is, one’s entire life does not have to be defined by it.
He also notes that just as he went to Hartford as a new, young voice, there’s now an opportunity for another new voice to follow his.
Haskell’s book is not like many politicians’, It does not read like a stump speech, nor does it paint an overly rosy picture of his profession.
He writes candidly of the difficulty of affording rent in his own district, and of watching a focus group pick him apart, one flaw after another.
Still, he says, “it was a blast to write. People took a chance on sending me to the Senate. Now I hope they’ll take a chance on buying and reading it.”
Spoken like a true author.
Not bad for a politician, either.
(Click here to order 100,000 First Bosses: My Unlikely Path as a 22-Year-Old Lawmaker.)
It’s one thing for Stop & Shop to crow about their recent completely unnecessary, busiest-time-of-the-year, confuse-every-shopper shuffle, in which they randomly decided that just about every product should go elsewhere. They even switched the ice cream from one side of the aisle to the other, presumably because they could.
It’s another thing for them to insert a flyer in this week’s Westport News, celebrating their “Grand Reopening,” even though they never closed.
But to say they’re located in East Westport?!
Sorry, guys. You can change your supermarket around all you want. But you can’t simply make up a place that doesn’t exist.
Gavin Zahler won only the 2nd wrestling match of his career yesterday.
But it was a huge one. The Staples High School sophomore — who joined the team only this winter — gutted out a 6-2 decision in the final match of the John Chacho Dual Meet Tournament.
That gave the host Wreckers a 36-33 win over Foran-Milford, and the championship of the 8-team event. It’s named for the legendary former Staples and Westport PAL wrestling coach.
And he was there throughout the day, cheering another generation of grapplers on.
The wrestling team hoists Gavin Zahler — and the team trophy — after the sophomore’s tournament-clinching win. (Photo/Dan Woog)
The John Chacho Tournament also saw the first-ever appearance of the Staples mascot at a wrestling event.
“Wrecker Bob” — created out of foam by Alicia D’Anna and her daughter Sami — usually hangs out at football games. Now that he’s branching out, perhaps he’ll also appear at hockey games, gymnastics meets and golf matches.
Usually, the identity of the person behind the costume is a secret. On Saturday, it was Seamus Brannigan — the 8th grade brother of varsity wrestler Eamon.
It’s been a freezing weekend in Westport. But the waves still lap against the Compo Beach shore. And these “Westport … Naturally” geese don’t mind a bit.
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